Dropping final consonants

[AAllan at AOL.COM]

A non-linguist colleague of mine declares that he hears students dropping
final consonants. He puts it this way:

<<Perhaps it is only my imagination, but are younger people leaving final

consonants off words?  Many students, it seems to me, are saying "buh" for

"but," "wha'" for "what," "tha" for "that," etc.  Have you noticed anything

like this?  If it is occurring, what could be the cause?>>

and then he followed up with

<<Ten minutes ago, toward the end of a twenty minute

conversation with a fine student, I said to myself, "I wish Allan were here
to

listen to this."  She is highly intelligent, focused, etc., but she repeatedly

dropped the last consonant from words.  About two minutes ago another
student,

a fellow, dropped by, and he did the same in about five instances.  (Maybe

it's my hearing!)>>

Anything new to this? Is it just a matter of hearing what has been happening
all along? - Allan Metcalf