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An error analysis approach is used to investigate the second language (English) phonology of two native speakers of Hungarian. The study provides evidence relevant to a number of issues in second language phonology. While evidence for both phonetic (sound) transfer and phonological (rule) transfer is found, it is argued that there are limitations on what can transfer from the native language to the target language. The analysis also reveals the application of unmarked rules in second language phonology production. These rules occur in neither the native nor the target language. The data are used to approach a substantive characterization of the notion of degree of foreign accent. The error analysis approach is contrasted with the autonomous system analysis approach, and it is argued that each provides unique information and that both must be used together to arrive at a more complete understanding of second language phonology.

Vowel harmony systems have presented descriptive challenges for virtually every well-articulated theory within the framework of generative phonology. Significantly, no comprehensive and completely satisfactory account in a rule-based theory exists for one of the best studied of these systems, that of Hungarian. 1 The novel approach of Optimality Theory (henceforth OT), as originally developed by Prince & Smolensky (1993) and McCarthy & Prince (1993a, b, 1995), has been shown to offer insightful solutions to vexing problems of prosodic phonology and morphology. 2 This paper seeks to relate the insights of OT to the

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