Pronuncations

[Alexander King]

I am not sure if this is generational so much as regional, although  
change happens, of course. I don't pronounce the t in often or the  
middle o in sophomore. I am from western WA state, born 1968. I first  
encountered the ofTen pronunciation while living in Virginia. A fellow  
grad student, about my age but from Baltimore, consistently said  
ofTen. Struck me as weird, but I was getting a lot of weird-sounding  
accents at the time, so I didn't think that much of it. I hear it a  
lot in Scotland, too, even BBC radio Scotland.

Quick quiz of two Canadians on my hallway (both from Edmonton, both  
mid-40s) one says 'ofTen' (but slightly voiced, unaspirated) and the  
other says 'offen'. Jokes about north vs. south Edmonton ensued. The  
'ofTen' Canadian lives with a Scot, for what that is worth.

I have never been aware of 3-syllable sophomore, and that  
pronunciation has always been a joke in my circle of family/friends of  
general NWC provenance, but including parents born 1940. I must  
confess that it sounds stupid (writing as a native, no offense meant!).

-Alex


On 15 Jan 2009, at 3:17 pm, Robert Lawless wrote:

> For all you guys who teach college-age students and (if you're
> listening) hear them talk:  Is the pronunciation of often with "t"
> becoming more common with the younger generation? (I think most of us
> old foggies don't pronounce the "t".) I believe linguists refer to  
> this
> as "spelling pronunciation." I suppose then that pronouncing sophomore
> as two syllables would be anti-spelling pronunciation. Although I and
> most of my colleagues pronounce it with three syllables, seemingly all
> the sophmores here use only two syllables. (My daughter, who's a
> sophmore in high school corrected me the other day when I called her a
> sophomore.)

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