THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICALISSUES IN THE PHONETICS OF SOUND CHANGE

It has long been understood that speakers produce and listeners perceive non-random, systematic phonetic variants that serve as the raw material for sound change. This understanding underlies much of the current research on the phonetic underpinnings of change, which includes study of (i) general phonetic principles underlying variation, (ii) specific phonetic ‘preconditions’ and biases arguably linked to specific patterns of phonological instability and change, and (iii) the production and perception of variation by speaker-listeners in situations of actual ongoing change and by interacting agents in computational simulations of change.