Pronunciation exercises: "of" vs "off"
|
ov /əv/ |
|
off /ɒf/ |
Many students believe the words "of" and "off" are pronounced the same. However "of" ends in /v/ and "off" ends in /f/.
Received Pronunciation[edit | edit source]
In Received Pronunciation both words have the same vowel: "of" is /ɒv/ and "off" is /ɒf/. But "of" has a weak form, /əv/, which is much more common.
As in most cases, to go from a strong form to a weak form the vowel is replaced by /ə/.
General American[edit | edit source]
In General American the strong form of "of" is (probably)[1] derived from the weak form. That’s why its strong form is /ʌv/.
The word "off" is pronounced /ɔːf/ with the same vowel as many other words such as "cloth" and "long". See Phoneme /ɔː/ in General American.
Summary[edit | edit source]
| "Of" weak form |
"Of" strong form |
"Off" | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Received Pronunciation | /əv/ | ← | /ɒv/ | /ɒf/ |
| General American | /əv/ | → | /ʌv/ | /ɔːf/ |
Arrows indicate the direction of the derivation.
Homophones[edit | edit source]
The weak forms of "of" and "have" are the same: /əv/.
The words /ˈkʊd əv/ are correctly spelled "could’ve", but a confused writer may spell *"could of" because the pronunciation is the same. The same happens with other contractions such as "should’ve", "would’ve", etc.
/v/ devoicing[edit | edit source]
- “of course” can be pronounced /əv kɔːrs/ or /əf kɔːrs/
Informal spelling[edit | edit source]
Most dictionaries have helluva /ˈheləvə/ meaning "hell of a".[2][3] Urban Dictionary also has sonova /ˈsʌnəvə/ meaning son of a.[4]
Sometimes "of" is pronounced /ə/ and spelled "a" as in "lotsa"[5] (lots of) or "kinda" [6] (kind of).
