English learners.  It consequently raises the issue of universal prosodic features in L2 acquisition.
The thesis is structured as follows: Chapters 1 and 2 respectively compare English and Japanese as instantiations of a universal hierarchy of prosodic constituents to provide a frame of reference for discussion of prosodic interference effects on L2 production.  English is identified as a stress-timed syllable

Morae have long been acknowledged as a prosodic unit of Japanese phonology.  While the mora functions as a unit to count syllable weight in stress languages, Japanese also uses the mora as a phonetic timing regulator.  Thus, the study of morae in Japanese has concentrated upon the measurement of isochrony (approximately regular timing) and, with respect to second language learners, the acquisition of appropriate duration of one mora.
The exclusive focus upon the measurement of isochrony as a basis for teaching moraic timing in second language (henceforth L2) acquisition of Japanese has, however, been found to be ineffective, since apart from phonetic length, the prosodic structure of the word also affects L2 production. This thesis examines the acquisition process of L2 word prosody to clarify the significance of the mora and moraic timing in the acquisition of Japanese by

"This thesis examines the acquisition process of L2 word prosody to clarify the significance of the mora and moraic timing in the acquisition of Japanese by English learners."

language and Japanese as a mora-timed syllable language.  Chapter 3 reviews issues and methods that have dominated the L2 phonological acquisition literature and demonstrates the need for an explicit framework to account for the interaction between L1 transfer and developmental effects.  Optimality theory (OT) is introduced to provide a

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