| Summary: | This paper analyses the ideologies underlying western thinking on speech in terms of the metaphorical use of two notions: the alphabet and the machine. It is argued that a subtle cooperation between these two metaphors underlies not only scientific but also technological work on speech – and, indirectly, language. Such ideologies are so deeply rooted in academic practice that attempts at solving the mind-body problem that do not incorporate them tend to be relegated to silence. This silence is shown to serve the same interests as other, more violent, ways of denying the inherent dignity of the human body. The historical status of current phonetic theories related to psychological theories that reject such metaphors is discussed in this light.
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