In the transmission of a language from one generation to another, the specific role of the family is not clear. There is evidence that in cities parents have less influence on a child's vernacular than playmates do; in rural areas, members of the nuclear family might be the major source of language change and stability, if the people with whom children interact the most are the ones who determine their language socialization. A sociolinguistic study of phonological variables, based on interviews eliciting formal and casual speech from four generations of a rural Ozark family, indicates that even in rural settings the family may be only a minor influence on the phonetic character of speech. Results from a pilot study show discontinuities among family members as well as similarities and progressive changes: /ey/ is becoming more centralized in each generation and is developing strong prosodic conditioning, while /ay/ varies from near-monophthong to definite diphthong, but not along the generational parameter, and is emerging as a marker of sexual identity. The influence of family members may be one of the factors affecting language change, but it appears not to be a strong factor even in rural areas. Statistical tables and diagrams are appended. (Author/AM)