Sociophonetics is the study of how social factors influence the way people speak. It combines elements of sociolinguistics, which examines language in its social context, with phonetics, the study of the sounds of human speech. Researchers in this field analyze variations in pronunciation, intonation, and speech patterns across different social groups, such as age, gender, and ethnicity. By exploring these variations, sociophonetics helps us understand how language reflects social identity and group membership. It also investigates how factors like regional dialects and social class can affect speech, revealing the complex relationship between language and society.