Abstract
Whether adult second language (L2) learners are able to access the principles and parameters of Universal Grammar (UG) has been an intensely debated issue over the past decade (for an overview of the issues see White, 1989). Alongside an expanding body of evidence indicating that adult L2 learners do indeed have direct access to both the principles and parameters of UG, two observations regarding ultimate attainment remain relatively unchallenged. One, adult L2 learners frequently fail to attain native-like phonological competence in their L2. And two, even advanced adult second language learners may show signs of having failed to acquire various functional categories. Given that functional elements are often unstressed (in Germanic languages, for example), L2 learners’ difficulties in acquiring functional categories could well be partly prosodic in nature.
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