Rhyming the words COLT and CULT is a documented feature of some varieties of AAL, especially in the Southeastern United States (Jones, 2020; Thomas, 2007). This is called the COLT/CULT merger. It can also be found in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, according to Labov, et al., (2006). We do not expect to see this feature in our data from the Black Boston community, although it may be present for speakers with Southern Heritage.

36.9% of Black Bostonian respondents display a complete distinction between the vowels in COLT and CULT (they do not rhyme COLT and CULT). Only 7.14% of our speakers rhyme COLT and CULT. These results are as expected, given that the COLT/CULT merger has not been widely reported in AAL in the Northeast U.S. (Jones, 2020).

- Jones (2020:131)
- Labov, et al. (2006:73)
- Thomas (2007)