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Post by Charlie O. on Feb 6, 2024 22:00:21 GMT
Maybe this is/was just an American thing. Or maybe it's just me. I honestly don't know. But I feel like for most of my life, almost everybody, almost always pronounced "often" like it rhymed with "coffin."
But lately, whenever I hear someone say "often" on the radio or on TV or in a YouTube clip, they distinctly pronounce the "t". And - again, maybe it's just me - it always sounds a little stilted to me, like they're making a special effort.
?
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on Feb 6, 2024 22:03:56 GMT
I actually pronounce it both ways (bit like 'either'), but probably more often (ho ho) without the 't'
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Post by Sneelock on Feb 6, 2024 22:38:16 GMT
not often.
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Post by DarknessFish on Feb 6, 2024 22:50:04 GMT
Always with a t, too a tee.
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Post by Sneelock on Feb 6, 2024 22:59:37 GMT
tee for too?
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loveless
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Post by loveless on Feb 7, 2024 1:45:39 GMT
Both ways.
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Feb 7, 2024 9:44:37 GMT
I pronounce it, but with a pretty soft 't', being from the sarf.
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Post by Half Machine Lipschitz on Feb 7, 2024 11:41:52 GMT
I do, but I don't pronounce the t plosively - it's more of a roof of the mouth/nasally thing.
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Post by fearlessfreap on Feb 7, 2024 13:06:54 GMT
I have no idea. I've been told I speak like a hillbilly, so I probably don't.
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Post by souphound on Feb 7, 2024 13:26:32 GMT
A bit more with than without I'd say, but both really.
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rayge
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Post by rayge on Feb 7, 2024 13:52:03 GMT
I feel like for most of my life, almost everybody, almost always pronounced "often" like it rhymed with "coffin." like most people who've replied, I use both, although I tend to pronounce the T, with the emphasis on the first syllable OFT-en, but I have heard some people transfer the t to the second syllable and pronounce it off-TEN. I am intrigued, though, by how people around you pronounce 'coffin', as all the people I know who drop the T (including me, when I'm speaking quickly) pronounce it OFF-n, where the n is preceded by an indeterminate vowel sound that never sounds like the short 'i' of 'coffin'.
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on Feb 7, 2024 14:02:34 GMT
it's the schwa
the commonest sound in English
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Post by Charlie O. on Feb 7, 2024 14:08:32 GMT
I am intrigued, though, by how people around you pronounce 'coffin', as all the people I know who drop the T (including me, when I'm speaking quickly) pronounce it OFF-n, where the n is preceded by an indeterminate vowel sound that never sounds like the short 'i' of 'coffin'. Interesting point. I think it's more like a short "i" than a schwa, but maybe it's somewhere in between.
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on Feb 7, 2024 14:21:17 GMT
The sound in 'coffin' I don't think is a schwa, or could ever be, really. But the vowel sound in 'often' is always a schwa.
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Post by Charlie O. on Feb 7, 2024 14:28:26 GMT
The sound in 'coffin' I don't think is a schwa, or could ever be, really. But the vowel sound in 'often' is always a schwa. Where YOU are.
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