ABSTRACT
Variation in the speech of language learners has become an important concern in second-language acquisition research, as many scholars have come to the conclusion that understanding variation is essential to understanding acquisition (see, e.g., Adamson, 1988; Preston, 1989; Tarone, 1988). Although scholars are far from unanimous in their opinions about the relationship between studies of second-language (L2) variation and second-language acquisition theory (see, e.g., Eckman, this volume, chapter 1; Gregg, 1990), 1 in recent years researchers have examined L2 variation at the level of phonology (e.g., Adamson & Regan, 1991; Dickerson, 1974), morphology (e.g., Bayley, 1991; Hatfield, 1986; Tarone, 1985; Wolfram & Hatfield, 1984, 1986; Young, 1988, 1991), syntax (e.g., Hyltenstam, 1977), and discourse (e.g., Kumpf, 1984; Tarone & Parrish, 1988). Numerous explanations of observed variation have been advanced, including, for example, the Labovian construct of attention to speech (Tarone, 1979), planning time (Ellis, 1987), L1 transfer (Flashner, 1989), language contact ( Trudgill, 1989), and proposed language universals such as the primacy of aspect (Robison, 1990). Researchers have also suggested social, affective, and developmental explanations for L2 variation, including the learner’s accommodation to the interlocutor (Beebe & Zuengler, 1983), the learner’s emotional investment in the topic (Eisenstein & Starbuck, 1989), and age ( Wode, 1989). Indeed, Tarone (1988), noting the multiplicity of competing models and explanations, has called for a comprehensive theory to account for all the known causes of interlanguage variation.
