Extragrammatical factors and the locus of sociophonetic variation

Abstract This chapter considers the influence of grammar-external conditioning factors on sociophonetic variation. Although sociostylistic factors are also understood to be extragrammatical, the focus here is on factors that reflect the physical and psychological systems used for the online production of variation. The chapter suggests that by investigating the empirical properties of extragrammatical conditioning on sociophonetic variation, we can learn more about the locus of variation for phenomena at the phonetics–phonology interface. Psycholinguistic priming is considered as an example of an extragrammatical factor that demonstrates both the challenges and potential benefits of understanding extragrammatical factors. Finally, the chapter raises questions about how extragrammatical factors like priming might interact with sociostylistic factors as ultimately their influences may be inextricable.