AAE /hw/

[David Bergdahl]

>dInIs (who as a result of this speech handicap misunderstood a
>younger colleague who said 'white' to have said 'wide' just yesterday)

There's a new 100 watt station in town, aptly named WEAK-FM-LP that has
local weather forecasts in which I consistently mishear "light and variable
winds" as "FLAT and variable"--now, perhaps, Dennis has supplied an
explanation: the loss of glide before a voiceless consonant.  However, that
leaves unresolved the preaspirated (or voiceless?) /l/ and the fronted
vowel.  Any insights?