Speech variation is a naturally-induced phenomenon in human speech communication which can be attributed to the inevitably multifaceted nature of interactions between various higher-order linguistic and lower-order physiological factors. Speech is dynamic, and it is assumed that there are regulation mechanisms behind these complex interactions of structural, contextual and phonetic cues leading to an overwhelming variety of gradient phenomena in the speakers’ linguistic behaviour. Recent years have increasingly witnessed the extensive development of dynamical theories which attempt to capture mechanisms of regulation that underlie speech production and perception in a unified way. In this introductory paper, we touch on some basic theoretical groundings of speech dynamics, and discuss the significance of the contributions made by each paper of the special issue under the rubric of mechanisms of regulation in speech. The special issue is interdisciplinary in nature, bringing together papers from different perspectives, ranging from tutorial and critical review papers on dynamic systems to original research papers on the regulation of speech in both normal and adverse (atypical) conditions. These selected papers, taken together, make considerable advancements in illuminating how variation in production and perception can be seen as a window to linguistic structure within and across languages.
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