Re: USAGE: Language revival

Raymond Brown wrote:

> It became /Ofn=/ somewhere round about the time of Elizabeth Ist - and
> spellings like 'offen' were not uncommon.  It was part of the same
> phenomenon that saw /t/ disappear in words like 'castle', 'apostle' etc.
>
> The /t/ has now been widely restored in 'often' (co-incidentally during the
> reign of Elizabeth II :)   I would regard as a spelling pronunciation
> rather than a hypercorrection (tho this is possibly splitting hairs, as
> they say) - but certainly not say that one pronunciation is right and
> another's wrong.
>
> Indeed, I sometimes think it'd be nice to restore /t/ in words like
> 'castle', 'apostle' etc.  (I have heard 'epistle' pronounced /I'pIstl=/  )
How odd.  I have always proudly failed to spelling-pronounce "often,"
but I have never in my life heard someone pronounce the "t" in
"castle," and I have never in my life heard someone fail to pronounce
the "t" in "apostle" or "epistle."

> 'Twas always /'fOrId/ when I was a youngster, just as tortoises were always
> /'tO:t@zIs/ (or /'tOrt@zIs/ among the old-timers :)
Ah, that explains why it rhymes with "horrid" in the nursery rhyme.
:)

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