This article reports empirical findings from an ongoing investigation into the acquisition of second-language (L2) phonemic contrasts. Specifically, we consider the status and role of the phenomenon of hypercorrection in the various stages through which L2 learners develop and internalize a target language (TL) contrast. We adopt the prevailing…

This review article evaluates the intersection of the content of two recent anthologies in second language (L2) phonology. One of the books lays out both the methodological context and theoretical underpinnings of the field, whereas the other volume reports 11 empirical studies on the L2 acquisition of several aspects of pronunciation by adult…

Contributes to the understanding of several well-known problems relating to the learning of phonemic contrasts in second language phonology. Describes a series of ongoing studies examining what Lado (1957) hypothesized to represent maximum difficulty in second language pronunciation, namely a phonemic split. (Author/VWL)

Evaluates arguments advanced in favor of special nativism in second-language acquisition (SLA). The article considers the following claims: Universal Grammar (UG) is the null hypothesis; any theory of SLA needs a theory of grammar; and showing that interlanguage grammars are underdetermined by the available input implies that UG must be accessible…

This article surveys the development of second language (L2) phonology over the last 40-50 years. Research in this area has grown from analyzing learners' errors in terms of Contrastive Analysis to proposals explaining L2 sound patterns in terms of constraints on interlanguage grammar. Although native language transfer has endured as one source of…

Theoretical assumptions and consequences of the Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH) are compared with the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis, and empirical evidence favoring the former is reviewed. Pedagogical implications of the MDH, a strategy for interlanguage-intervention, and several problems revealed in the literature are discussed. (MSE)

Two questions are raised: Is it possible to characterize the notion human language in terms of absolute and typological universals? And if so, what is the relationship between these universals and those formulated for primary languages? Given these questions, the purpose of the paper is to: (1) investigate some of the methodological considerations…

Testing of the validity of two implicational universals regarding consonant clusters, involving the analysis of the interlanguage of native-speaking Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students of English-as-a-Second-Language, was strongly supportive of the two universals, suggesting the possibility that primary language universals hold also for…

Discusses the amount of influence that a learner's native language has on the acquisition of a second language. Suggests that some important properties of a learner's interlanguage (IL) can be predicted, as shown by the different IL rules that Cantonese and Japanese use in dealing with English word-final voice contrasts. (Author/MES)