I don't think this is true. I'm pretty sure I don't ever pronounce the h in historical if I'm coming into it from "an." "Anistorical." The "i" takes care of the "h."
Also "a history" becomes "[ə:]istory" (but definitely not "an history") and "the historical" becomes "th[ə]istorical." Definitely no "h."
It gets dropped in other situations, too. "Speaking of wh[ə]distoricallyappened..." I can't be sure when I don't drop it, other than when the word is bare. Fairly boring black middle-class midwestern accent.
I don't think this is true. I'm pretty sure I don't ever pronounce the h in historical if I'm coming into it from "an." "Anistorical." The "i" takes care of the "h."
Also "a history" becomes "[ə:]istory" (but definitely not "an history") and "the historical" becomes "th[ə]istorical." Definitely no "h."
It gets dropped in other situations, too. "Speaking of wh[ə]distoricallyappened..." I can't be sure when I don't drop it, other than when the word is bare. Fairly boring black middle-class midwestern accent.