[steven]

Wow! I was hoping you would reply. I appreciate it.

Ok, that's kind of the idea that I had. I don't know if it's my ears getting better but I feel like I've been hearing it more than ever lately... although I can't think of a reason why that'd be.

It's interesting because with Hokuriku having a lot of Kansai influence I sometimes hear about old words from Kansai that current Kansai speakers wouldn't understand. I love this kind of stuff though-- it makes me want to study Japanese history and how different dialects flowed and "fossilization" in different regions.

Just out of curiosity, does the (loose) rule that I presented apply to all words? Could a word like さがす　become さごす, could さがる become すごる？ There are certain words that seem like they can naturally be pronounced that way and words that seem like it just wouldn't work with. (すごる seems weird... さごす seems possible).