Abstract
This study examines variation in the schwar realization for an area of rural Louisiana where local French varieties previously dominated and some bilingualism persists. A generational GoldVarb analysis of African American, white, and Houma (Native American) men’s speech reveals significant variation in r-ful, r-less, and diphthongal realizations by ethnoracial identity, age, and education. Apparent-time change suggests long-term, contact-influenced accommodation in which younger generations of African American men with Creole French ancestry increasingly use the dominant nondiphthongal and r-ful variants. In addition, effects of accommodation to dominant regional patterns found in the South today are observed in increasing levels of r-fulness across ethnoracial groups.
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