TY - JOUR
T1 - Phonetic cues to depression
T2 - A sociolinguistic perspective
AU - Hall-Lew, Lauren
N1 - My unending thanks go to Teresa Pratt, whose deep engagement with this manuscript improved it beyond measure. Many thanks also to the journal editors Gabriela Alfaraz and Rebecca Roeder, and one anonymous reviewer. Shermaine Ang, Thomas Bak, and Gabrielle Hodge gave additional feedback that further strengthened the paper. This article is the result of conversations with students enrolled in the 2023 seminar, taught as part of Guided Research in Linguistics and English Language, called ‘Sociophonetics and phonetic cues to mental illness.’ Many of the ideas presented here were dialogically produced with them: Shermaine Ang, Charlotte Baskerville, Alexandra Burgess, Carrie Chow, Shutong Han, Yating He, Jiayi Liang, and Tia Sadlon. I am also grateful to the audiences of the University of Edinburgh's Language Variation and Change Research Group, the University of Lancaster's Phonetics Lab, and the University of Kent's Language and Linguistics Network for feedback on earlier versions. All errors are my own.
PY - 2024/10
Y1 - 2024/10
N2 - Phonetic data are used in several ways outside of the core field of phonetics. This paper offers the perspective of one such field, sociophonetics, towards another, the study of acoustic cues to clinical depression. While sociophonetics is interested in how, when, and why phonetic variables cue information about the world, the study of acoustic cues to depression is focused on how phonetic variables can be used by medical professionals as tools to diagnosis. The latter is only interested in identifying phonetic cues to depression, while the former is interested in how phonetic variation cues anything at all. While the two fields fundamentally differ with respect to ontology, epistemology, and methodology, I argue that there are, nonetheless, possible avenues for future engagement, collaboration, and investigation. Ultimately, both fields need to engage with Crip Linguistics for any successful intervention on the relationship between speech and depression.
AB - Phonetic data are used in several ways outside of the core field of phonetics. This paper offers the perspective of one such field, sociophonetics, towards another, the study of acoustic cues to clinical depression. While sociophonetics is interested in how, when, and why phonetic variables cue information about the world, the study of acoustic cues to depression is focused on how phonetic variables can be used by medical professionals as tools to diagnosis. The latter is only interested in identifying phonetic cues to depression, while the former is interested in how phonetic variation cues anything at all. While the two fields fundamentally differ with respect to ontology, epistemology, and methodology, I argue that there are, nonetheless, possible avenues for future engagement, collaboration, and investigation. Ultimately, both fields need to engage with Crip Linguistics for any successful intervention on the relationship between speech and depression.
U2 - 10.1111/lnc3.12529
DO - 10.1111/lnc3.12529
M3 - Review article
SN - 1749-818X
VL - 18
JO - Language and Linguistics Compass
JF - Language and Linguistics Compass
IS - 5
M1 - e12529
ER -