Introduction: Tracing the origin of /s/ variation

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.

Crosslinguistic perceptions of /s/ among English, French, and German listeners

“…Modeling the indexicality of =s= variation will draw on our results, those of Boyd (2018a, 2018b), and those in the 2017 special issue of Linguistics on "The Sociophonetics of =s=" (Levon, Maegaard, & Pharao, 2017), and the papers therein. First, recall that any attributions of =s= variation to differences in vocal tract anatomy cannot account for all observed social differences in =s= production (Fuchs & Toda, 2010).…”

“…Indexicality is situated in and not an inherent property of the cue itself (Pharao, Maegaard, Møller, & Kristiansen, 2014;Stuart-Smith, 2007), and there is some suggestion that nonspeech sounds can accrue indexicality if contextualized as speech Szakay, 2006). This line of reasoning extends, for example, to the line between indexicality and sound symbolism (e.g., Eckert, 2012Eckert, , 2017Levon, Maegaard, & Pharao, 2017), which remains an active area of inquiry. One approach is to test for shared social meanings for the "same" sound across different languages.…”

Affrication as the cause of /s/-retraction: Evidence from Manchester English

“…Although this study is concerned with context-specific /s/-retraction, there is of course a wealth of evidence highlighting the degree of within-and between-speaker variability in the production of sibilants more generally and the factors that condition these patterns of synchronic variation (Newman et al 2001;Stuart-Smith 2007;Levon et al 2017). This is particularly the case for /s/, in which variation has been shown to have taken on socio-indexical meaning: more fronted /s/ realisations are perceived as less masculine and more gay and, in production, are more frequent among male speakers who are gay or bisexual (Campbell-Kibler 2011;Podesva & Van Hofwegen 2014;Levon 2014).…”

Contextualizing /s/ retraction: Sibilant variation and change in Washington D.C. African American Language

“…A wealth of literature demonstrates that /s/ is variable both in terms of its socioindexicality (Campbell-Kibler, 2011; Levon, Maegaard, & Pharao, 2017; Munson, McDonald, DeBoe, & White, 2006; Podesva & Van Hofwegen, 2015; Stuart-Smith, 2007; Zimman, 2017) and phonological conditioning (Baker, Archangeli, & Mielke, 2011; Stevens & Harrington, 2016), which likely underlies the general observation that /s/ shows a large degree of interspeaker variation (e.g., Newman et al, 2001; Kraljic & Samuel, 2007; Stuart-Smith et al, 2020). Few prior studies have examined both socioindexical and phonetic factors as sources of /s/ variability together, so here we consider each in turn, followed by a closer examination of /stɹ/.…”

“…Additionally, and as central focus to this paper, much of this work has examined gender as a primary axis of variation, demonstrating that women generally show fronter /s/ than men (Fuchs & Toda, 2010; Holliday, Beckman, & Mays, 2010; Stevens & Harrington, 2016; Stuart-Smith, 2007; Stuart-Smith et al, 2019). Gender differences for /s/ have also been observed to interact with social class, with women of lower socioeconomic strata showing /s/ positions closer to men in their communities (Levon et al, 2017; Levon & Holmes-Elliott, 2013; Stuart-Smith, 2007, 2020). The interaction between gender and social class, moreover, has been fundamental in identifying the social variability of /s/, refuting earlier claims that the fronter /s/ of women is solely the result of physiological differences driven by sex differentiation (Fuchs & Toda, 2010; Stuart-Smith, 2007).…”