# Pronunciation: data



## Fantasmagórico

Hi everyone,
I was curious about where in the world do you pronounce this word, “data”, with the two vowels sounding almost the same.
Thank you.


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## nichec

Fantasmagórico said:


> Hi everyone,
> I was curious about where in the world do you pronounce this word, “data”, with the two vowels sounding almost the same.
> Thank you.


 
But the two vowels sound very different here......
"da" as in "day", "ta" as in "tapping"


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## Matching Mole

If you are set up for sound, try the two examples here:
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=data

The normal BE pronunciation is the "day-tuh" one (the only one given in the OED). The datt-uh seems to be mostly an American variant. Perhaps an American poster can say which is most common.


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## Alxmrphi

Yeah this is where BE and AE differ in sound, we'd say "dah-ta" if we're impersonating Americans, it just sounds so funny!
"day-ta" all the way!


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## Fantasmagórico

Yes, I had seen the M-W pronunciations, and that’s why I’m asking this question… because in the WRF dictionary, the BE and the AE versions differ mostly in the sound of the “t”:http://www.wordreference.com/definition/data


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## Alxmrphi

The "t" is the same in both it's the vowel sound immediately before it, in a wa it sounds like a combination with the "t" so I can see why you think that.


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## Fantasmagórico

But aren’t the two pronunciations in the M-W very different to that of the WRF?
http://www.wordreference.com/definition/data
http://m-w.com/dictionary/data


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## JamesM

Commander Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation (an AE television program, despite the distinguished BE accent of the captain  ) was pronounced "day-tuh", not "dat-uh" (to rhyme with "fat-uh".) They made quite a point of the distinction in one episode. (Now you all know that I'm a closet techie nerd.)

I've heard both intermixed in all sorts of situations. In fact, I've heard the same person pronounce it both ways.  I don't think there's a preference in AE, other than at the individual level.

[edit]Back in 1935, in the song "Why Shouldn't I?", Cole Porter rhymed "data" with "persona grata".  In other words, he used the "ah" sound for the first syllable.


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## Matching Mole

Fantasmagórico said:


> But aren’t the two pronunciations in the M-W very different to that of the WRF?



Bear in mind that pronunciations vary _within_ the USA (and _within_ the UK: I don't speak as harshly as the BE speaker in the WR dictionary for example). Some AE speakers will voice that "t" less than others as we are hearing here. In the WR sample, the speaker seems to be enunciating more clearly, the M-W sounds more relaxed.

I think it's rather fruitless do compare pronunciations like this, as the possible causes of variation in pronunciation are unknown. It's also fruitless to attempt to seek out a unified AE pronunciation or a unified BE pronunciation, because there is no such thing.


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## Fantasmagórico

OK, thank you all.


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## funnyly

Just to let you know, data is a Latin origin word and the "correct" pronunciation would be "datt-uh", like the AE version you were making fun of!


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## ewie

With reference to your original post and to post #11, I would've thought Latin was the only place where the 2 vowels were pronounced the same ~ /data/ in IPA


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## juandiego

ewie said:


> With reference to your original post and to post #11, I would've thought Latin was the only place where the 2 vowels were pronounced the same ~ /data/ in IPA


We here(Spain) pronounce both the same way as well. And I guess they do in Italy too.


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## easychen

Hi there,

How do you pronounce the first "a" in the word "d*a*ta"?
(1) as "a" in "date"
or
(2) as "a" in "dash"

I'm told that (1) is usually said by less-educated people, but I'm not quite sure.
And what's more, has it anything to do with AE/BE issue?

Many thanks!


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## Dimcl

In Canada, it is pronounced both ways.  I say it as in your (2) option but I've heard it said as in (1) as well.  I do think it's likely an AE/BE difference rather than an educated/uneducated difference because there are _very_ educated people who say it both ways.


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## jonjonsin

Both are acceptable. It has nothing to do with education. I'd say it'd depend more on the local dialect with this as I don't think AmE is even close to having a consensus.


