Is the "t" in "often" silent, or is it pronounced?

Question

When I was in elementary and middle school I was taught the "t" in "often" was silent. However, it seems that now both pronounciations are acceptable.

How did you learn to pronounce it?

Answer 1

I have to chuckle at those who think the silent-t pronunciation is slang or sloppy. It was long the only accepted pronunciation! Dictionaries now list both, but here's my argument for NOT pronouncing the T

The stem word is "oft" --in which the t is pronounced. But when the ending "en" is added, the t sound is lost (though it remains in the spelling). There are, in fact, MANY examples of this sort of shift in English and in every other case the t becomes silent when followed by an -en or -le.

Note especially - soft (pronounced) vs. soften (silent). Compare: list -> listen; glisten; fast [as in 'held fast/secure'] -> fasten; haste -> hasten; moist > moisten; chaste -> chasten; nest -> nestle; castle; mistletoe; whistle; wrest -> wrestle; trestle; gristle; thistle; cf. also Christ > Christmas

But then folks started pronouncing the "t" -- almost certainly a hypercorrection based on the word's spelling (with no recognition of the pattern I described above). This became so widespread that many regard is as an acceptable alternative, at least in certain dialects .

That's the way language goes -- enough people make the same mistake for long enough that it is no longer a mistake!

Answer 2

How To Pronounce Often

Answer 3

Born in 1952, I had a great 3rd grade teacher who taught us spelling by phonetics. Our class always won the spelling Bs, etc. I remember distinctly she taught that the "t" was silent in "often". (Just one of those verbal rules to memorize). Like many others here, it just grates on my ears to hear that hard "t". It even seems that some speakers like to over emphasize it for some reason.

Answer 4

Until very recently, I had never heard the t in often. But about 15 years ago I became aware of it and its increasing popularity. I have a theory about that:
About 15-20 years ago, people started getting cable TV systems with vastly expanded channel selection. Also the internet. This increased the numbers of people performing as talking heads on all that media. Those talking heads are mostly reading from scripts. Their managers and voice coaches tend to tell them to be sure to speak clearly and pronounce all the consonants that we tend to bury in personal speech. This results in speakers focused on the syllables of the text and a tendency not to take in the whole word and it meaning as each is spoken. The silent t then becomes forgotten in the need to speak each consonant. Then as people hear it, it get repeated and starts to sound normal.
But it sounds stilted to me. Every time I hear that t, it is like a scratch on a chalkboard.

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Is the "t" in "often" silent, or is it pronounced?
When I was in elementary and middle school I was taught the "t" in "often" was silent. However, it seems that now both pronounciations are acceptable.

How did you learn to pronounce it?

Answer 6

I have always pronounced it with a silent "t" and I am sure that I saw that rule somewhere in a grammar book or dictionary at one time; however, pronouncing it without a silent "t" is listed as an alternate pronunciation in the 11th edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

Answer 7

I was taught in school that the T is silent (like soften, glisten, fasten, moisten, etc). Both are acceptable now of course, and it's entirely my roots, but when I hear the T pronounced I hear uneducated or ghetto. And please realize, that white people are also uneducated and ghetto, it's not a race thing. But, now that I read that it seems a great deal of people are taught BY TEACHERS that the T is hard, well, I could hardly be judgemental on that. I'll have to SOFT-TEN my stance now. :-)

Answer 8

The t is suppose to be silent at least that is the way I was taught, when I hear someone say often I think how stupid they really are, it should be pronounced off en, at least as far as I am concerned..... Rose

Answer 9

Whenever I hear someone pronounce the 't' in 'often' I immediately think they are misguidedly doing it to sound more intelligent. The fact of the matter is that it has quite the opposite effect.

Answer 10

Often Pronunciation

Answer 11

When I was in school the nuns taught silent "t". It grates on my nerves to hear it mispronounced.