Yodless

In other contexts, yodless forms made the Roubaix-Tourcoing distinctive from their French and Lille equivalents [kaʀti], [piʀ] and [di] quartier ‘quarter’, ‘neighbourhood’, Pierre ‘Peter’, Dieu ‘God’, cf. [kaʀtje], [pjɛʀ], [djø].

The younger the speaker is, the more yodless is the pronunciation, while the more educated the speaker is, the more yod is used (or retained) in this particular phonological environment.

Hence yod not only does not strengthen word-initially; it also often disappears, yielding yod-ful and yodless variants in the daughter languages, sometimes even in the same language (cf. Cz už - juž).