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## Halloway

In fact there's a third pronunciation which sounds like 'darta'. In Britain we say 'dayta', almost exclusively. Whether this is because we are "less-educated" is not for me to say...


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## Sevente

Hello

I'm confused.  Is it da(y)ta or da(r)ta?

Thanks

Sevente


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## cropje_jnr

Welcome to the forum. 

For most Australians (and Britons, I suspect), it's the latter. For North Americans, the former.


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## entangledbank

It's ['deɪtə] (dayta) in Britain, ['da:tə] (darta) in Australia, and I believe ['dæ:ɾə] (datta/dadda) in the USA. (_Edit:_ apparently not - see real US speakers' comments below.)


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## Sevente

Thanks for the welcome, cropje_jn, and thanks for the clarification above.  When you say 'north American' do you include Mexico in there (I know they speak Spanish and the word is da(r)tos). It's just that I lived in Mexico for several years, such a wonderful people, and I found it mildly annoying that when people from places other than Mexico spoke of North America they really mean only Canada and the USA.  Just curious...


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## Sevente

And thank you too, entangledbank, I was born in New Zealand (Da(r)ta, lived many years in Canada where like the Brits it was da(y)ta and now back in NZ I'm being corrected, quite unmercifully I might add, for talking like an American.

Think I'll just forget it and go back to Mexico...


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## Brioche

If you were a "real" American, you'd say something closer to /deidə/ with the intervocalic t voiced into a d


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## ajo fresco

In the U.S., most people say "day-ta" (sorry, I'm not good with IPA). 

(I've only heard a few people pronounce it "datta" with a short "a" as in cat).

Nobody here adds an "r" sound in the middle.



Sevente said:


> I know they speak Spanish and the word is da(r)tos.



In Spanish it's _datos_, pronounced "DAH-tohs" (without an "r").


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## natkretep

Yes, I've only heard DAH-tuh from Australasians. Most other English speakers use DAY-tuh (okay: how the 't' is pronounced might be different).


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## Welshie

In Britain we say dayta. I was under the impression it was pronounced datta in the United States, but apparently not everywhere


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## natkretep

Welshie said:


> In Britain we say dayta. I was under the impression it was pronounced datta in the United States, but apparently not everywhere



I have heard the odd American say 'datta', but most Americans say 'dayta' (or what will sound like 'dayda' to English ears).


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## entangledbank

ajo fresco said:


> Nobody here adds an "r" sound in the middle.


 
Nor does anyone in Australia: the ad-hoc respelling <darta> is to show the pronunciation with [a:], no [r] - the vowel of _bath, start, palm_.


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## ajo fresco

entangledbank said:


> Nor does anyone in Australia: the ad-hoc respelling <darta> is to show the pronunciation with [a:], no [r] - the vowel of _bath, start, palm_.



Sorry for the misunderstanding.  Thanks for explaining that.

I took it literally because in some pockets of the U.S., people do add an "r" after vowels in certain words.

But getting back to the topic at hand... 

To give another example of the U.S. pronunciation: 
In the TV show "Star Trek: The Next Generation", the character Data was also pronounced "day-ta."


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## Brioche

How do you pronounced _strata_?

In Australia _strata_ and _data_ have the same vowels.

Daniel Jones  English Pronouncing Dictionary gives
/ˈdeɪtə/ first, then /ˈdɑːtə/ as less common
but
/ˈstrɑːtə/ first , then /ˈstreɪtə/ as less common


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## natkretep

I say /ˈstrɑːtə/ too, which I think is the BrE norm.

The word of Latin origin that shows cross-Atlantic difference is _status_. I say /'steɪtəs/ which I think is the BrE norm, whereas most I hear most Americans saying /'stætəs/.

No clear pattern for these Latin loan-words.


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## Wayland

cropje_jnr said:


> Welcome to the forum.
> 
> For most Australians (and Britons, I suspect), it's the latter. For North Americans, the former.


