Part of the series "Studies in Bilingualism", this text covers such topics as: variationist perspectives on second-language acquisition; factors affecting the production of word-initial consonants; and markedness in second-language acquisition of consonant clusters.

1. Preface (by Preston, Dennis R.); 2. Variationist Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition (by Preston, Dennis R.); 3. Factors Affecting the Production of Word-initial Consonants in a Second Language (by Flege, James Emil); 4. Markedness in Second Language Acquisition of Consonant Clusters (by Major, Roy C.); 5. Competing Constraints on Variation in the Speech of Adult Chinese Learners of English (by Bayley, Robert); 6. Tense Marking in the English of Spanish-speaking Adolescents (by Adamson, H.D.); 7. Form-Function Relations in Articles in English Interlanguage (by Young, Richard); 8. Variation in french Interlanguage: A Longitudinal Study of Sociolinguistic Competence (by Regan, Vera); 9. Disentangling Language Acquisition from Language Variation (by Berdan, Robert); 10. Some Notes on the Role of Misperception in Language Learning (by Labov, William); 11. Appendix: VARBRUL Analysis for Second Language Acquisition Research (by Young, Richard); 12. Author Index; 13. Subject Index