The blueprint model of production

This article introduces the blueprint model of production (BMP), which characterises the phonetics–phonology interface in terms of typed functions. The standard modular feedforward 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 higherorder 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 finegrained 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 nearmerger, and variation in homophone duration. Consequently, these types of systematic finegrained phonetic patterns do not necessarily provide evidence against discrete, symbolic phonology.