This article is situated within the recent strand of SLA research which applies variationist sociolinguistic methods to the study of the acquisition of sociolinguistic variation by the L2 speaker. Whilst that research has tended to focus on the study of morphological and morphosyntactic variables, this article aims to investigate a number of acquisitional trends identified in previous research in relation to phonological variation, namely the variable deletion of /l/ by Irish advanced L2 speakers of French in both an instructed and study abroad environment. Based on quantitative results using GoldVarb 2001, the study further illuminates the difficulty that the acquisition of sociolinguistic variation poses to the instructed L2 speaker, who is found to make minimal use of informal sociolinguistic variants. In contrast, contact with native speakers in the native speech community is seen to allow the L2 speaker to make considerable sociolinguistic gains, not only in relation to the acquisition of the informal variant in itself, but also in relation to the underlying native speaker grammatical system as indicated by the constraint ordering at work behind use of the variable.

This book is part of a fresh and lively series on bilingual education and bilingualism. It deals with immersion in general but adds its own evidence and contributes substantially to knowledge in the field. Its originality lies in its emphasis: Whereas most of the literature on immersion deals with outcomes, de Courcy focuses on the process, particularly from the perspective of the learner. The research methods are tailored to the research aims. Rather than providing quantitative data, the author emphasizes various types of qualitative data, such as taped interviews, videotapes, student journals, and the researchers' log books. Introspective accounts are central to the discussion, and the importance of an ethnographic approach is also stressed: Observation alone is not enough, and the learners are seen as informants. Another interesting aspect of the book is that, whereas much of the literature on immersion studies is on English and French, here we have much-needed evidence from another language group, Chinese. The research is carried out in Australia with late immersion learners.

L'acquisition de la norme sociolinguistique française pose des problèmes considérables aux locuteurs non-natifs. L'analyse de la variation dans l'omission du ne dans un corpus d'interlangue avancée de 27 apprenants néerlandophones interviewés dans une situation informelle et formelle confirme que l'instruction formelle est insuffisante pour la maîtrise de la norme sociolinguistique native. Une majorité de locuteurs omettent le ne un peu moins souvent dans une situation formelle mais la variation va dans le sens opposé pour une minorité de locuteurs. L'observation et surtout la participation à des interactions authentiques avec des locuteurs natifs stimulent l'acquisition de la norme sociolinguistique. Une analyse statistique révèle que différentes variables socio-biographiques, psychologiques et situationnelles déterminent la variation intra- et interindividuelle dans les taux d'omission du ne.

This volume is an extremely comprehensive research report. It speaks principally to language planning, language policy bodies, and curriculum development units in Ireland, as well as to teachers of Irish in primary schools. Although it targets a quite specific audience, it has many elements of interest to policymakers internationally, especially in relation to minority languages, and to researchers in SLA interested in areas such as bilingualism, immersion, the role of instruction, and input in the classroom.

Hickey's volume is a welcome addition to the already important body of literature on the immersion experience. This comprehensive account of preschool immersion education in Ireland provides interesting insights into areas not previously looked at. Although its focus is on Ireland, its relevance is universal and it compares the Irish experience to similar ones in New Zealand, Catalonia, Canada, and Wales.

We investigate Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants' acquisition of the variable (ing), which occurs in progressive tenses, participles, noun phrases, etc., and which can be pronounced [iŋ] or [In]. A VARBRUL 2 program analysis of native speaker speech shows that the production of (ing) is constrained by phonological, grammatical, stylistic, and social factors. An analysis of the nonnative speakers' acquisition of these norms shows that [In] is more frequent before anterior segments (reflecting ease of articulation), and that males use [In] more frequently than females, especially in monitored speech (perhaps reflecting their desire to accommodate to a male native speaker norm rather than to an overall native speaker norm). The analysis also shows evidence of grammatical constraints which are different from those in the native speakers' speech. This difference may reflect the fact that it is easier to acquire the [In] variant in “frozen forms,” such as prepositions, than in productive rules.