Research on second dialect acquisition

[Karl Krahnke]

Although I do quite a bit of work in the area of  regional dialect and even
pronunciation teaching (when forced), I have never looked hard for research
evidence, descriptive or experimental, on the difficulty or ease of
different/second dialect  acquisition. Like Beverly Flanigan, I have
assumed it was difficult and rare, but I have not come across research that
looks specifically at that phenomenon. There are no references to it in
Rosina Lippi-Green's _English with an Accent_, which is one place I would
expect to find some references. Could someone help me by pointing me to
specific studies on that specific question?

I am also doing some work on regulation and judgment of language in the
context of employment. A basic legal issue there is whether and to what
degree language is a "mutable characteristic." I am not aware of compelling
evidence that accent, for one, is not mutable, though I would certainly
like to think that is generally the case.

So, again, any suggestions would be helpful. (I'll of course look on my own
also.)

Karl Krahnke
Colorado State University