In this reply to Salverda (2016), we address a critique of the claims made in our recent study of real-time processing of American Sign Language (ASL) signs using a novel visual world eye-tracking paradigm (Lieberman, Borovsky, Hatrak, & Mayberry, 2015). Salverda asserts that our data do not support our conclusion that native signers and…

Lieberman, Borovsky, Hatrak, and Mayberry (2015) used a modified version of the visual-world paradigm to examine the real-time processing of signs in American Sign Language. They examined the activation of phonological and semantic competitors in native signers and late-learning signers and concluded that their results provide evidence that the…

It is argued that new phonological features can be acquired in second languages, but that both feature acquisition and feature re-assembly are affected by the robustness of phonetic cues in the input.

Studies about bilingualism and second language acquisition (SLA) have a long tradition within linguistic and psycholinguistic research. The contributions from psycholinguistic research are crucial to the improvement of neurolinguistic models. This importance stems from the fact that psycholinguistic research is posing more specific questions than…

Introduces this special issue of the journal on the acquisition of second language segmental phonology and offers a snapshot of current research streams on the topic. (Author/VWL)

Suggestions are presented for how the link between theoretical and applied phonology may be concretely defined for the purposes of research on second language phonological development. (71 references) (Author/VWL)

Argues for the relevance of the schema theoretic approach to the acquisition of first- and second-language phonology. (42 references) (JL)

Addresses the question of differential substitution in English phonology, arguing that an optimality theoretical analysis makes finer-grained predictions than earlier accounts. Suggests that crosslinguistically the substitution of [t] for/0/ is the default and that a [s] substitution only will arise when certain phonological alternations are found…

Responds to an earlier article titled "The Phonology of English as an International Language." Ten questions are provided that have resulted from observations of reaction to the ideas posed in the article. (Author/VWL)

The natural phonology theory, related to European structuralism, makes two fundamental assumptions: (1) phonemes are mental images of the sounds of language, and (2) phonological processes represent subconscious mental substitutions of one sound or class of sounds for another that are the natural response to the relative difficulties of sound…

Discusses foreign language pronunciation from phonetic difference and phonetic learning viewpoints. Proposes phonological translation hypothesis based on assumption that neither physiological maturation nor neurological reorganization is as important for adults learning a foreign language without an accent as the tendency of mature speakers to…

Discusses the role of frequency in phonological reduction. Argues that phonological alternations provide evidence for the size and nature of morphosyntactic chunks. The phonological shape of words provides evidence that categorization is not completely exemplar based, but rather involves some abstraction resembling the construction of a prototype.…

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)

Individual differences in nonword repetition (NWR) show a particularly strong association with vocabulary acquisition for both first- (L1) and second-language (L2) learners, and they serve as a behavioral marker for specific language impairment (SLI) in children (Gathercole, 2006). However, this association is susceptible to alternative…

The author's response to James Flege's critique (in this issue of "Language Learning") regarding earlier research on second-language timing patterns is presented. (LMO)