Sociophonetic Variation

What we have seen so far has dealt with variable productions due to linguistic contexts (word/syllable positions, adjacent segments, stress, etc.) and regionally manifested variation. In recent years attention has also been paid to sociophonetic variation (aspects of phonetic realizations that vary as a function of a range of social factors, such as age, gender, ethnicity, class, and individual identity). Investigations of how phonetic detail indexes social categories encompass both consonantal and vocalic variations. What follow are some consonantal variations mentioned in the literature.

A frequently cited consonantal variation indexing social class comes from Labov’s (1972) New York City study, which investigated the absence or presence of postvocalic /ɹ̣/, as in fourth, floor etc., and found statistically significant differences among socioeconomic classes. Absence of postvocalic /ɹ̣/ is a common phenomenon in New York City. Members of higher socioeconomic groups typically use postvocalic /ɹ̣/ more than those of lower social groups; thus, the use of /ɹ̣/ was associated with high prestige, and the lack of it with low prestige. To test this claim, Labov used data from salespeople in three department stores associated with different levels of prestige: Saks (upper middle-class customers, thus ‘high prestige’), Klein’s (working-class customers, thus ‘low prestige’), and Macy’s, the store that was in between the two others in prestige and socioeconomic class. Results confirmed the hypothesis that the variation of postvocalic /ɹ̣/s was indexed by different socioeconomic groups. Everybody dropped their /ɹ̣/s some of the time, but the least absence was found with the salespeople in Saks. The highest degree of dropped /ɹ̣/s was found with the salespeople in Klein’s. The salespeople in Macy’s fell in the middle. We should, however, immediately add that the relationship of presence or absence of the r-sound in this position and class is entirely arbitrary, for in another variety (e.g. in England) the opposite social evaluation of coda /ɹ/ can be found; the presence of the final /ɹ/ is often considered as a sign of low social status (Wells 1982).

Group membership can also interact with phonetic productions. In the speech of two rival street gangs, Labov (1972) found several non-standard forms including [n] for /ŋ/ and [d] or [v] for /ð/. The productions, however, were considerably higher by the ‘core members’ of both gangs than by peripheral associates of either group.

Bucholtz (1998, 1999) found that, to differentiate themselves from their peers, ‘nerds’ in California produced the released forms of word-final /t/, instead of the typical unreleased or glottalized forms.

Dubois and Horvath’s (1998, 1999) studies, looking at Louisiana Cajun English speakers, showed that “network strength” and age can interact with phonetic productions. Resurgent use of dental stops [t̪] and [d̪] for /θ/ and /ð/ respectively was found in younger informants (20–39 years of age) who were “closed network members” (enclave or otherwise insular communities) and not in “open network members” (individuals who were more participa tive in the wider society).

Finally, “perceived gender of the speaker” has been shown to influence perception. Strand and Johnson (1996) found that participants shifted in their perception of a /s/–/ʃ/ continuum depending on the perceived gender of the speaker. A sibilant was more likely to be perceived as /ʃ/ when participants were shown a photo of a person more stereotypically female. This finding is consistent with the differences in production between males and females, because females have a higher acoustic boundary between /s/ and /ʃ/ in production.