08-08-03 17:15, Jean-Paul G. POTET wrote:

> /nd/ > /n/ occurs at least in one word : "handsome".

It occurs, at least optionally, whenever there's a consonant following
/nd/, as in <grandfather>, <landscape>, <landlord>, <kindness>,
<friendship>, <windmill>, etc. Of course, <and> easily becomes [(&)n],
though this is a special case. In earlier English the cluster was
definitely unstable word-finally, and /d/ was quite frequently added or
deleted unetymologically after /n/, as in:

astoun(e) > astound
boun > bound 'ready to go, setting out'
Mahoun > Mahound
laund > lawn
scand > scan

In non-standard accents, also nowadays, final /-nd/ is quite often
simplified, leading to homophony between <find> and <fine>.

Piotr