Adult Spanish second language (L2) learners of English and native speakers of English participated in an English perception task designed to investigate their ability to use L2 acoustic-phonetic cues, e.g., aspiration, to segment the stream of speech into words. Subjects listened to a phrase and indicated whether they heard, e.g., keep sparking or keeps parking. The results indicate that learners are significantly worse than native speakers at using acousticphonetic cues, and that some types of stimuli are easier for learners to segment than others. The findings suggest that various factors, including transfer and markedness, may be relevant to success in L2 segmentation. I IntroductionIn order to comprehend language, part of what the listener needs to do is to segment the continuous stream of incoming speech into meaningful units. A number of researchers (e.g., Quené, 1992;Gow and Gordon, 1995) suggest that speakers of a language need to use acousticphonetic information to segment speech and retrieve words, probably in conjunction with other information, for example, syntactic information. The majority of research in second language (L2) speech has explored speech production (Leather, 1999); those studies dealing with L2 speech perception have focused largely on the perceptual categorization of L2 speech sounds. (For reviews, see, for example, Leather, 1999; Major, 2001.) Thus, our knowledge of second language speech perception in general is limited, our knowledge of how well second language Address for correspondence: Evelyn P. Altenberg, Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Davison 106, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11549, USA; email: sphepa@hofstra.edu learners are able to use acoustic-phonetic information in L2 speech perception even more so. The goal of the study reported here is to explore the abilities of adult learners of English to use acoustic-phonetic cues to segment the second language stream of speech into words. Learners listened to English stimuli such as keep sparking and indicated whether they heard, for example, keep sparking or keeps parking. Such an investigation adds to our knowledge of what learners do and do not know in terms of L2 speech perception and provides an avenue for the exploration of relevant issues in second language acquisition.The study addresses the following two questions:• How do second language learners compare to native speakers in their ability to use acoustic-phonetic cues to segment natural speech into words? In particular, is there evidence that learners are able to acquire and use second language acoustic-phonetic cues?• Are some stimuli easier than others for second language learners to segment and, if so, what factors can account for these differences? In particular, is there evidence of transfer at the allophonic and /or syllabic levels, and/or of universal factors, such as markedness, in L2 speech segmentation?Two issues that have been central to the study of L2 phonology, transfer and markedness, are relevant to the investigation here. Research...

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An error analysis approach is used to investigate the second language (English) phonology of two native speakers of Hungarian. The study provides evidence relevant to a number of issues in second language phonology. While evidence for both phonetic (sound) transfer and phonological (rule) transfer is found, it is argued that there are limitations on what can transfer from the native language to the target language. The analysis also reveals the application of unmarked rules in second language phonology production. These rules occur in neither the native nor the target language. The data are used to approach a substantive characterization of the notion of degree of foreign accent. The error analysis approach is contrasted with the autonomous system analysis approach, and it is argued that each provides unique information and that both must be used together to arrive at a more complete understanding of second language phonology.

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