Second dialect acquisition (SDA), in terms of published research, remains a relatively untapped subfield within the larger domains of general linguistics and SLA. In fact, what little research that has been conducted has been done so primarily in the realms of sociolinguistics or dialectology. Very little is known, however, about the grammatical repercussions that occur, for example, when a native speaker of Standard American English moves from Charleston, South Carolina, to Melbourne, Australia, or when a speaker of a nonstandard dialect enters the public school system, in which a standard dialect is used. In this nine-chapter book, Siegel defines SDA as a field in its own right and provides an excellent framework within which future research can be conducted.
One of the major strengths of this book lies in Siegel’s survey of 17 previous studies dealing with attainment in SDA in naturalistic settings (chapter 2). Although more studies exist, Siegel’s judicious selection was based on whether or not the study (a) was written in English, (b) provided frequency data for usage of a second dialect (D2) feature by a first dialect (D1) speaker, or (c) focused on the acquisition of a D2 feature as opposed to the loss of a D1 feature. Siegel’s concise summations provide the reader with each study’s major findings, and when available, results are displayed with user-friendly graphs and charts for quick reference. Although Siegel’s presentation is at times a bit repetitive, these studies provide the crucial basis for chapters 3–5, in which he explores both linguistic and extralinguistic factors in SDA such as salience, phonetic distance, presence of phonological contrasts or competing variants, degree of acquisition, age effects, length of residence, motivation, attitudes, identity, interaction, gender, stigmatization, and so forth.
Of equal strength is Siegel’s treatment of the essential questions that form the foundation of research in SDA (chapter 6): Why does one acquire a D2 and under what settings does this acquisition take place? Do the processes that constrain SDA differ significantly from those of SLA? How does D1 shape or affect D2, and conversely how does D2 shape and affect D1? Can one be considered more difficult than the other? Siegel’s examinations are straightforward, logical, supported by previous research, and peppered with personal—often entertaining—anecdotes of his experience as a D2 learner. However, even though this chapter relies—at least somewhat—on data from studies presented in previous chapters, in terms of organization, perhaps it would have been more beneficial to have answered these overarching questions earlier on. The chapter, nevertheless, lends itself to independent usage as a stand-alone reading for the scholar and researcher.
Shifting from a theoretical perspective to a more applied one, Siegel closes with a discussion of SDA in the classroom context and the educational implications of such (chapters 7–9). The focus of these last chapters is on the nonstandard dialect speaker, be he or she a D1 speaker of a regional, ethnic, indigenized, colloquial, or creolized variety of a standard dialect. The studies that Siegel details survey various methodological approaches that take into account dialectal differences in order to maximize student performance. Although these last chapters are targeted more toward the applied linguist or educator, their inclusion is integral if Siegel’s goal is to present a complete picture of SDA.
Siegel provides the reader, all in all, with an excellent introduction to SDA. Although the studies are largely centered in a phonetic or phonological perspective, Siegel ignores neither morphology nor the lexicon. Thus, this volume serves as a comprehensive manual for the SLA researcher interested in contributing to the body of research in this nascent field.
