In which varieties of English is 't' in 'often' silent?

Question

I'm from India and all my life I've pronounced 'often' with 't' silent. Since we follow British English, I assume British people say it the same way? I guess in American English, one pronounces it with 't'. What are the rules about this word in other varieties of English?

Schedule is another word that is skedu... in the US, and shedu... in UK...There are many. — Ram Pillai, Feb 06 '20 at 04:48

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 05 '20 at 20:29

2

Pronunciation of ‘often’ does not inherently depend on dialect. See: How should "often" be pronounced? (possible duplicate).

edited Feb 05 '20 at 20:29

Artyom Lugovoy

531

answered Aug 24 '15 at 09:51

xcvd

154

1

Interesting. I'm pleased to see that I was right to find it wrong. – Martin McCallion Aug 24 '15 at 13:50

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 24 '15 at 09:50

I'd say that it's a dialect thing. I often hear people pronounce the 't' in 'often'. It annoys me, because I grew up with it silent, but it's not actually wrong in any sense.

I'm British, by the way. I hadn't noticed it (the pronounce 't', that is) being an American use at all (but now I probably won't be able to stop noticing it). It seems to be increasing in Britain, though.

In which varieties of English is 't' in 'often' silent?

2 Answers2