The blueprint model of production

Abstract This article introduces the blueprint model of production (BMP), which characterises the phonetics–phonology interface in terms of typed functions. The standard modular feed-forward view to the interface is that the phonetic form of a lexical item is the output of a phonetic module which takes the output of a phonological module as its input. The central idea of the BMP is that the phonetic form is instead the output of a higher-order phonetics function which takes the phonological function as one of multiple inputs. We explain how understanding the production process this way can account for systematic fine-grained variation in phonetic forms while maintaining a discrete phonological grammar. We present one possible instantiation of the model that simulates incomplete neutralisation, some cases of near-merger, and variation in homophone duration. Consequently, these types of systematic fine-grained phonetic patterns do not necessarily provide evidence against discrete, symbolic phonology.