linguistic chauvenisms

[Benjamin Fortson]

I don't believe this for a minute. There are many documented cases of
taboo-avoidance of lexical items, including some that are quite
far-reaching, but I am unaware of any cases where a speech sound has
undergone such avoidance, except in language games maybe. Loss of, or
other change to, r is quite common as an ordinary sound change.

Ben

On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, Herbert Stahlke wrote:

> 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
>