This study was an attempt to account for the motor control of speech production by a model in which discrete phoneme commands are modified according to phonological context by three motor system mechanisms. The model was evaluated by consideration of high‐speed cinelluorograms, and electromyograms from nine articulatory locations, recorded while one subject produced 36 consonant‐vowel consonant monosyllables. The syllables were formed by every possible combination of initial and final consonants /b/, /d/, and /g/, and the syllable nuclei /i/, /u/, /æ/, and /ɔ/. In every possible case, some aspect of the motor control of a later syllable component was influenced by the identity of the previous one. Except in a few cases, some aspect of the motor control of an earlier syllable component was influenced by the identity of the following one. These latter influences were of greater magnitude and complexity, and more reflected in movement, in the initial consonant than in the vowel. Some of the context effects on phonemes could be accounted for by the three motor system mechanisms but a number could not. The results suggested that syllabic factors are influential in the “premotor” command structure of speech, and, in particular, that the CV form is a relatively cohesive component of CVC syllables.