MODELS, THEORIES AND HEURISTICS IN APRAXIA OF SPEECH

This paper presents an examination of efforts to explain acquired apra xia of speech. The history of the disorder is sketched, its relation t o other forms of apraxia and aphasia is discussed, and the evolutionar y relationship between speech and action is addressed. Most research h es been focused on whether apraxia of speech is best accounted for in terms of impairments at either an abstract-phonological level or a con crete-phonetic processing level, and the sum of the research concludes that it straddles traditional linguistic divides; it is an impairment in the transforming of phonological representation into phonetic fact . The issue is essentially a variant of the mind-body problem. Recent developments in phonological theory point to the importance of a less abstract phonology which is phonetically derived, phonetically constra ined and phonetically dependent. Apraxia of speech provides a basis fo r an improved understanding of the nature of the control of speech pro cessing.