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Few years back, one of our English teachers told that,

In India, we [typically] pronounce "of" as "of" or "off". But the real pronunciation is "ov".

When I try to listen the same in Google dictionary, it indeed sounds like "ov" :-). But I am not sure, if I am listening it correctly.

Since my native language is not English, can someone suggest what is the right pronunciation?
If it's really "ov" then it would be interesting to know, why is it so?

It has also been mentioned that this word has different vowels according to its environment. Is this true?

Araucaria - Him
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iammilind
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  • @Cascabel, from the comment of "marcell", I realised that the way I wrote may create the confusion. The teacher's saying is just a backdrop of the Qn. I would really like to know, how to pronounce "of". If it's really "ov", then it will be interesting to know why so? – iammilind Jul 21 '17 at 11:38
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    If you wish to discuss pronunciation on an international forum the International Phonetic Alphabet is really indispensable; this may help. – Tim Lymington Jul 21 '17 at 11:46
  • The right pronounciation is in dictionary and it is (ŭv, ŏv; əv when unstressed) http://www.thefreedictionary.com/OF https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/of – Drossel Jul 21 '17 at 12:08
  • @Alex: First, that's the *American* pronunciation. Second, I'm American and I don't know if I've ever heard anybody say /ɑv/ (ŏv). In my experience, it is almost always /ʌv/ (ŭv), and /əv/ when unstressed. The British say /ɒv/, or /əv/ when unstressed. – Peter Shor Jul 21 '17 at 12:20
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    If of doesn't rhyme with love and dove, I've been pronouncing it wrong for my entire speaking life. – Davo Jul 21 '17 at 13:07
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    @Davo: For a number of British English speakers, the word "of" when stressed rhymes with the second syllable of "improv". But the pronunciation you mention is common among American English speakers. – herisson Jul 21 '17 at 18:55
  • Is "of" really pronounced like "off" in India? – bof Jul 23 '17 at 22:59
  • @bof, Yes it's either "of" or sometimes "off", when indeed stressed :-). Our native languages are quite different from English. They are written exactly as they are supposed to be pronounced. However in English, 50-50% chances are there, if the written form and the pronunciation would match. – iammilind Jul 24 '17 at 05:05
  • @Davo you must have a strong British accent – voices Jul 24 '17 at 07:17
  • Related: Why do people pronounce the word “of” as if it's “ov”? – iammilind Jul 24 '17 at 07:53
  • @tjt263 what Davo stated is the exact polar opposite of most British accents, notably including RP. What are you even on about. – RegDwigнt Jul 24 '17 at 09:35

3 Answers3

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British English

The word of has a strong form, /ɒv/. This has the same vowel we hear in the word lot, /lɒt/. This form of the word ends with a 'v' sound.

We use the strong form of of when it is stressed and also when it occurs with out a following complement. So in the phrase What are you thinking of?, there is no noun phrase following the word of, and we will hear the strong form used.

However, when the word of is not stressed and does have a following complement (usually a noun phrase), native speakers will use a weak form of the word. In such a case, the word might be realised as any of the following:

  • əv
  • v
  • ə

So the phrase lots of people may be realised as any of the following:

  • lɒts əv pi:pl
  • lɒts v pi:pl
  • lɒts ə pi:pl

American Englishes

In some varieties of American English, the strong form of the word of uses the vowel /ʌ/. This is the vowel we find in the word strut. Some dictionaries give both pronunciations /ʌv/ and /ɑv/

I've used a British English transcription here, but nothing much hinges on that.

Araucaria - Him
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    Not so sure of course is really that relevant as an exceptional thing. I can quite easily produce lots of people with an [f] as well, as well as of course with a [v]. It’s simply a matter of the /v/ optionally assimilating to a following unvoiced consonant. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 21 '17 at 12:42
  • @JanusBahsJacquet Ah, but can you pronounce of course with a /v/ ? ;) – Araucaria - Him Jul 21 '17 at 12:47
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    As opposed to with an /f/ or a [v]? I’m not sure (mostly because I can’t figure out if there’d ever be any difference)! – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 21 '17 at 13:24
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    I'm not sure that anyone actually ever says /ɑv/ with their FATHER vowel there, but certainly there are American dialects (especially in the Northeast) that have a rounded vowel on the stressed version, but I don't know that they distinguish the CLOTH vowel from the THOUGHT vowel. For me, those are both /ɔ/ (I have a CLOTH–THOUGHT merger to /ɔ/ and a COT–FATHER merger to /ɑ/ but *not* a COT–CAUGHT merger of /ɑ/ and /ɔ/) so I couldn't tell you whether for example Pittsburgers were "really" saying one or another of /ɒv/ or /ɔv/. I know no minimal pair between /ɒ/ and /ɔ/ either. – tchrist Jul 23 '17 at 22:59
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The English word pronounced /of/ is the noun oaf, a pejorative term for a stupid, uncultured, or clumsy person.

