Within Louisiana, the substitution of/h/for/¹/is a particularity of the French spoken in Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes. For the Pointe‐Au‐Chien Indians, most of whom are based in this area,/h/is a stable variant of the phoneme/¹/, and the substitution of/h/for/¹/occurs without phonological constraints. Thus the word jamais,“never,” could be pronounced variably/hame/or/¹ame/by the same speaker in the same phonological context. This intergenerational study looks at the variables that affect this phonetic choice, in particular focusing on gender and attention to speech. The data from three sub‐groups of speakers (older fluent speakers, younger fluent speakers, and semi‐speakers) were compared in order to see how the social meaning of this variation has changed as use of the French language declines in the Pointe‐Au‐Chien Indian community. The Introduction looks at the vitality of the French of the Pointe‐Au‐Chien Indians, comparing this work with other studies of language death. Chapter One provides a socio‐historical look at French in Louisiana, while Chapter Two offers a socio‐historical description of Pointe‐Aux‐Chênes, Louisiana and the Pointe‐Au‐Chien Indians. A description the French of the Pointe‐Au‐Chien Indians is given in Chapter Three. In Chapter Four, the methodology of this study is laid out, and issues from the field are addressed. An analysis of the substitution of/h/for/¹/within older fluent speakers is provided in Chapter Five. Chapter Six offers an analysis of this variation within the speech of younger fluent speakers, and in Chapter Seven, the substitution of h/for/¹/is examined within the speech of semi‐speakers. Chapter Eight summarizes the findings of this study and draws some conclusions.