English L2 intonation by native Italian speakers

This paper draws attention to the importance and complexity of studying and teaching L2 prosody. To this purpose it investigates Yes-No question intonation patterns in Italian L1, English L2, and English L1 as produced by native Italian speakers (Padova area) and native English speakers (London area). Evidence is provided that in L2 development different types of acquisition processes co-exist: phonological patterns of L2 intonation may be learned at advanced stages of language acquisition; phonetic details of L2 prosody may be much harder to learn