The English preposition of is pronounced /ʌv/, /əv/, or /ə/ depending on where it’s used.

The first of those is the least common because that is a stressed vowel but the word is almost never stressed the way it might be in a spoken list of actual words like to, from, of, about. This gives it the same sound as heard in the words love, dove, glove, where those all start with consonants but end with the strong pronunciation of of: /lʌv/, /dʌv/, /glʌv/.

The second of those with the unstressed schwa is the most common. Use /əv/ in most situations.

Nonetheless the third is hardly rare. It naturally occurs in all but the very most precise and deliberate of elocutions. Most spoken instances of of are actually this lone /ə/. If you were playing cards and someone mentioned that they had a six of clubs, that would come out just like the clock-time six o’clock is pronounced, save for the /lʌbz/ part at the end of the card. It’s common in any XXX of the ZZZ type of construction as well as in a lot of XXX or in a bunch of XXX ones. You’re left with nothing but a weak and barely distinguishable /ə/; hence the eye-dialect spelling of lotta sometimes seen in phrases like “a whole lotta love”

tchrist
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  • Is this for AmEng? In AusEng "of" doesn't rhyme with "love", and from comments above it seems that would be the case for BrEng too. – curiousdannii Jul 21 '17 at 13:12
  • @curiousdannii Oxford Dictionaries Online disagrees: they give love as /lʌv/. Hence also luvvie as /ˈlʌvi/. That’s the STRUT vowel using standard lexical sets per Wells, not the FOOT or CLOTH or THOUGHT etc vowels. Actual phonetics will of course vary considerably — and even that last is grossly simplified. – tchrist Jul 21 '17 at 13:41
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    @tchrist I think what Curiousdanni is getting at is probably that of doesn't have a STRUT vowel in Aussie English. – Araucaria - Him Jul 21 '17 at 13:48
  • @tchrist Yep "love" has the unrounded STRUT /ʌ/ but in AusEng at least "of" has the rounded CLOTH /ɒ/. – curiousdannii Jul 21 '17 at 13:54
  • @Araucaria So what’s the centralized version of that which preserves rounding then for unstressed/weak contexts? Do you mean ɞ then? Does that roundedness trait actually survive in unstressed use instead of becoming a simple schwa with all traits levelled off? – tchrist Jul 21 '17 at 14:03
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    Note that ODO also gives /ɒv/ as the stressed pronunciation of of (and /əv/ as the unstressed one). I’m fairly certain BrE and AuE agree here, though of course the actual realisations of /ɒ/ and /ə/ vary somewhat. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 21 '17 at 14:16
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    @tchrist It's just a schwa (unrounded) when unstressed in BE. Not sure about AUSE though. – Araucaria - Him Jul 21 '17 at 14:58
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    @curiousdannii In EngEng "of" rhymes with "love" or at least it did in the 1860s for poet A. C. Swinburne: "For the Gods we know not *of, who give us our daily breath, / We know they are cruel as love* or life, and lovely as death. [. . .] Time and the Gods are at strife: ye dwell in the midst there*of, / Draining a little life from the barren breasts of love*." – bof Jul 23 '17 at 22:55
  • @bof what's most interesting about Swinburne is that he was from London and educated at Eton and Oxford. So we can probably assume RP, rather than a regional accent that might routinely rhyme of with love. I don't think this was standard in RP, at least by the time of his death (we have recordings from that long ago) so it may have been a poetic use. – Chris H Jul 24 '17 at 06:46
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    @ChrisH Yeah, maybe it was poetic. ACS also rhymed river with never: "From too much love of living, / From hope and fear set free, / We thank with brief thanksgiving / Whatever gods may be / That no life lives forever; / That dead men rise up never; / That even the weariest river / Winds somewhere safe to sea." – bof Jul 24 '17 at 07:10
  • @bof without tracking down vintage recordings to check, I'd say that river/ever as a rhyme works in posh English of the early 20th century. – Chris H Jul 24 '17 at 07:56
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I think we pronounce it as (ov) because o has a vibration in the vocal cords, then this affects the sound "f" and pronounces as "v"

Rasha Nasser
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