A concise introduction to sociophonetics, this book links research in sociolinguistics, phonetics, speech sciences, and psycholinguistics.

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 provides a cutting-edge exploration of the social meaning of phonetic variation in the Spanish-speaking world. Its 11 chapters elucidate the ways in which listeners process, perceive, and propagate phonetically motivated social meaning across monolingual and contact varieties, including the Spanish spoken in Spain (Asturias, Catalonia, and Andalusia), Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and the United States. The book presents a wide variety of new and innovative research by renowned scholars, and the chapters examine issues like the influence of visual cues, bilingualism, contact, geographic mobility, and phonotactic predictability on social and linguistic perception. Additionally, the volume engages in timely discussions of intersectionality, replicability, and the future of the field. As the first unified reference on Spanish sociophonetic perception, this volume will be useful in graduate and undergraduate classrooms, in libraries, and on the bookshelf of any scholar interested in Spanish sociophonetics.

Sociophonetics is one of the sub-branches of the discipline that has attracted a great deal of attention over the last decade. Recent advances in speech science and their technological simulations allow increasingly sophisticated studies of the progress of language contact and change. These studies, particularly those at the level of pronunciation, show that language variety is robust and socially embedded in interesting ways. Instrumental studies of language variety contact and change have focused on the role of social categories and attitudes in variety perception as well as production. Some of the studies presented in this volume look at the specific role of social factors in the formation, progress, and deterrence of intralingual contact and change; while others look at the ways in which social identities and beliefs influence a listener's ability to identify and comprehend varieties. These studies use detailed acoustic analyses of production speech data and of responses to samples of data based on such analyses. Although the book assumes some knowledge of basic acoustics and variationist studies, the general introduction provides a review of practices in the field, including those of collection, analysis, and interpretation.

Sociophonetics – the interface of sociolinguistics and phonetics – is a field that has expanded rapidly in recent years. A subject that requires both methodological and theoretical assessment for study, sociophonetics has never before been presented in a way that ties these fundamental strands together so successfully. This comprehensive and user friendly introduction seamlessly marries the dual cores of sociophonetics into one accessible text. In a methodical and structured approach, Sociophonetics: An Introduction: - Provides detailed analysis of phonetic variables, discussing consonants, vowels, prosody and voice quality - Includes clear and thorough explanations of how to measure linguistic phenomena and conduct acoustic analyses and perception experiments - Covers a variety of theoretical approaches, including exemplar theory and cognitive sociolinguistics - Examines, through theoretical issues, how sociolinguistics, phonetics and cognitive linguistics are linked Thomas' innovative and friendly introduction to sociophonetics presents both a guide for advanced beginners as well as a basis for further development of professional research.

-incorporates exercises and projects in each chapter --

This book provides a fascinating account of the psycholinguistic and social factors behind variation in speech timing in US English. With detailed discussions of its methods and data, it also acts as a valuable model for conducting corpus (socio)phonetic research.

The Routledge Handbook of Sociophonetics is the definitive guide to sociophonetics. Offering a practical and accessible survey of an unparalleled range of theoretical and methodological perspectives, this is the first handbook devoted to sociophonetic research and applications of sociophonetics within and beyond linguistics. It defines what sociophonetics is as a field and offers views of what sociophonetics might become. Split into three sections, this book: • examines the suprasegmental, segmental, and subsegmental units that sociophoneticians study; • reveals the ways that sociophoneticians create knowledge and solve problems across a range of theoretical and practical applications; • explores sociophonetic traditions around the world in spoken and signed languages; • includes case studies that demonstrate sociophonetic research in action, which will support and inspire readers to conduct their own projects. This handbook is an indispensable resource for researchers, undergraduate and graduate students in sociophonetics, as well as researchers and students in sociolinguistics, phonetics, phonology, language variation and change, cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, speech pathology, and language teaching—and indeed any area of study where phonetics and phonology interact with social factors and forces.

The major task of this book is a sociophonetic exploration of voice pitch characteristics of speakers across the cultures of Japan and America. This volume makes a cogent argument for the socio-cultural role of voice pitch in the expression of emotion and politeness and how culture and gender can intersect with each other. The book tenders acoustic phonetic evidence (as well as discourse analyses) in construing how an individual's voice pitch modulation utilized in conversational speech is reflected in this intersection as it demonstrates several methodological innovations crucial for sociophonetic research. Observations of people's voice pitch commonly made impressionistically not only contribute to this prosodic feature's perceptual stereotypes, but also inform us about our attitudes towards certain voice pitch characteristics. This volume includes an extensive review of these impressionistic remarks and acoustic phonetic investigations of voice pitch initiated in the early 20th century in the two nations, the latter of which contributed to both confirming and reconsidering the former. The volume further alludes to how attitudinal differences between these cultures were found to surface in the acoustically measured voice pitch modulation patterns obtained for this volume, stressing that voice pitch is capable of revealing various socio-cultural aspects of human behaviors.

Applying a sociophonetic research paradigm, this volume presents an investigation of variation and change in the Scottish Standard English accent. Based on original audio recordings made in Edinburgh, it provides detailed acoustic and auditory analyses of selected accent features. In contrast to other studies of English in Scotland, the focus is on the extent to which certain characteristics of middle-class speech are susceptible (or immune) to the influence of Southern Standard British English, or vary in ways unrelated to that influence. Beyond the fine-grained patterns of variation that are revealed, the study highlights innovative methodological approaches to sociophonetic variation and contributes to a better general understanding of the status and function of Scottish Standard English. The book will be of general interest to sociolinguists and sociophoneticians, and of particular interest to researchers or students concerned with phonetic or phonological aspects of Scottish English.