This chapter focuses on the learning and teaching of second language pronunciation. It starts by asking basic questions such as: Why is it so hard to sound like a “native speaker”? and Should second language learners even sound like native speakers? The chapter reviews the components of pronunciation including phoneme, segmentals, and suprasegmentals. It then explores the topics of comprehensibility, intelligibility, and accentedness, in order to consider which are most important for second language communication and learning. It argues that native-like pronunciation should not be the goal of pronunciation instruction; rather, the goal should be comprehensibility (i.e., how well a second language learner is understood by a listener). It reviews other issues related to pronunciation learning such as the distinction between receptive and productive knowledge, the role of identity in maintaining a first-language accent, and the role that biology plays in affecting second language pronunciation mastery. Finally, the chapter explores both explicit and implicit methods of pronunciation instruction.

The evolution and conceptualization of bi- and multilingual child language development is in focus in this chapter. I describe the history of infant bilingualism research related to the unitary vs. separated systems hypotheses. I review the effect of infant bi- and multilingualism on cognitive development. In the description of language perception, I rely on neurolinguistic findings, while in the emergence of speech I give a brief analysis of the language development of some multilingual children. I provide examples at the phonetic-phonological and lexical levels as well as evidence of multilingual awareness.