Language Accommodation in Mexican American English
An Austin, Texas Case Study
Table 1 Pronunciation and social variables | Table 2 Attitude towards pronunciation
Data: Based on transcriptions of forty 15 to 20 minute interviews in English with Mexican American fathers who are the second generation in the city.
From R. Thompson. 1975. Mexican-American English: Social Correlates of Regional Pronunciation. American Speech 50. 18-24.
Key to Tables:
SE: Spanish-influenced pronunciation is based on the pronunciation [s] where [z] could be expected in the word final position, as in the words such as the noun and verbs  "jazz" and "analyze"  or the noun plural ("cans" "boys") or 3rd person singular verb morpheme -s ("goes", "depends"). Those who devoiced more than 35% of the time were considered "Spanish influenced" .

RE: Regional pronunciation is based on the diphthong /ay/ as in "fine", with [a] being the regional pronunciation. Those who had the regional pronunciation more than 25% of the time were considered "regional".

SE: Standard English were those who neither devoiced nor used the regional pronunciation.
Table 1: Pronunciation and Three Social Variables

 Pronunciation Type

SE n=11
 RE n=15
 SIE n=14
Language at work
 Spanish
 3 (27.27%)
 5 (33.33%)
 12 (85.71%

English

 8 (72.72%)
 10  (66.67%)
 2 (14.29%)
Highest grade at school
 0-9
 7 (63.64%)
 4 (26.67%)
 11 (78.51%)

10+

 4 (36.36%)
 11 (73.33%
 3 (21.49%)
Socioeconomic status
 lower
 3 (27.27%)
 4 (26.67%)
 13 (92.86%)

upper
 8 (72.72%)
 11 (73.33%)
 1 (7.14%)

Table 2: Attitude towards Pronunciation
Question: "Do you think that people without a Spanish accent can find better work?"
Answer: "Yes."

 Pronunciation Type

SE n=11
 RE n=15
 SIE n=14
Socioeconomic status
 lower
 0
 1 (.0667%)
 6 (42.86%)

higher
 2 (18.18%)
 8 (53.33%)
 0 (0.00%)