| This thesis investigates whether a phonological approach to second language (L2) acquisition, notably the one proposed by Brown (1997), can fully explain and predict the impediments encountered by adult L2 learners with foreign sound contrasts. An experiment evaluating the perception of English sound contrasts by native Japanese speakers shows that the phonological approach, although it appears to play a role in L2 acquisition, is not sufficient, on its own, to account for all the problems encountered by L2 learners. Phonotactics and phonetic correlates also appear to have a significant role to play in this matter. In addition, our experiment suggests that even the most difficult foreign contrasts are still learnable by L2 learners, even after the so-called critical period for language acquisition. Our results also suggest that L2 teaching has a significant impact on the acquisition of L2 segments. |
