Novel feature processing by children and adults

The common notion that "younger is better" for acquiring second language (L2) phonology is typically supported by empirical evidence. However, there is no clear explanation for this trend, and few direct comparisons of the process by which adults and children acquire L2 phonology. Research comparing adults' and children's native language (L1) processing has indicated that children exhibit greater sensitivity than do adults to L1 nonphonemic acoustic variation. The present study aims to determine if children's sensitivity to nonphonemic L1 variation can extend to a novel L2 sound contrast.