A new majority

Abstract

Representativeness in regional dialectology is critical to avoid essentialization when describing regional and ethnic language variation. Yet, regional vowel studies still tend to focus on majority-white communities. Additionally, lack of research on the Great Plains leaves research on regional variation in Latinx Englishes incomplete. We examine a majority-Latinx community in a dialect region where the Low Back Vowel Merger Shift (LBMS) is widespread to examine participation in this sound shift and to document Latinx variation in the Great Plains. Findings illustrate the widespread presence of the LBMS for all participants, but with a less pronounced prenasal trap/ban split. The latter represents a vocalic pattern attested in numerous US Latinx communities. Anglos from the majority-Latinx field site variably pattern with their Latinx peers in their production of ban. These patterns illustrate participation in regional sound changes while also documenting supra-regional variation and local participation in Latinx English variants by Anglo peers.