The Psycholinguistic Unity of Language Learning and Language Change

Abstract

Recent research interest in the performance of second language learners has neglected the area of phonology learning. This report on a longitudinal study shows the viability of using a sociolinguistic model of sound change for studying the process of learning a target language sound system. The model calls for a variability analysis of the phonetic diversity in the learner's speech. The example analysis shows that learners systematically alter their phonetic output in the direction of a particular target. Significantly, second language learners use the same mechanism found to be operative in native language speakers as they participate in the ongoing linguistic change of their speech community. This finding reveals the psycholinguistic unity of the general process of effecting change in phonological systems. Motivations are provided (1) for regarding the learner's performance as the product of a unique language system and (2) for regarding the system as consisting of variable rules. An example of such a rule is given in detail.

THE ONTOGENY MODEL: EVIDENCE FROM L2 ACQUISITION OF SPANISH r

“…They reflect the unity underlying child language, L2 acquisition, dialect variation, and historical change (cf. Jakobson 1941;Stampe 1969;Dickerson 1976;Major in press). In this study, the substitutions fall mainly into the following categories: deletion and insertion, lateralization, change from an alveolar to uvular point of articulation, devoicing, and spirantization.…”

ON THE NATURALNESS OF INTERLANGUAGE PHONOLOGICAL RULES1

“…The above methodology for the establishment of the existence of a neutralization rule must be contrasted with that in some of the literature on 1L phonology. For example, Dickerson (1976) argues for a wave model analysis to account for the acquisition of English / l / by a number of Japanese speakers. The purpose of Dickerson's wave model, which makes use of the variable rule in ( 5 ) is to give a systematic account of what might otherwise be considered unsystematic performance.…”

Foreign Accent: Recent Research and Theory

“…Dickerson (1976) a Japanese learning English further shows that Variation depends on the linguistic environment äs well äs the type of utterance (e.g. free conversation or reading).…”