rate of language change

[Rick Mc Callister]

	I always perceived /hy- > y-/ as a New York City area phenomenon
that's been around for years. Carl Sagan used it, remember "yoomans"?

[ moderator snip ]

>I notice it but I and many others rarely use /hw/ in Manitoba anymore. I
>find the /hw/ pronunciation overly pronounced. I prefer to mangle all my
>words if possible. The /hj/ > /j/ change and the /hw/ > /w/ are not
>hand-in-hand since here, the pronunciation of "huge" is definitively
>/hju:d3/, not /ju:d3/, unless one is constipated. :)

[ Moderator's note:
  This discussion has moved far from Indo-European.  Let's consider it closed
  on this list.
  --rma ]