I can hear people say "human" without the h-sound, while in other words like "huge", the h isn't dropped.
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Because sometimes "h" is silent. And it often depends on the speaker and the accent he has grown up with. There are people who pronounce the "h" in "heirloom".– Hot LicksCommented Oct 28, 2018 at 11:38
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1@HotLicks Which dialects pronounce the "h" in "heirloom"?– LawrenceCommented Oct 28, 2018 at 12:34
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@HotLicks Don't words like "hour" or "heir(loom)" have silent h's by default? Who says the h in "heirloom"? If anything, this h-dropping before u is the dialectal, non-"standard" thing, not the other one.– Vun-Hugh VawCommented Oct 28, 2018 at 12:40
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@Vun-HughVaw -- The usual pronunciation of "heirloom" is with a silent "h", but there are a few billion people in the world, and not all of them pronounce it the same way. I'm thinking that there's a British dialect where the "h" is pronounced.– Hot LicksCommented Oct 28, 2018 at 12:43
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@HotLicks that's kinda a moot point. Indians say v for w, so surely there are many different ways to pronounce words or sound, but unless the question is asked otherwise, I think you should always default your answer to the most commonly taught varieties, ie General American or Received Pronunciation. Not to mention your comment was misleading because it implies that "there are [some] people" while in fact it's a standard pronunciation, unlike the non standard pronunciation this question is concerned about.– Vun-Hugh VawCommented Oct 28, 2018 at 13:18
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1 Answer
Your premise is incorrect. Most people pronounce the /h/ in both human and huge. And out of those people who drop the /h/ in human, most of them also drop the /h/ in huge, humor, humid, and so forth.
See this article. It's a trait found in several local dialects, including those of New York City, Philadelphia, Cork, and Dublin. For these speakers, words starting hu /hju.../ are pronounced with yu /ju.../.
answered Oct 28, 2018 at 12:18
