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Mosca Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
Silent 't' in "often"
0 As pronunciation: When is the 't' silent in "often"? 0-
Top answer
02 br 00 It depends on the speaker. From Random House: 02 br 02 br 01 i 00 'Often' was pronounced with a t-sound until the 17th century, when a pronunciation without the [t] came to predominate in the speech of the educated, in both North America and Great Britain, and the earlier pronunciation fell into disfavor. Common use of a spelling pronunciation has since restored the [t] for many speakers, and today /ˈɔfən/[aw-fuh and /ˈɔf[awf-tuhn] or /ˈɒfən/[of-uhn] and [of-tuhn] exist side by side.
- 02 br 00 It depends on the speaker.
- From Random House: 02 br 02 br 01 i 00 'Often' was pronounced with a t-sound until the 17th century, when a pronunciation without the [t] came to predominate in the speech of the educated, in both North America and Great Britain, and the earlier pronunciation fell into disfavor.
- Common use of a spelling pronunciation has since restored the [t] for many speakers, and today /ˈɔfən/[aw-fuh and /ˈɔf[awf-tuhn] or /ˈɒfən/[of-uhn] and [of-tuhn] exist side by side.
- 02 i 0-
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22 Answers
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0 . 02 br
00 It depends on the speaker. From Random House: 02 br
02 br
01 i 00 'Often' was pronounced with a t-sound until the 17th century, when a pronunciation without the [t] came to predominate in the speech of the educated, in both North America and Great Britain, and the earlier pronunciation fell into disfavor. Common use of a spelling pronunciation has since
00 It depends on the speaker. From Random House: 02 br
02 br
01 i 00 'Often' was pronounced with a t-sound until the 17th century, when a pronunciation without the [t] came to predominate in the speech of the educated, in both North America and Great Britain, and the earlier pronunciation fell into disfavor. Common use of a spelling pronunciation has since
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0 Ok, thanks for that reply .. but what about in daily speech? How do you yourself use it - and from what part of the country are you? Is it somehow related to the east or to the west? 0-
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0 I used to pronounce "often" like the word "soften", then when I lived in Japan I heard it pronounced like "off" + "tin". This wasn't from Japanese, and I changed the way I pronounced the word. Today, I used it, and the people I talked to didn't understand what I was saying. So, I went to my electronic dictionary and it had a recorded wav of the word pronounced like the word "soften". I went
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0 Hi Jadarite, 02 br
02 br
00 There is a long, long thread in the forums on this already, and views range from "both are equally acceptable" to "only the most uninformed ignoramus would use the pronunciation with the T." (To counter that latter point, one of the posts pointed out that it was only when the masses started learning to read and saw that there was a T in the word that
02 br
00 There is a long, long thread in the forums on this already, and views range from "both are equally acceptable" to "only the most uninformed ignoramus would use the pronunciation with the T." (To counter that latter point, one of the posts pointed out that it was only when the masses started learning to read and saw that there was a T in the word that
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0 the history lesson is very interesting.however,i do not understand why so many people believe it is incorrect to pronounce often with a silent "t".every dictionary i've checked states that the word is pronounced with no "t" sound.furthermore,if one believes we should pronounce the "t" just because it is there,shouldn't we also pronounce the "t" in soften?oddly,however,i've never heard anyone pr
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0 Hey, I hope you don't mind, but these threads appeared so close in time that I thought I'd merge them into one discussion. 0-
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I think I've always pronounced often with a "t" sound, and I never thought about it until my boyfriend said it wasn't the right way. I thought he was wrong, but checked m-w.com and saw that without a "t" is the primary pronunciation and with a "t" is the secondary one. Then I noticed this thread and your reply. I would never say soften with the "t" sound, but I say fabric "soft-ner" all the ti
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Bull. The only people who pronounce the t in often are hillbillies and lower class New Yorkers who think they are being more formal by pronouncing it. The language is being dragged down by television newscasters who are hired for their looks rather than their delivery.
As someone else said, common usage does not make correct usage. No matter how many people say 2+2=5 it doesn't make it
As someone else said, common usage does not make correct usage. No matter how many people say 2+2=5 it doesn't make it
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