1 FROM PHONETIC CATEGORIES TO PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES SPECIFICATION LINGUE E LINGUAGGIO- 2/2005 FROM PHONETIC CATEGORIES TO PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES SPECIFI- CATION: ACQUIRING THE EUROPEAN

Vowels are the Cinderellas in research on the acquisition of phonology. Little is known about how a system of phonologically contrasting vowels is acquired and what evidence children use to build up such a system. On the one hand, studies in infant perception have shown that children’s per