The Psycholinguistic Unity of Language Learning and Language Change

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.