The Problem of Inner Speech and its relation to the Organization of Conscious Experience: a Self-Regulation Model

摘要

This paper argues for the importance of inner speech in a proper understanding of the structure of human conscious experience. It reviews one recent attempt to build a model of inner speech based on a grammaticisation (Steels, 2003). The Steels model is compared with a self-regulation model here proposed. This latter model is located within the broader literature on consciousness. I argue the role of language in consciousness is not limited to checking the grammatical correctness of prospective utterances, before they are spoken. Rather, it is more broadly activity structuring, regulating and shaping the ongoing structure of human activity in the world. Through linking inner speech to the control of attention, I argue the study of the functional role of inner speech should be a central area of analysis in our attempt to understand the development and qualitative character of human consciousness.