Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 5 down vote favorite

I heard people saying "Of-fen" as well as "Of-ton". Till now I have been using the first one but few days ago I had an interviewer who pronounced often "Of-Ton" while interviewing.

share|improve this question
1  
"Often" could be pronounced a variety of different ways depending on the speaker's native dialect, how tired or lazy they are, and so on. Could you clarify a bit what you are interested in? – user1579 May 27 '11 at 13:38
1  
People will still understand you. That's self-evident, they always have so far from what you say. Different dialects pronounce it [ɒfən], [ɒftən] or even [ɒfʔn], and all the shades in between. – user1579 May 27 '11 at 13:57
1  
If you were William S. Gilbert, you presumably pronounced often exactly the same way as you did orphan, which I'm sure doesn't have a /t/ in it. – Peter Shor May 27 '11 at 14:20
2  
@Rhodri, i doubt that anyone actually has a /t/ in often as an unlearned pronunciation. Where the /t/ exists it seems to be a spelling pronunciation, a form of hypercorrection. – JSBձոգչ May 27 '11 at 14:33
1  
@JSBձոգչ There’s actually a rule about -t- suppression in compounds here, but I can’t find it right now. In the meantime, The Ballad of Shameless Enjambment addresses this very issue. :) – tchrist May 14 at 2:36
show 2 more comments

2 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

The 't' used to be pronounced, but then was lost, but the pronunciation with a 't' is slowly coming back (because of the spelling).

Dictionaries will provide the 't' pronunciation as a variant. Note that 'soften' is always pronounced without the 't' currently.

share|improve this answer
3  
It'd be weird to put a hard consonant sound in the word soften. ♪ – Grace Note♦ May 27 '11 at 13:44
This sounds interesting. I never ever thought that I have been pronouncing Soften often as Sof-tun. – Vral May 27 '11 at 13:47
I think it's more that the 't' in "soften" mutated into a very soft glottal. – user1579 May 27 '11 at 13:59
I don't think it has been lost in BE - I would say 't' is the normal British pronounciation – mgb May 27 '11 at 15:30
1  
@Martin: I hear AmE speakers say both. And an AmE dictionary confirms that the without 't' is standard, and that with 't' is a common accepted variant. – Mitch May 27 '11 at 15:55
show 1 more comment
up vote 2 down vote

The nuns taught it without pronouncing the "t". These nuns would emphasize their teaching with sharp and painful raps to our knuckles with a ruler. I would hate to think that all those bruised knuckles were for naught!

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.