Dropping the aitch from "human"

[Alison Murie]

Grant Barrett writes:
>Can anyone offer insight into or sources covering the regions of the
>US where "h" is likely to be dropped at the beginning of words in
>which the "h" is typically pronounced in other regions? The classic
>example is the word "human."
>
>I'm not interested in discussions of just "herb," but words like
>human, humor, humid, hunger, hoot, hootenanny, hooter, hook, hush,
>hungry, humble, hundred, hunk, hunker, happy, handle, hanky, hanker
>and any others where the "h" is, or seems, likely to disappear in
>specific parts of the country.
>~~~~~~~~~
Is there a regional  pattern to whether people say "a hotel" or "an hotel"?
AM


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