This study examined the relationship between nonmainstream American English (NMAE) dialect use and various emergent literacy skills among typically developing children in prekindergarten. Correlation and regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between children's production of NMAE forms (i.e., dialect variation [DVAR]) and their alphabet knowledge, name writing, print concepts, and phonological awareness. The sample of 4-year-olds was diverse: 57.6% were African American and 33.3% participated in free and reduced lunch programs. Moderate, negative significant correlations were found between DVAR and all measures, except name writing. However, with the exception of nursery rhyme awareness, DVAR did not independently contribute to children's performance when it was entered into regression models with related emergent literacy skills as predictor variables. The results suggest an indirect role for NMAE use in emergent literacy achievement and that frequency of spoken NMAE production may be secondary to children's metalinguistic skills. (Contains 3 tables.)