French high-mid vowels are underspecified for height

Asymmetries in Mismatch Negativities (MMNs) have been reported as evidence for phonological underspecification in speech perception. In this study, we investigated whether predictions from Lahiri’s Featurally Underspecified Lexicon (FUL) model hold true in a language (French) and a contrast (vowel height) not investigated before, in contrast to predictions from a model with equipollent features or from Element Theory. The MMNs from French listeners to contrasts among the four vowels [y, u, ø, o] show clear asymmetries that are in line with FUL’s predictions for vowel height and place. The change from a back vowel to a front vowel elicits stronger responses than vice versa, which generalises existing findings. The change from a high vowel to a high-mid vowel also elicits stronger responses than the reverse change, which is a new finding that supports the idea that the height contrast in these vowels is expressed by the privative feature [HIGH].