Figure 2.3 (r) after vowels
Source: Labov et al. 2006: 48. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, De Gruyter
More recently new studies of r-lessness in Manhattan indicate that the
distributions by socioeconomic class are stable (Fowler 1986). This is a
good demonstration of the fact that variation is symbolic, that it is not
necessarily unidirectional and further, that socioeconomic and
sociolinguistic distributions do not necessary change at all. Speech that