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This paper presents a review of the around thirty studies published during the last five decades on the acquisition of sociophonetic variation in different languages (mainly English, French and Spanish). This review is structured around the main factors of sociolinguistic variation (social background, gender, context, evaluation of the variants and their relation to production). We highlight developmental milestones for each factor so as to specify their date and order of emergence. The tendencies thus brought to light are analysed according to two theoretical issues focusing on developmental dynamics. The first issue addresses the influence of the linguistic environment on the acquisition of sociolinguistic variables. The second issue questions the driving forces of the development of sociolinguistic abilities: is it driven by learning sociolinguistic norms or is it the result of implicit learning of statistical regularities? Finally, we suggest future avenues for research in sociolinguistics conducted in a developmental perspective.