Consonants H

As Wells points out, /h/-dropping is prevalent in the vernacular accents of the Midlands and Middle North in initial or medial position. /h/ is especially likely to be canonically deleted in word-initial position (as shown by numerous audio and written examples, and noted also by Biddulph 1986: 3).

The BCDP data suggest that /h/-dropping is near-canonical in the WM dialect, although Mathisen (1999: 110) in Sandwell found it to be typical of teenage and working-class speech.

There is also written evidence for epenthetic (hypercorrect) /h/ in Bm <haprond> apron, and for realization as [w] initially in BC <wum> home (also <hum>, <’um>).