yod-dropper

noun

A person whose speech features yod-dropping.

Meanings

nounyod-dropper (plural yod-droppers)

plural yod-droppers

  1. A person whose speech features yod-dropping.

    British English speakers are reluctant yod-droppers here.

    2002, Kate Burridge, Blooming English: Observations on the Roots, Cultivation and Hybrids of the English Language, ABC Books, →ISBN, page 31
    2 more examples

    By contrast, Chad, 44, has no academic connection and is, correctly, a self-reported yod-dropper.

    2015, Stefan Dollinger, The Written Questionnaire in Social Dialectology: History, Theory, Practice (IMPACT: Studies in Language and Society), 40, John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 85

    However, there were also several recurrent features at odds with this general pattern: the speaker was variably rhotic, i.e. he pronounced the /r/ in words such as car; he was a yod-dropper, i.e. he did not pronounce post-consonantal /j/ in words such as news; and he pronounced the in the name Palmer, which in almost all British dialects is phonologically /pɑːmə(r)/.

    2019, Paul Foulkes, Peter French, Kim Wilson, “LADO as Forensic Speaker Profiling”, in Peter L. Patrick, Monika S. Schmid, Karin Zwaan, editors, Language Analysis for the Determination of Origin: Current Perspectives and New Directions (Language Policy), Springer, →ISBN, part II (Lado Analysis), page 99
Cite this entry
APA

yod-dropper. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yod-dropper

MLA

“yod-dropper.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yod-dropper. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yod-dropper,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yod-dropper.

Source: yod-dropper on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.