That wouldn't account for changing the long "e" sound to short. The "ph" and "v" sounds are actually kind of close in sound when saying Stephen and Steven (I mean when pronouncing "proper" "ph" & "v"), but I've never heard Steven said with a short "e". I've always heard Stephen and Steven pronounced the same way, and I knew some of both in school.
This message was edited 2/10/2012, 1:12 PM