ABSTRACT
The chapter presents the main questions in the field of French sociophonetics, taking into account the most important studies on the different factors influencing phonetic variation, from traditional dialectology to current research about heterogeneity in French pronunciation. In retracing the history of the field beginning long before the label “sociophonetics” emerged, we explore a broad spectrum of research questions, as well as results about the acquisition, production, and perception of precise variants of phonemes and precise aspects of voice quality, in connection with different social affiliations of French speakers. Finally, a summary is provided of recent results based on mixed approaches in a case study of the palatalized and affricated pronunciation of /t/ and /d/ as a potential ongoing phonetic change in French.
