Toward an embodied and embedded phonetics

The complementary themes of physical embodiment and environmental embedding, though frequently touted as bases of human cognition, have not been recognized explicitly in models of phonetics. We explore these concepts more fully as they apply to phonetics, seeking a theory based on richer, higher-dimensional models of both the human body and the human environment. In contrast with previous models, we pursue not an inventory of primitive “sounds”, but rather an inventory of highly specialized body structures, each of which is defined according to its specific function at the interface between the physical organism and its richly multisensory interactive environment. Simulations and experiments will be explored with implications relating to these two themes.