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Second Language Research
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Uninterpretable features: psychology and plasticity in second language learnability

David Birdsong

University of Texas, birdsong{at}ccwf.cc.utexas.edu

This commentary addresses the relevance of detectability to a theory of learning uninterpretable features in the second language (L2). Detectability of features is illustrated in an application of Signal Detection Theory. By analogy with development of phonemic categories in the first language (L1), the notion of paring down the repertoire of uninterpretable features is considered.

Key Words: uninterpretable feature • learnability • signal detection • second language acquisition

Second Language Research, Vol. 25, No. 2, 235-243 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0267658308100285
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