CRITICAL PERIOD AND PHONOLOGICAL ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH BY BRAZILIAN SPEAKERS

ABSTRACT: This article discusses the influence of age of acquisition on the process of learning a foreign language. We analyzed the acquisition of three phonological processes in English by speakers of Brazilian Portuguese and applied experiments on fricative voicing, stress shift and stress assignment to participants at three levels of proficiency: basic, intermediate and advanced. The results demonstrated that the age factor was relevant in two processes (stress shift and stress assignment) – at least at certain levels of proficiency. On the other hand, fricative voicing was not acquired by Brazilian speakers in any level of proficiency, regardless of age of acquisition.