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…

Reports on research related to phonemic contrasts in the learning of second language pronunciation. Identifies three interesting learning situations that involve the target language's having different phonemic contrasts from the native language. (Author/VWL)

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)

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…