What information does the motor speech programmer analyze?

• A. Linguistic, motor, sensory, and emotional information
• B. Linguistic information only
• C. Motor information only
• D. Sensory information only

Answer: (A)

The motor speech programmer builds a plan for speaking by pulling together multiple kinds of information. It uses linguistic information to know what needs to be said in terms of word forms, phonemes, and syntax. It then converts that into motor commands, figuring out precisely which muscles to move, in what order, and with what timing and force. It also weighs sensory information, estimating how the produced speech should feel and sound, so it can monitor and adjust during execution. In addition, emotional information shapes the prosody and intonation, adding emphasis, rhythm, and affect to fit the communicative context. Because all four types—linguistic, motor, sensory, and emotional—inform the plan, the motor speech programmer analyzes all of them to generate a coherent and accurate speech sequence.