How do you pronounce 'ate'

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nyota

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I was taught not to pronounce ate (as in "I ate an apple") as 'eight'. Recently I got to know that 'eight' pronunciation is very common and 'ett' sounds weird.

How do you pronounce "ate" in BrE, AmE or AusE? Does it vary that much depending on the region?
 

susiedq

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How do you pronounce

six, seven, eight ?

:lol:
 

nyota

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eight - /eɪt/
ate - /ɛt/

Or didn't I get some joke?
 

birdeen's call

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/ɛt/ is uncommon in the US, but exists dialectally. It is used by some RP speakers and, I've just found out, some Northern English speakers. That's certainly not an exhaustive list. I would guess that it might be used in some Irish accents.
 

konungursvia

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That's right. Most North Americans pronounce both /eɪt/. My Grade 10 art teacher did say the other though, he was from a small town somewhere.
 

BobK

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I thought your title meant 'How do you pronounce "ate". :) There is variation, as you've heard. Strict/prescriptive RP guides require the simple vowel., as do less enlightened teachers. I think I probably favour the RP version, but sometimes use the diphthong, depending on my audience.

b
 

nyota

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I thought your title meant 'How do you pronounce "ate". :) There is variation, as you've heard. Strict/prescriptive RP guides require the simple vowel., as do less enlightened teachers. I think I probably favour the RP version, but sometimes use the diphthong, depending on my audience.

b

Thanks Bob. Which version would you use/ hear at home? Among friends?
 

Barb_D

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I only use "eight." I wouldn't have guessed that "ett" was more refined -- quite the opposite, actually.
 

Prus

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Even when the Americans do pronounce ate short, they typically use a different monophthong than the British. The British typically use epsilon; the Americans e, in which the tongue is a bit closer to the hard palate and more tense, creating greater vocal tract constriction. As John Algeo states in British or American English? A Handbook of Word and Grammar Patterns:

eat/ate/eaten : The British preterit is typically /εt/, the American /et/. In American, /εt/ is nonstandard.
 

5jj

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The LPD says that/et/ ( the dress vowel) is preferred by 55% of native speakers, /eɪt/ (the face vowel) by 45%. The trend is definitely towards the latter vowel. Only some 28% of older speakers use it, but some 65 % of younger ones do. LPD notes, "In AmE [...] /et/ is considered substandard".

The EPD simply lists /et/ before /eɪt/, indicating that the former is more widely used, for BrE. It gives only /et/ for AmE.
 

emsr2d2

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I only ever pronounce "ate" as "eight" and, as far as I am concerned, that is the correct pronunciation. However, pronouncing it as "ett" is very common in the UK.

"I ate it yesterday" can sound like "I ett it yesterday".

Some people also mistakenly use it instead of "eaten". Instead of saying "How many have you eaten?" or "How many did you eat?", you might hear "How many have you ett?"

Without wishing to sound like a snob, I associate this pronunciation with lower-class or less-educated people. That only goes for my own region of the UK. I have no idea if it's an acceptable pronunciation somewhere else in the UK.
 

konungursvia

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Even when the Americans do pronounce ate short, they typically use a different monophthong than the British. The British typically use epsilon; the Americans e, in which the tongue is a bit closer to the hard palate and more tense, creating greater vocal tract constriction. As John Algeo states in British or American English? A Handbook of Word and Grammar Patterns:
eat/ate/eaten : The British preterit is typically /εt/, the American /et/. In American, /εt/ is nonstandard.

We don't use the IPA in that way in English, though I recognize what you're saying from Continental books. Here, /e/ is used for both 'head' and 'tête'.
 

Offroad

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Without wishing to sound like a snob, I associate this pronunciation with lower-class or less-educated people. That only goes for my own region of the UK. I have no idea if it's an acceptable pronunciation somewhere else in the UK.
It's actually the standard pronunciation given by the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries.

I didn't know that 'ett' even existed.
 

probus

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I recall that when I was a very young schoolboy my teacher denounced "et" as incorrect, just as he did "ain't". And in the 60 or so years since then, I have never once heard anybody say "et." That's how rare it is in AmE.
 

emsr2d2

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It's actually the standard pronunciation given by the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries.

I didn't know that 'ett' even existed.

I'm confused by your post. What is the standard pronunciation given by the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries? My post which you quoted referred to "ett" so it sounds like that is the pronunciation you are referring to.

For clarification, "ett" is the pronunciation I associate with lower-class/less educated/common people.
 

5jj

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Well, two of the leading pronunciation dictionaries, LPD and EPD, give the pet/bet pronunciation as the more common in BrE. In the LPD, Wells says that 55% of speakers of BrE use this pronunciation, while 45% prefer eight. It's interesting to note that his graphs shows only about 28% of older users preferring eight, but 68% of younger users. He says that in AmE, the pet version is considered to be substandard.
 
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