 

Hi. For this Englishman it isn't true I'm afraid.I have always used the former and understood rightly or wrongly the latter to be American usage.


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## Scalloper

entangledbank said:


> It's ['deɪtə] (dayta) in Britain, ['da:tə] (darta) in Australia, and I believe ['dæ:ɾə] (datta/dadda) in the USA. (_Edit:_ apparently not - see real US speakers' comments below.)



I've heard something close to the latter pronunciation in Northern Ireland. I don't know whether it's the usual pronunciation there but I have heard it from several people around the province.


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## panjandrum

<<Moderator note.
Please remember rule #1:
*Look for the answer first.*
Check the WordReference dictionaries  (if available) and scroll down for a list of related threads; or use the forum's search function. 
Today's thread has been added to the previous thread on this topic.

panjandrum >>


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## Pedro y La Torre

I don't think either pronunciation is the "norm" in Ireland. Both are equally used, indeed in the same sentence you will often hear it start out with day-ta and end in dah-ta.


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## linachao5

Added to previous thread. 
Cagey, moderator

Hi, everyone.
I have a little question.
In the Cambridge Dictionary I found three different phonetic transcriptions of the word 'data':

1. ˈdeɪ·t̬ə
2.  ˈdæt̬·ə
3.  ˈdɑt̬·ə

What I would like to know is:
Which of the three is the most common and why are there three different transcriptions...?
Could you give me a hand?


Correct my mistakes, please.


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## Andygc

The OED has four.
Brit.	 /ˈdeɪtə/ , /ˈdɑːtə/ , U.S. /ˈdædə/ , /ˈdeɪdə/

1. How can we know which is the most common? We don't know everybody who uses the word,  and most of us don't travel around the world sampling the pronunciation of English speakers.
2. Because there are. Many words are pronounced differently in different varieties of English - that is, both international varieties and regional dialects.

Are Spanish words pronounced identically in Bogotá, Madrid and Barcelona?


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## Susan Y

In the UK I normally hear your first pronunciation, linachao, and this is how I pronounce it myself. In Australia and New Zealand, however, your third pronunciation seems more common.


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## Edinburgher

I've heard them all, but /ei/ most often, with the final consonant being somewhere between /t/ and /d/ (closer to /d/ in AE, closer to /t/ in BE).
I use /eit/ with a hint of /d/.

(I hate it when people use *data* as if it were singular; I always treat it as the plural of *datum*)


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## Chasint

BE: In my professional dealings with computers I always heard and used /ˈdeɪtə/


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## JamesM

AE: I've worked in Information Technology for 35 years now and have heard /ˈdeɪtə/ and /ˈdæt̬·ə/, sometimes from the same person, including myself.    I've been known to say "We will read the /ˈdæt̬·ə/ from the /ˈdeɪtə/base and re-format it for report."   They are essentially interchangeable, in my experience, although some people show a strong preference for one over the other.  I try to base my pronunciation on the cues from whatever client I'm speaking with at the time.


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## MarcB

JamesM said:


> AE: I've worked in Information Technology for 35 years now and have heard /ˈdeɪtə/ and /ˈdæt̬·ə/, sometimes from the same person, including myself.    I've been known to say "We will read the /ˈdæt̬·ə/ from the /ˈdeɪtə/base and re-format it for report."   They are essentially interchangeable, in my experience, although some people show a strong preference for one over the other.  I try to base my pronunciation on the cues from whatever client I'm speaking with at the time.


I have heard all four pronunciations and as you said sometimes more than one from the same person. I have actually noticed a change in preference over the years.


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## natkretep

I can roughly predict the pronunciation used if I know where the speakers are from.

I have only ever heard /eɪ/ from British speakers. American speakers use mainly /eɪ/, but /æ/ is not uncommon (as indicated in the comments above). Australian and NZ speakers almost always use /ɑː/.


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## linachao5

You have been very clear.
Thanks a lot.


