Natural Referent Vowel (NRV) framework: An emerging view of early phonetic development

• Published in: Journal of phonetics 2011-10, Vol.39 (4), p.467-478
• Main Authors: Polka, Linda, Bohn, Ocke-Schwen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0095-4470; 1095-8576
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wocn.2010.08.007

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of an emerging new framework for understanding early phonetic development—the Natural Referent Vowel (NRV) framework. The initial support for this framework was the finding that directional asymmetries occur often in infant vowel discrimination. The asymmetries point to an underlying perceptual bias favoring vowels that fall closer to the periphery of the F1/F2 vowel space. In Polka and Bohn (2003) we reviewed the data on asymmetries in infant vowel perception and proposed that certain vowels act as natural referent vowels and play an important role in shaping vowel perception. In this paper we review findings from studies of infant and adult vowel perception that emerged since Polka and Bohn (2003), from other labs and from our own work, and we formally introduce the NRV framework. We outline how this framework connects with linguistic typology and other models of speech perception and discuss the challenges and promise of NRV as a conceptual tool for advancing our understanding of phonetic development. ▶ Presentation of the Natural Referent Vowel framework. ▶ Infants and nonnative listeners show directional asymmetries in vowel perception. ▶ Perceptual asymmetries point to a bias favoring peripheral vowels—Natural Referent Vowels. ▶Natural Referent Vowels provide a foundation for development of native vowel perception. ▶Vowel perception biases support Dispersion-Focalization Theory.