How do you pronounce "automata"?

January 14, 2019 1:13 PM

I said "uh TAH muhtuh" in a conversation, my coworker responded with "auto MAH tuh", and I can't stop thinking about the discrepancy

- pros of my version: it's like "automaton" but replacing the "on" with an "a" (unless I've been mispronouncing this word all my life, also eminently possible)
- pros of his: it's like "automatic" and that would make sense, too!

Are we... both right? Or is it something totally different? Most importantly, should I never speak again?

posted by involute to Writing & Language (23 answers total)

auTOMuhtuh!
posted by quacks like a duck at 1:15 PM on January 14, 2019 [15 favorites]

Aw-TOM-uh-tuh. I’ve never heard anyone say it like your friend does, but it’s also not a word you hear people say a lot.
posted by catatethebird at 1:20 PM on January 14, 2019 [6 favorites]

You do say TOM, but I hate it. Quacks is correct.

I say "auto MAH tuh" because I want to.

(I have said the word quite a bit in the past two years due to a popular game.)
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 1:23 PM on January 14, 2019 [3 favorites]

Uh TAH mah tuh (do-do-dah-do-do!) is how I say it.
posted by sockermom at 1:26 PM on January 14, 2019 [9 favorites]

I say it the way quacks like a duck says it.

But the thing I'm most tempted to say is: let's call the whole thing off.
posted by Sublimity at 1:37 PM on January 14, 2019 [4 favorites]

If there is a mahna mahna option, you always take that option.

In this case that's also the correct option, so the forces of justice have prevailed for once.
posted by Stacey at 1:38 PM on January 14, 2019 [7 favorites]

Dictionaries say it your way.
(And against "automatic" there's also "autonomous", "autocracy", etc.)
posted by trig at 1:44 PM on January 14, 2019 [2 favorites]

pros of your version: it matches the dictionary
pros of his: ...it's creative and quirky?
posted by dfan at 1:55 PM on January 14, 2019 [2 favorites]

Best answer: My guess is that the dictionary pronunciation follows the accent of the Greek words they come from:

automata < autómata
automatic < automátikos
posted by dd42 at 1:59 PM on January 14, 2019 [8 favorites]

Your coworker is completely, incontrovertibly, 100 percent wrong. You and quacks like a duck are both right, allowing for regional variances.
posted by holborne at 2:18 PM on January 14, 2019 [3 favorites]

"otta matta," fairly stressless.
posted by rhizome at 2:30 PM on January 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

I do say "otTAH-ma-ton" though.
posted by rhizome at 2:31 PM on January 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

Automata is an accepted pluralization of automaton. (Automatons being the other.) You pronounce it similarly to its root word, which is pronounced with the emphasis on the TOM syllable. You're doing it right.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 2:43 PM on January 14, 2019

Best answer: People who work with finite-state automata all say it your way. However, this is not necessarily evidence you are correct, as traditionally mathematicians say "homogeneous" as "homo genius" which most people would consider incorrect for general usage.
posted by vogon_poet at 2:44 PM on January 14, 2019 [4 favorites]

I would say auto-MAY-ta, but according to you all, I'd be wrong.
posted by JimN2TAW at 3:05 PM on January 14, 2019

Not only do Merriam-Webster, Collins, American Heritage, and Oxford English Dictionaries all list pronunciations with your stress pattern, none of them list any alternative pronunciations with your co-worker's stress pattern. The only alternatives I see listed are changes to the last vowel sound.
posted by mhum at 3:18 PM on January 14, 2019 [3 favorites]

Roboticist here. aw-TOM-ah-tuh, universally, including a friend who started a robotics company with "Automata" in the name.
posted by olinerd at 3:22 PM on January 14, 2019

I think you're both right.

Another irregular plural that changes stress when you pluralize it, as your coworker's doing, is singular : stigma :: plural : stigmata.
posted by clavicle at 3:34 PM on January 14, 2019 [2 favorites]

automatic < automátikos

It's actually automatikós. (Which I guess would mean that automatic should be pronounced with the stress on the following word.)
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark at 6:29 PM on January 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

pros of my version: it's like "automaton"

This is not a pro for your version, as "automaton" is the singular of "automata". How does your coworker pronounce "automaton"?
posted by Pig Tail Orchestra at 4:43 AM on January 15, 2019

I knew a guy who pronounced “atom” the same as “autumn.” There’s no point trying to correct things like that. Language changes, frequently because people use words that are in their reading vocabulary but not in their speaking one. In a thousand years, who’ll care?
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 6:52 AM on January 15, 2019

from a "social norms that dictate how most people say a word" perspective you're in the majority.
posted by nikaspark at 1:13 PM on January 15, 2019

And remember, please be gentle when "correcting" pronunciations: It's actually kinda cool if someone pronounces a word "wrong" because that means they're using a word they've only seen written down.
posted by whuppy at 10:28 AM on January 16, 2019