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Advances in Sociophonetics
Sociophonetics is a privileged domain for the investigation of language variation and change. By combining theoretical reflections and sophisticated techniques of analysis – both phonetic and statistical – it is possible to extrapolate the role of individual factors (socio-cultural, physiological, communicative-interactional, etc.) in the multidimensional space of speech variation.
This book investigates the fundamental relationship between speech variation and the social background of speakers from articulatory, acoustic, dialectological, and conversational perspectives, thus breaking new ground with respect to classical variationist and dialectological studies. Specialists from a broad range of disciplines – including phonetics, phonology, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and cognitive linguistics – will find innovative suggestions for multiple approaches to language variation. Although presuming some basic knowledge of experimental phonetics and sociolinguistics, the book is addressed to all readers with an interest in speech and language variation mechanisms in social interaction.
This book investigates the fundamental relationship between speech variation and the social background of speakers from articulatory, acoustic, dialectological, and conversational perspectives, thus breaking new ground with respect to classical variationist and dialectological studies. Specialists from a broad range of disciplines – including phonetics, phonology, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and cognitive linguistics – will find innovative suggestions for multiple approaches to language variation. Although presuming some basic knowledge of experimental phonetics and sociolinguistics, the book is addressed to all readers with an interest in speech and language variation mechanisms in social interaction.
[Studies in Language Variation, 15] 2014. vi, 214 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 2 June 2014
Published online on 2 June 2014
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
- Introduction: Sociophonetic perspectives on language variationChiara Celata and Silvia Calamai | pp. 1–14
- Part I. Variation and sociolinguistics
- The sociophonetic orientation of the language learnerWilliam Labov | pp. 17–28
- French liaison and the lexical repositoryBernard Laks, Basilio Calderone and Chiara Celata | pp. 31–56
- Part II. Sources and functions of sociophonetic variation: Case studies
- Derhoticisation in Scottish English: A sociophonetic journeyJane Stuart-Smith, Eleanor Lawson and James M. Scobbie | pp. 59–96
- Where and what is (t, d)? A case study in taking a step back in order to advance sociophoneticsRosalind Temple | pp. 97–136
- New parameters for the sociophonetic indexes: Evidence from the Tuscan varieties of ItalianGiovanna Marotta | pp. 137–168
- Sound archives and linguistic variation: The case of the Phlegraean diphtongsRosanna Sornicola and Silvia Calamai | pp. 169–186
- Part III. What is (and what is not) a sociophonetic change
- Ejectives in English and German: Linguistic, sociophonetic, interactional, epiphenomenal?Adrian Simpson | pp. 189–204
- Author Index | pp. 205–208
- Subject Index | pp. 209–214
“Sociophonetics is a fairly recent development in the general field of language variation and change. The term primarily denotes a phonetically accountable approach to the interplay between individual and community manifested in the distribution of phonetic variants. As shown in these chapters, sociophonetic analysis often has an overtly cognitive focus, and works with consonantal variation more commonly and comfortably than earlier analysis in the LVC tradition. The volume consists of seven high quality contributions by both well known and less established scholars from a number of different language communities. Using a variety of modern laboratory phonetic procedures, the volume covers variation in French, German, Italian and several varieties of English. The research presented is innovatory, well written and well documented, and offers essential reading for students and researchers in this field.”
Lesley Milroy, University of Michigan
“Chiara Celata and Silvia Calamai's book guides the reader through recent developments in sociophonetics. The book is important for those interested in learning the sources and functions of sociophonetic variation. In this exciting new book, the contributors show how the understanding of variation and sociolinguistics gives new perspectives on language variation. The book is also important for those interested in the cognitive representation of phonetic variation.”
Didier Demolin, Stendhal University, Grenoble and director of the SLD team of GIPSA-lab, Grenoble
“This is a most welcome collection of papers in the emerging field of sociophonetics. The research presented here offers methodological advances, critical insights into the roots of the field, and both theoretical innovation and empirical challenge. The collection will be of interest to a wide range of scholars within and beyond phonetics and sociolinguistics.”
Paul Foulkes, University of York
“[A] welcome contribution to sociophonetic research. It is distinct from existing literature in the field on a number of levels, including its general focuses on consonants rather than vowels, on European languages rather than American Englishes, and on contributors' explorations into more abstract questions of phonology and cognition rather than on presentations of large sets of data.”
Christopher Strelluf, on Linguist List 26.1467, March 2015
Cited by (10)
Cited by ten other publications
Avano, Giuditta & Piero Cossu
Cesari, Elisabeth, Bernard Laks & Frédéric Isel
Barbosa, Plínio Almeida, Sandra Madureira, Renata Regina Passetti & Cláudia Regina Brescancini
Jacewicz, Ewa, Lian J. Arzbecker, Robert A. Fox & Shuang Liu
Montanari, Simona, Robert Mayr & Kaveri Subrahmanyam
Hickey, Raymond
Candea, Maria & Cyril Trimaille
[no author supplied]
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