I’m going to a speech clinic staffed by university students in their early 20s. I think they get graduate level coursework credits for this work. I’m more than twice their age.
They asked me to practice with the word “often” and they both said it with the t. Like “oft” followed by -en. Growing up in the '60s, I had learned to say it without the t: “offen.” When I asked them if young people nowadays all pronounce the t, they were surprised to be told that anyone didn’t pronounce it.
Is this a generational difference? Did the spelling pronunciation take over in recent years?
I’d be interesting in knowing–Do you pronounce the t in “often” or not, are you American, and what’s your age?
I say “offen.” All my dictionaries and grammar books prefer that form. One book calls pronunciation of the T “overnice.” It does seem to be a trend that words are more often pronounced as they’re spelled. Other overnice examples include clothes (with propnounced “TH”) and alms and almonds (with pronounced “L”). But on the other hand, I’ve yet to hear calf with pronounced “F.”
I grew up saying the T, but had it beaten out of me in dialect class in acting college. I also had to learn not to aspirate the H in “when” etc. I’m 38, American, grew up in Ohio and Washington state.
Historically, without. Recently, with, possibly because a lot of people think the original pronunciation was a mistake. (I’m answering the question in the title, not the OP–that is, “is it pronounced this way” (by people in general) vs. “do you pronounce it this way”.)
I am American, BTW, and I’m 21 years old. I’m pretty sure I don’t pronounce the T. My dad claims that he pronounces the T, because otherwise it’s “lazy English”–I think he really believes that he does, but that he’s lying to himself and to me. Haven’t ever paid enough attention to say for sure one way or the other.
Growing up in West Texas, I never pronounced the T in “often,” but my parents were both from elsewhere, so I don’t know if that was because of local usage or the household environment. But even there, I did hear many people pronounce the T.
American Heritage dictionary has the following Usage Note:
“During the 15th century English experienced a widespread loss of certain consonant sounds within consonant clusters, as the (d) in *handsome * and handkerchief, the (p) in *consumption * and raspberry, and the (t) in *chestnut * and often. In this way the consonant clusters were simplified and made easier to articulate. With the rise of public education and literacy and, consequently, people’s awareness of spelling in the 19th century, sounds that had become silent sometimes were restored, as is the case with the t in often, which is now frequently pronounced. In other similar words, such as *soften * and listen, the t generally remains silent.”
