Studying Sociophonetics in Second Languages

Sociophonetics is a subfield of linguistics which aims to answer sociolinguistic questions using phonetics methods and data. Recently, there has been an expansion of sociophonetic studies focusing on second language and bilingual speech. This chapter synthesizes the existing second language sociophonetic research with a focus on methods used. It first discusses tools employed in the study of speech production, including data collection, transcription, segmentation, coding, and analysis. Second language sociophonetic perception work involves perception of second language speakers and perception by second language speakers. Relevant methodological considerations discussed are the choice of variable (segmental, suprasegmental, or global), its coding (categorical vs. continuous), and type of task (e.g., identification, classification, or scales). Existing second language sociophonetic studies are offered as examples throughout.