Thirty international academics and researchers contribute to a text honoring the work of second language (L2) researcher James Emil Flege and marking his retirement from the U. of Alabama in July 2006. Twenty chapters providing a state-of-the-art overview of core issues in L2 speech perception and production are organized into sections on the nature of L2 speech learning, the concept of foreign accent, consonants and vowels, beyond consonants and vowels, and emerging issues. A sampling of topics: nonnative and second-language speech perception, nativelike pronunciation among late learners of French as a second language, cross-language consonant identification, music and language learning, and implications of James E. Flege's research for the foreign language classroom. For phoneticians, speech scientists, psycholinguists, applied linguists, and pedagogical specialists. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)