The Illustration of Phonetics

The Journal of Phonetic is about the illustration of sociophonetic variation within speech, stressing both its frequency and also the moderately minor role it has played in the development of phonetic and phonological theory. Evaluating evidence from studies of adults and children, the article advocates that cognitive illustrations of words combine linguistic and directorial information. Both types of information are present from the first stages of acquisition. It advocates that an exemplar-based model of phonological knowledge offers the most useful means of modeling sociophonetic variation. Some of the characteristics of an exemplar-based account of sociophonetic variability and highlight some strands of investigation which would facilitate its further development are also discussed. In this article they found that the exemplar-based framework provides a basis for understanding the integration of lexical and indexical information within memory. They say the key element in accounting for the sociophonetic properties of speech is to reason in an understanding of how individuals make their social world and how they use language to position themselves within it.

Journal of Phonetics, Volume 34, Issue 4, October 2006, Pages 409-438Paul Foulkes, Gerard Docherty