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Cited by 26Linguistic Variation and MorphologyLinguistic and Sociocultural StudiesGender Studies in Language

Whose gendered voices matter?: Race and gender in the articulation of /s/ in Bakersfield, California

Calder, J., King, Sharese·2022·Journal of Sociolinguistics
DOI 10.1111/josl.12584
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Abstract

/s/ frontness is one of the most robustly studied linguistic variables in language and gender research. While much previous literature has established the pattern that women produce fronter /s/ than men, production work on /s/ has either largely focused on White speakers or left speaker race unexplored. This article addresses this gap by examining the production of /s/ among African American and White speakers in Bakersfield, California. While the White speakers exhibit a gender split consonant with previous studies, African American Bakersfieldians exhibit no gender split, with African American men producing /s/ as front as African American women. We argue that African American men in Bakersfield avoid a backed production of /s/ indexical of a White country identity which has historically oppressed them in the area. These production patterns illuminate the importance of an intersectional analysis, taking into account the effect of speaker race on gendered variables like /s/.

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  1. DeCamp D.(1953).The pronunciation of English in San Francisco[Unpublished dissertation].University of California.
  2. Geenberg K.(2014).The other California: Marginalization and sociolinguistic variation in Trinity County[Unpublished dissertation].Stanford University.
  3. Guzik K. M., 2004, Acoustic analysis of phonetic parameters of less masculine sounding German speech, Arbeitsberichte des Instituts fuer Phonetik und Digitale Sprachverarbeitung Universitaet Kiel, 36, 15
  4. Hall‐Lew L.(2009).Ethnicity and phonetic variation in a San Francisco neighborhood[Unpublished dissertation].Stanford University.
  5. King S., 2016, On the negotiation of racial and regional identities: Vocalic Variation in African Americans from Bakersfield. University of Pennsylvania Working, Papers in Linguistics, 22, 100
  6. Labov W. Cohen P. Robins C. &Lewis J.(1968).A study of non‐standard English of Negro and Puerto Rican speakers in New York City: The use of language in the speech community. Final Rep. Cooperative Res. Proj. 3288 Vol. 2.Columbia Univ.
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  9. Podesva R. J., 2014, How conservatism and normative gender constrain variation in inland California, University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, 20, 15
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  12. Wolfram W., 1969, A sociolinguistic description of Detroit Negro speech

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Authors
Calder, J., & King, S.
Affiliations
  • University of Colorado Boulder (US)
  • University of Chicago (US)
Corresponding author
Calder, J.
ORCID
King, Sharese
Venue
Journal of Sociolinguistics
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2022-07-07
Volume
26
Issue
5
Pages
604-623
ISSN
  • 1360-6441 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9841
DOI
10.1111/josl.12584
OpenAlex
W4284896288
Cited by
26
References
66
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1
FWCI
12.82
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
Journal of Sociolinguistics (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Linguistic Variation and Morphology
  • Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Studies in Language
Keywords
gender and speech, intersectionality, Bakersfield, phonetic variation

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