I've got perhaps two counterarguments to Wikipedia's, as well as many articles' claims on that the merging of n-'s with l-'s is a "lazy sound from the new generation".
Firstly, the name for 南丫島 is "Lamma Island". There is only one reason why it is an "l" and not an "n": The British heard the sound as an /l/. So either at the time, HKers already merged n's with l's (which is nowhere close to "younger generation"), or the Brits had failed to distinguish between n's and l's, which people would probably disagree with.
The other reason is that my father does not pronounce n- or ng- initials, despite him doing so in English. This proves that it isn't HKers' incapability of pronouncing an /n/ initial, and it isn't "the younger generation being lazy", but rather, a sound passed down from the older generation, resembling a sound change. Although, my grandmother appears to distinguish between n-'s and l-'s in Canto.
Firstly, the name for 南丫島 is "Lamma Island". There is only one reason why it is an "l" and not an "n": The British heard the sound as an /l/. So either at the time, HKers already merged n's with l's (which is nowhere close to "younger generation"), or the Brits had failed to distinguish between n's and l's, which people would probably disagree with.
The other reason is that my father does not pronounce n- or ng- initials, despite him doing so in English. This proves that it isn't HKers' incapability of pronouncing an /n/ initial, and it isn't "the younger generation being lazy", but rather, a sound passed down from the older generation, resembling a sound change. Although, my grandmother appears to distinguish between n-'s and l-'s in Canto.