How character types mediate the effect of gender on pitch and /s/ variation

smaller vocal tract larger vocal tract Pitch and /s/ variation are not fundamentally and directly linked to gender or sex, but have a complex range of indexical links which can be called upon to perform a variety of affects and character types. Effect of sex on variation is indirect and mediated by affects, stances, persona styles, character types (Ochs 1992; Eckert 1989, 2008, 2014; Eckert & McConnell-Ginet 1989) Variation does not exist to demarcate social group membership. Speakers use semiotic potential of variables to convey attitudes about the social world and position themselves Meaningful, interpretable combinations of features correspond to styles which “connect language to the types and personae which make up the social world” (Eckert 2014: 267) This study provides empirical support for the claim that the effects of sex and gender on variation are mediated and indirect, and demonstrates that many of the indexical links associated with pitch and /s/ are not necessarily rooted in gender, sex or sexuality.