An Optimality Theoretic account of Hungarian ESL learners acquisition of /[epsilon]/ and /æ

This paper provides an Optimality Theoretic account of how Hungarian learners of English acquire /(epsilon)/ & /ae/. It is hypothesized that as the learners' pronunciation becomes more nativelike, L1 transfer substitutions will diminish; non-transfer substitutions will be especially prevalent in the intermediate stages & that all learners will have equal or greater success with the similar segment /(epsilon)/ than with the unfamiliar segment /ae/. A study involving eight Hungarian ESL learners & four American English subjects largely supports these hypotheses. 2 Tables, 6 Figures, 1 Appendix, 40 References. Adapted from the source document