A two‐state model ofF0 dynamics in speech production has been developed which characterizesF0 control as a succession of alternating steady‐state and transition control states. The control states have been defined in terms of pitch period distribution parameters obtained in an earlier study [R. J. Hanson and P. F. MacNeilage, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.55, S31(P8) (1974)]. The model attempts to synthesize observations about sensorimotor integration in speech while capitalizing on differences in the perception and production of steady‐state versus transition portions of the speech signal. A preliminary version of the model has been implemented in aFORTRANprogram and used to recognize certain control state changes in a database gathered in two previous studies [R. J. Hanson, Proc. 9th Int. Congr. Acoust.1, 519 (1977), and R. J. Hanson, 7th Int. Congr. Phon. Sci. (1975)]. The results produced by the model compare very favorably with those produced by hand segmentation, indicating the viability of defining control states with distributional parameters.