Using Chomsky's minimalist program as a framework, this volume explores the role of formal (or functional) features in current descriptions and accounts of language acquistion. In engaging, up-to-date articles, distinguished experts examine the role of features in current versions of generative grammar and in learnibility theory as it relates to native, non-native, and impaired acquisition.

This edited volume dealing with formal features in Second Language Acquisition is defined within current generative grammatical theory, such as the Principles and Parameters Theory and the Minimalist Program. Formal features are essential to any account of language acquisiton because they are basic components of lexical and functional categories. This is a subject of much current research as evidenced by the number of published articles in journals and in conference proceedings. The papers address the role of features in the current versions of generative grammar and explore the role of features for learnability theory as it relates to native and non-native acquisition. To our knowledge, the volume represents the first scholarly contribution specifically devoted to features in language acquisition.