ABSTRACT
Most linguists assume that phonological and phonetic representations differ in being composed of discrete categories and continuous values, respectively. This assumption entails an interface between phonology and phonetics, through which speakers translate phonological categories into phonetic continua, and listeners translate phonetic continua back into phonological categories. This interface would also be the medium through which the phonetics of speech influences the contents of phonological representations and the patterns that phonological categories participate in, both synchronically and diachronically. A number of linguists have, however, argued against the existence of any such interface. Some argue that it is theoretically extravagant and empirically unnecessary, if not altogether mistaken, to treat phonological categories as different in kind from phonetic events that realize them. In this view, it is unnecessary to assume any translation between them. Others argue that the contents of phonological representations consist of purely formal objects whose characteristics and patterning have everything to do with their computability and nothing to do with their phonetic substance. A number of other linguists have argued against the existence of any such interface, either because phonology overlaps so thoroughly with phonetics, or because phonetic values are active in the phonology. Each of these arguments against the need for an interface between phonetics and phonology is evaluated in this chapter, along with the proposals of linguists who argue for or assume such an interface and present various accounts of its nature.
