Some Notes on "Often" 1

The pronunciation of “often” serves as one measure to know to which English accent, British or American, the English learners/speakers are inclined: If you pronounce “t,” it’s more like British, and if you don’t, it can be from natives of American English. I often ask students which, and fewer of them pronounce “t.”

I remember I was too taught NOT to pronounce “t” when I was a junior high school student. But after having stayed in Australia and communicated with lovely Aussie, I became a man of “t” side (I was "naughty" during the stay though) Or, as I recall, my “t” accent might have come from a constant exposure to, and desire to copy, the speech of my favorite British actor Rowan Atkinson, who clearly pronounce the word.

In 1926, Fowler noted that pronunciation of “t”

“is practiced by two oddly assorted classes―the academic speakers who affect a more precise enunciation than their neighbours . . . & the uneasy half-literates who like to prove that they can spell by calling hour . . . howr”.

It is interesting that around the time of this remark, “t” pronunciation was associated with affected behavior among academics. Is it possible to speculate that the present pronunciation “t” has its origin in the posh society, which permeates into people of pretentious motives?

To be continued.

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Butterfield, Jeremy. ed. Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage. 4th ed.Oxford Clarendon, 2015.