Some Observations on the Metatheory of Speech Perception

Abstract

Block diagrams accompanying four recent models of speech perception each had a different spatial orientation in portraying the relation between the external world and the idealized perceiver. These orientations were: (1) Fant's model; external world on the left, perceiver on the right: (2) Stevens and Halle's model, vice versa: (3) Morton and Broadbent's model; external world above, perceiver below: (4) Haskins Group's model: vice versa. The metatheoretical implications of these different spatial orientations were considered. This resulted in a classification of the models, respectively, as (1) empirical, (2) formal, (3) mechanical, (4) physiological. It was found that observations derived from the spatial orientation of the models were not, in themselves, sufficient as a general statement of the present status of speech perception theory, or metatheory.