Syllable Structure and Interlanguage Phonology

Abstract

This paper examines several research assumptions and procedures of two recent studies of interlanguage (IL) phonology that use 'syllable structure' as a primary variable, but make opposing claims about 'open' and 'closed' IL syllable structure preference. It is argued that (1) neither IL study sufficiently considers the phonetic structure of the native languages (Li) and target languages (TL), and that (2) syllable structure analyses based on broad categories such as 'open' and 'closed' are inadequately equipped for insightful IL Investigation.