Abstract
How relevant is indexicality to the acquisition of phonetics and phonology? In this paper we address this question resorting to the multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) technique and commenting on the sociophonetically relevant phenomenon of rhotics. MCA can help us understanding the linguistic and sociolinguistic factors that determine the distribution of /r/ in a sample of speakers from Bozen-Bolzano, and appreciating that indexicality is not external to the phonological system, at least to the extent that it determines a set of rules on the choice and distribution of allophones in the system.