ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview into sociolinguistic variation in laterals, summarizing the wide-ranging research on the English-speaking world, as well as an overview of other languages. Variationist and sociophonetic studies are considered, showing that /l/ variation is often conditioned by social factors such as age, gender, class, and ethnicity. A full range of phonetic methods are presented, including both acoustic and articulatory approaches to measuring /l/. A novel case study of /l/ in Lancashire is provided, demonstrating that Lancashire /l/ is an all-dark variety of English, with the relative degree of darkness conditioned by linguistic and social factors. Future avenues for /l/ research are discussed, highlighting the work yet to be done by sociophoneticians.
