How Second Languages are Learned An Introduction

Learning a second language (L2) sound system (its phonology) is heavily influenced by the properties of the segments, syllables and prosody that have been established in a speaker’s first language (L1). Sub-phoneme contrasts that differ between the L1 and L2 are extremely difficult to acquire. New phonemes are acquirable, providing that the articulatory/acoustic features of which they are composed have already been selected in the L1. L1 syllable structure influences how syllables are produced in the L2, leading to the insertion of epenthetic vowels or the deletion of segments. Such cases are the basis for the Prosodic Transfer Hypothesis explanation for optionality in the use of verb forms by L2 speakers.