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## KentuckyMegachurch

The correct way to say it is any of those ways!  The OFFICIAL pronunciation is the BE "day-tuh".  People mistakenly think it's a Latin word, and should therefore be pronounced according to the rules of Latin (all a's must rhyme with the one in 'Latin'). But it is NOT a Latin word. It's an English word with a Latin *origin*.  The origin word is 'dare', which IS pronounced according to the rules of Latin. This applies to all words of Latin *origin* that were not part of the contemporary Latin language themselves:  Whoever makes the word up decides how to pronounce it.  But then whoever steals the word can decide, too! The English say "day-tuh", so that's the official pronunciation. But the other ways are so widely used that they are ok too.


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## dojibear

Hiya, Kentucky! Thank you for the post. You give lots of information in it -- some of it is new to me. I only disagree with one comment you make:



KentuckyMegachurch said:


> The English say "day-tuh", so that's the official pronunciation.



There is no "official" in English, because there is no "official" governing board that decides what is "correct" in BE or in AE. The only valid definition of "correct" is "widely used". Since only one pronunciation of "data" is widely used in BE, that is the "correct" BE pronunciation.

But AE speakers never consider BE usage (spelling, pronunciation, grammar) to be "official" or "correct" for AE. The languages split 250 years ago!

Both pronunciations are common and "correct" in AE. When I worked in software, I heard both every day.


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## RM1(SS)

entangledbank said:


> Nor does anyone in Australia: the ad-hoc respelling <darta> is to show the pronunciation with [a:], no [r] - the vowel of _bath, start, palm_.


  No two of those words have the same vowel for me!

And for me both _datum_ and _data_ have the cat vowel, as does _strata_.


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## kentix

I say data like the initial vowel in date.

Strata and status like cat.


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## Pedro y La Torre

dojibear said:


> But AE speakers never consider BE usage (spelling, pronunciation, grammar) to be "official" or "correct" for AE. The languages split 250 years ago!



AE is not a language nor it did not "split" with BrE in 1767.


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## kentix

But we do have our own spelling, pronunciation, and grammar rules that are learned in school (and graded on) and don't depend on common usage in the U.K.


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## Shadiac

This thread has been added to a previous thread. 
Please scroll up and read from the top.
Cagey, moderator 

Hi, my first thread. Please don't judge . Just wondering which one do you use in current talk?

The Wiktionary prefers both, in fact:

Pronunciation

    (UK, Ireland, US)
        enPR: dā'tə, IPA(key): /ˈdeɪtə/
        Homophone: dater (in non-rhotic dialects)
        Rhymes: -eɪtə
    (US, Canada, Ireland)
        enPR: dă'tə, IPA(key): /ˈdætə/, [ˈdæɾə]
        Rhymes: -ætə
    (General Australian, General New Zealand, General South African, UK formal)
        enPR: dä'tə, IPA(key): /ˈdɑːtə/
        Homophone: darter (in non-rhotic dialects)
        Rhymes: -ɑːtə

I personally prefer to use /ˈdætə/, it seems so much easier for me to pronounce.


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## owlman5

I hear both pronunciations over here, Shadiac. Although I don't pay much attention to differences in pronunciation among my compatriots,  I probably hear this version more frequently:  enPR: dā'tə, IPA(key): /ˈdeɪtə/


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## dojibear

I worked in software from 1975 until retirement (in Massacusetts and California).

I've always heard both /deɪtə/ and /dætə/.  I think /dætə/ is a little more common.


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## natkretep

I have always said /ˈdeɪtə/. I think this is normal from most UK and US speakers. I hear a lot of  /ˈdɑːtə/ from Australian speakers.


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## Cagey

Here is another thread on the topic: Pronunciation: data
It includes comments by Australians and these may interest you.
(I am not merging the threads as I often do because the resulting thread would be unmanageably long.)

Cagey, 
moderator


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## Shadiac

Interesting. Kudos for the insight.


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