Pronuncations

[galey modan]

Hm, the people who I know who say 'often' with a [t] are also from
Baltimore. Anyone know if it's a common Baltimore pronunciation?

Galey

On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 10:42 AM, Alexander King <a.king at abdn.ac.uk> wrote:
> 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.)
>
> - tel:+44(1224)27 2732, fax:+44(1224)27 2552 - http://www.koryaks.net -
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>