How do you pronounce "Nevada"?

[Illuminati Blood Drinker]

Inspired by Sanchez' Oregon thread.

Option 1.

[Goldwater]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I don't I've heard the second one before. I've heard people pronounce it ne-vah-da, which is obviously wrong, but I don't think that's what option 2 would sound like...

[bedstuy]

I think it's more a dichotomy between people who say Nevada: Ne-vah-da and Ne-vad-a.  It's basically the Spanish pronunciation vs. the English pronunciation.

[homelycooking]

I've heard three American English pronounciations: [nə.vɑdə] ("ne-vah-da"), [nə.vædə] ("ne-vaa-da") vs [nə.vɑɪdə] (ne-vay-da, rarely). I believe that the original Spanish language word nevada (lit. "snowy") is pronounced something like [nə.bɑ.dɑ], though I'm sure that my IPA usage there is incorrect.

Edit: OK, per Wikipedia, the correct Spanish pronunciation is [ne.βaða]. Linguistics 1001 only takes one so far.

[Joe Republic]

Why do these types of threads always feature poll options that don't make any sense, responses that contain confusing descriptions of pronunciations, or the phonetic alphabet that maybe three people here can understand?

This is the correct way to say it.  If you say it any other way, especially to somebody from here, expect to be glared and winced at.

Ignore the fact that as a Spanish word the above pronunciation still isn't quite accurate.  Would you pronounce the state containing Chicago as 'Ee-lee-nwah' because that's how the French intended it?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

ne-vah-duh

[Joe Republic]

ne-vah-duh

This is what I'm talking about.  'Vah' is totally ambiguous.

[Adam Griffin]

How the actual word is pronounced; the state and its residents be damned. This of course makes me a hypocrite, as I don't pronounce Colorado in Spanish form.

[Joe Republic]

How the actual word is pronounced; the state and its residents be damned. This of course makes me a hypocrite, as I don't pronounce Colorado in Spanish form.

That's not really that different from how we say it, just with more of a Spanish accent.

[Adam Griffin]

How the actual word is pronounced; the state and its residents be damned. This of course makes me a hypocrite, as I don't pronounce Colorado in Spanish form.

That's not really that different from how we say it, just with more of a Spanish accent.

Yeah, I kind of noticed that in the audio there - the 'va' seems more Anglo than how the word is usually pronounced by Spanish speakers. Vowels (except i, or u/ü) in Spanish have consistent pronunciation, so it's probably not the best example for me to use.

[Adam Griffin]

But seriously, who says 'neh-vey-deh'? Bad poll.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Rhinocerous

Incidentally, I had a banana-topped waffle at iHop this past weekend.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

ne-vah-duh

This is what I'm talking about.  'Vah' is totally ambiguous.

You also need to think about different accents and how sounds are made

[Bacon King]

Ne-va-da vs Ne-vad-a is the only real distinction here, correct?

I use the latter pronunciation because in freshman year at Tulane a friend from Carson City told me I was supposed to pronounce it that way so since then that's how I've done it

edit- nevermind i'm looking at my phonetic spelling again and even I can't tell which is supposed to be which

the correct one has a middle syllable that sounds like the word "add"

[Tender Branson]

Nä-vuh-duh

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Nuh-vah-duh

[Vega]

The way the guy in the video that Joe posted says it. Everyone seemed to say it the other way up until the 1990s.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

ne-REAGAN

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Vay-gis

[TDAS04]

First option. 

[RINO Tom]

Nuh-vad-duh.

[homelycooking]

This is precisely why people use the IPA.

[politicus]

No-way-DUH!

[Free Bird]

Na-vah-da is just wrong

[Joe Republic]

Na-vah-da is just wrong

Exactly, which is why Na-vah-da is correct instead.