Methods and Goals of Speech Production Research

A personal view of current issues in speech production research is presented with some historical comments. Particular emphasis is placed on issues directly concerned with the relation between abstract phonological representations and speech signals, using a model of speech organization in reference to articulatory movement patterns. Experimental methods to support such linguistic research efforts, including some instrumental methods for recording articulatory data, are also reviewed from this particular point of view. Preparatory sections review the physical process and some physiological studies. The discussion focuses on the temporal organization of speech, deviating from the classical segmental concatenation and coarticulation principles, and discussing new possibilities about phonetic implementation in conjunction with an abstract representation framework of nonlinear phonology.