linguistic chauvenisms

[Herbert Stahlke]

A retired colleague of mine, a literature professor,
just emailed me an anecdote about residents of Les iles
de la Madeleine, just off Prince Edward Island,
whose "forebears, in departing from France, carried with
them a hatred of the incumbent king.  Boycotting r
(standing for roi) has been their traditionalized
response to the situation."  Apparently the French
dialect spoken on those islands today is, at least to
some degree, r-less.  Is there any support for this
claim, or is it another case of folk linguistics?  Are
there other stories of groups so consciously making a
phonological change for such political reasons and
maintaining it across generations?  Is this an extreme
example of the Martha's Vineyard/Ocracoke phenomenon?

Herb Stahlke