It is well documented that the same sociolinguistic feature can be used as a sociolinguistic resource with different indexical potentials in different linguistic as well as social contexts. Often, however, indexical meanings of a specific feature are related to or derived from one another. In this article we present the results of a perceptual study of indexical meanings of alveolar versus fronted (s)-[s] versus [sþ]-in different registers. The data consist of responses to male speakers' use of [s] and [sþ] respectively, in two different registers that may be labelled "modern Copenhagen speech" and "street language." Results show that the [sþ] indexes femininity and gayness when it occurs in "modern Copenhagen," whereas the (s)-variation has a different and less significant effect when occurring in "street language." We discuss the implications for theories of indexical fields and the relation between features and clusters of features in speakers' perceptions. (Indexical meaning, phonetic variation, fronted /s/, perception of sexual orientation and ethnicity, matched guise technique).

The paper focuses on motivations for the spread of new features within a speech community, and on the trajectories the changes follow during diffusion. One set of data represents language use, and here focus is on two changes which have been going on in Danish over the past 40 years, one grammatical and one phonetic. The other set of data are results from a nationwide speaker evaluation experiment which tests the subconscious attitudes to different types of speech among the youth in five different places covering Denmark from east to west. Results show that changes spread centrifugally from Copenhagen, even to the extent that reversal of changes spreads from Copenhagen. Furthermore, the attitudes reflected in the speaker evaluation experiment support the theory that language change is motivated by social psychological factors. Finally, it is argued that it is worthwhile considering the possibility of media being involved in processes of linguistic change.Artiklen fokuserer på årsager til spredning af nye traek i et sprogsamfund, og på hvordan spredningen foregår. Et datasaet repraesenterer sprogbrug, og her fokuseres på to forandringer som har fundet sted i dansk gennem de sidste 40 år, en grammatisk og en fonetisk. Det andet datasaet stammer fra en landsdaekkende undersøgelse af underbevidste holdninger til forskellige typer af talesprog blandt unge på fem forskellige steder placeret i en linje der daekker Danmark fra øst til vest. Resultaterne viser at aendringerne i brug spredes centrifugalt fra København, i en grad så resten af landet følger trop også når København reverserer en igangvaerende aendring. De vurderinger der kommer til udtryk i holdningsundersøgelserne, understøtter teorien om at sprogforandring er motiveret af socialpsykologiske faktorer. Til slut argumenteres der for at det er vaerd at overveje mediernes mulige rolle i sprogforandringsprocesser. [Danish]

Previous studies have shown that the same sociolinguistic feature can be used as a sociolinguistic resource with different indexical potentials in different linguistic as well as social contexts. In this paper we present the results of a perceptual study of indexical meanings of fronted and palatalized variants of /t/ in combination with fronted /s/ in different registers of Copenhagen Danish. The data consist of responses to male speakers’ use of the two variants of /t/ in two different registers that we label “modern Copenhagen speech” and “street language.” Results show that the palatalized /t/ affects the indexicality of fronted /s/ with respect to perceived femininity and gayness when it occurs in “modern Copenhagen,” where fronted /s/ has previously been shown to index these traits. However, the variation has a different and less significant effect when occurring in “street language.” Furthermore, the effect is only found in “modern Copenhagen” if the speaker has not previously been heard to produce a fronted /s/. We discuss the implications for theories of the relation between features and clusters of features in listeners’ perceptions.

No abstract

This paper provides an introduction to the papers in this special issue on the sociophonetics of /s/. We begin by reviewing some of the principal findings on variation in the production and perception of /s/, summarizing studies in sociolinguistics, experimental phonetics, and laboratory phonology. We go on to identify similarities in the meanings associated with /s/ variation cross-linguistically, and briefly describe how theories of sound symbolism may help us to account for these patterns. We conclude this introductory article with a summary of the contributions to the special issue and a discussion of how together these articles help us to better understand that origin and trajectory of socially meaningful sociophonetic variation.