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"of" seems to be pronounced with the f sound asˈäf in phrases like "of course". But 'of' is pronounced as \əv in a lot of other cases.

Yet, Merriam Websters gives the one with 'v' sound as the only pronunciation.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/of

Why is that? Why does the dictionary give the one with 'v' sound as the only pronunciation?

In what cases 'of' is pronounced with f versus pronounced with v sound?

Joe Black
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  • I pronounce "of course" with the 'v' sound. That said, dictionaries may not cover all regional accents. – Matt Samuel Jun 21 '17 at 06:30
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    Words can be pronounced in all kinds of ways in combination with each other. The dictionary just describes the basic pronunciation of a word, and maybe a few common variants: it won't tell you all of the ways it can change depending on the surrounding words. You are probably just hearing non-phonemic devoicing of the word-final "lenis" obstruent /v/ before a voiceless consonant (/k/), as described in the answer to Are “whores” and “horse” homophones? This is a type of o a native speaker, this generally still sounds like /v/, not /f/. – herisson Jun 21 '17 at 07:16
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    Can you give some examples of where the pronunciation with /f/ is used? I've never heard it from a native speaker and I've heard quite a lot of different accents. Even fluent speakers of English as a second language don't do it IME, though they might confuse /f/ and /v/ at other times. And of course being a homophone for off course doesn't seem likely. – Chris H Jun 21 '17 at 07:22
  • Sorry about the mangled last sentence: I ran out of time while editing my previous comment. I meant to say "This is a type of partial phonetic assimilation" and "To a native speaker, this generally still sounds like /v/, not /f/." As Chris H says, an audio example would be helpful. – herisson Jun 21 '17 at 07:24
  • When does it have an "f" pronunciation??? – Arm the good guys in America Jun 21 '17 at 11:49
  • "Heard of it" has more of a 'v' than "more of a" or "of course". – Lawrence Jun 21 '17 at 14:46
  • @sumelic I have heard a clear "f" sound in "of course" from native american english speakers often. To find a sample I simply searched on youtube and this is one of the top links that shows up. Notice clear "f" sound at 0:08, 0:10, 0:25 seconds. (at other times it's just o'course but it's f sound at various instances too). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwxnWi3mn6o – Joe Black Jun 22 '17 at 01:50
  • @chris posted an example in other comment. – Joe Black Jun 22 '17 at 01:51
  • Related: Pronunciation of “of”, Is “of” pronounced as “ov”? – herisson Oct 11 '17 at 16:42
  • @JoeBlack really? You're going to use that video as demonstrating normal everyday pronunciation? Anyway, even though that's hardly normal speech, I don't hear an invoiced F before any of his versions of 'of course'. – Arm the good guys in America Nov 05 '17 at 16:05
  • @clare really? can you say what's wrong with the video? the speaker is a well read speaker without any strong accent. i do hear an 'f' in several of his 'of courses' (but not all as i commented before), whose occurrence times in the video i specified in the comment earlier. – Joe Black Nov 19 '17 at 21:02

1 Answers1

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"Of" doesn't have "f" sound. It's always pronounced as "əv" to distinguish it from the word "off" which then is pronounced as "f" .

Bear in mind that I am referring to General English ( RP) the one taught in schools. We call it received pronunciation or RP in British English and that's the pronunciation similar to any dictionaries.

Regional pronunciation is another debate...

Nissa - England
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  • This isn't the right answer. Of course is often pronounced with [f], because the phoneme /v/ turns into [f] when followed by some voiceless consonants. You're saying the OP isn't hearing things that he really is. Native English speakers' ears are trained to recognize this as a /v/ anyway. – Peter Shor Jun 21 '17 at 14:38
  • There may be some dialects where the F is pronounced more clearly as an F, but as a native Canadian English speaker who has heard many of the dialects, I confess that I have not heard this pronunciation in the wild. – Jim MacKenzie Jun 21 '17 at 14:39
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    @PeterShor I pronounce the of in of course the same way I pronounce it in of all, of Toronto, of the Village People. Your pronunciation may be dialectical. – Jim MacKenzie Jun 21 '17 at 14:40
  • The two people from the UK on forvo.com seem like they're saying uf course to me. Of course, it's possible they're using a consonant partway between an [f] and a [v]. But this could still confuse the OP. – Peter Shor Jun 21 '17 at 14:44
  • I would say OF COURSE is pronounced as any other OF, no exception. But then for some people there is a confusion between the sound F and V. In general pronunciation the " V " is a voiced sound whereas the "F" is voiceless. Nevertheless, between natives it's hard to distinguish but we do naturally voice or not voice the sound even though it's hard to hear. Indeed, in the UK we pronounce it in 2 different ways but only in regards to the syllable "ɒv" OR "əv" – Nissa - England Jun 21 '17 at 14:54
  • 'of course' does get pronounced with the f sound by native AmE speakers and not just regionally. in trump speech you often hear a full [f] sound in "of course" sometimes along with the o'course pronunciation. i posted an example audio in other comment. – Joe Black Jun 22 '17 at 01:53
  • @peterShor it sounds like a clear [f] sound among many native AmE speakers also when they say "of course" unlike the typical pronunciation of "of" with the v sound. – Joe Black Jun 22 '17 at 01:55
  • I do not think that Mr Trump is the best example to represent AmE speakers as he seems to limit himself to 20% of English vocabulary to talk. – Nissa - England Jun 22 '17 at 12:14
  • @nissa yours is a rhetorical statement about trump, but his pronunciation of 'of course' is not unique to him and occurs throughout US even though he has an ny accent. i posted an audio example in other comment. – Joe Black Jun 22 '17 at 16:36
  • @PeterShor I listened to the Forvo examples and they all sound like a voiced /uv/ to me before 'course'. – Arm the good guys in America Nov 05 '17 at 16:00
  • @peterShor as an example, this is the 'f' sound in of course of a native speaker without strong regional accent. To find a sample I simply searched on youtube and this is one of the top links that shows up. Notice clear "f" sound at 0:08, 0:10, 0:25 seconds. (at other times it's just o'course but it's f sound at various instances too). http://youtube.com/watch?v=YwxnWi3mn6o – Joe Black Nov 19 '17 at 21:03
  • @PeterShor There seem to be more examples on Forvo now. If I try to hear them as /f/, I hear all the British and US examples as /f/, and only the Australian one as /v/. If I'm not trying to hear them as /f/, I hear them all as /v/. – CJ Dennis May 19 '21 at 01:48