Words, Woods, Woyds: Variation and Accommodation in Schwar Realization among African American, White, and Houma Men in Southern Louisiana

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.

The New York City–New Orleans connection: Evidence from constraint ranking comparison

“…Berger's (1980) analysis focused on the inception of BIRD-diphthongization in NYCE and attempted to pinpoint the source of this feature based on the historical record. This feature has been documented throughout the South, in locations ranging from South Carolina to Texas to Arkansas to regions of Louisiana outside of New Orleans (Strand et al, 2010;Thomas, 2001;Underwood, 1982). Within NYCE, Berger noted that the earliest reference to BIRD-diphthongization is in an 1859 essay, and that mention of this feature is notably absent in several earlier linguistic descriptions of New York City speech.…”

“…At this time, Southern speech was viewed as prestigious, and Southerners and New Yorkers were in contact at multiple social levels. Berger's analysis of bird -diphthongization relies on this feature's embeddedness within the variably nonrhotic Southern dialect, which dominated an expansive geographic area across the South, from Texas to the Atlantic coast (see also Strand, Wroblewski, & Good, 2010; Thomas, 2001; Underwood, 1982), while New York City as a variably nonrhotic variety was small and isolated. Logically, Berger argued, the transfer of bird -diphthongization would be from the geographically dominant South to New York City.…”