Chapter 2 – Speech Production

Publisher Summary This chapter addresses the question of how a linguistic message can be conveyed by vocal-tract activity. It explores the issue of the extent of the mutual compatibilities among the different levels of description of the message that talkers, in one sense or another, embody as they speak. The chapter considers three levels of description—those of the phonological forms of linguistic competence, forms in a speaker's plan for an utterance, and forms in vocal-tract activity. The particular domain of a phonological theory includes an appropriate description of the sound inventories of languages and of the patterning of phonological segments in words. The chapter also argues that a theory of speech production is profoundly shaped by the theorist's view of the compatibilities or incompatibilities among these levels. Finally, it describes the nature of language units as known, planned, and produced and discusses sequencing of these units in speech production.