Redeploying dimensions and learning gestures in the acquisition of new sounds

Abstract This chapter explores the L2/L3 acquisition of Mayan ejectives from multiple languages. Proceeding from the dimensional framework of Avery and Idsardi (2001) , we lay out a unified analysis of the phonological acquisition of Yucatec Maya by Spanish speakers, Kaqchikel by Spanish-English speakers, and Q’eqchi’ by English speakers. Both Spanish and English phonologies provide for a path to acquisition of glottalized consonants through their respective contrastive dimensions. Through phonetic completion and enhancement, learners redeploy knowledge of other laryngeal dimensions to successfully acquire sounds which L1 users of the target languages represent with Larynx Height, a dimension not utilized in the learners’ known language(s). Thus, language learners develop non-targetlike grammars that adequately map novel contrasts through the constraints provided by Universal Grammar.