Is "repository" pronounced /rɪˈpɒzɪt(ə)ri/ or \ri-ˈpä-zə-ˌtȯr-ē\ or /rəˈpäzəˌtôrē/?

Question

Is it /rɪˈpɒzɪt(ə)ri/ or \ri-ˈpä-zə-ˌtȯr-ē\?

I'm confused, I've seen it pronounced both ways and I'm not not sure if it's an American/British thing or do people just use different pronunciations on special occasions.

Merriam Webster only lists one pronunciation which it says is \ri-ˈpä-zə-ˌtȯr-ē\:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/repository

Macmillan Dictionary only lists one pronunciation which it says is /rɪˈpɒzɪt(ə)ri/:

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/pronunciation/british/repository

and the Google Translator lady is pronouncing it /rəˈpäzəˌtôrē/.

Which one is it? More importantly for me, which one is the one most commonly used in the domain of programming (that is, in relation to git repositories).

Answer 1

I'm not not sure if it's an American/British thing

It is an American/British thing, although there also could be variation between individuals of either accent.

In general, British English speakers are more likely than American English speakers to elide a syllable in words ending in -ory (like repository) or -ary (like dictionary). When British English speakers don't elide the second-to-last syllable of words ending in -ory/-ary, they generally pronounce it with a reduced vowel (also known as schwa, and transcribed as /ə/). The same reduced vowel sound is found in either accent in the second-to-last syllable of surgery or of battery, when that word is pronounced with three syllables.

American English speakers are more likely than British English speakers to use a pronunciation with an unreduced vowel (what you wrote as "reposi-to-ree"). The syllable containing the unreduced vowel can be analyzed as having some stress, although not as much as the syllable with the "primary stress" of the word (in repository, that is the second syllable). This "minor" kind of stress has been called "tertiary stress". Tertiary stress usually isn't present when the immediately preceding syllable is stressed (tchrist left a comment listing some words like this, e.g. history, which in both accents typically has no stress of any kind on any syllable other than the first).

There is a question on ELL asking about why American English and British English differ in this way, but I don't think the reason is entirely clear: '-…ory' : Pronunciation difference between American and British English?

or do people just use different pronunciations on special occasions.

I haven't heard of people varying the number of syllables in the word repository based on the occasion. Some people might have what is called "free variation", where they use both forms more or less interchangeably. As far as I know, neither pronunciation is considered markedly informal, so I wouldn't worry about one or the other pronunciation being inappropriate for any situation. At most, using the less common pronunciation for your environment might sound unusual, but I don't think it would be a big issue.

Answer 2

The word written ‹REPOSITORY› is most often (but not always) pronounced as one of:

1. [ɹᵻˈpʰɒsᵻtɹi]
2. [ɹɪˈpʰɑzᵻtʃɹi]
3. [ɹəˈpʰɑzətʃɹi]
4. [rᵻˈpʰɒsᵻtəri]
5. [rᵻˈpʰɒsᵻtəri]
6. [ɹᵻˈpʰɒsᵻˌtʰɔɹi]
7. [ɹᵻˈpʰɑzᵻˌtʰɔɹi]
8. [ɹəˈpʰɑzəˌtʰɔɹi]
9. [ɹiˈpʰɔzəˌtʰoɹi]
10. (other possibilities)

Notice that some of those (1–5) have one stress, but others (6–9) have two.

In virtually every position in this word, many possible pronunciations are possible. Precisely which one of those it may be in any given dialect, accent, speaker, register, and utterance depends on many more factors than can be adequately explained in the space allotted for answers here.

Here, though, is a tentative synopsis; it is not meant to be complete but merely demonstrative:

• This word’s written ‹R› is any of [ɹ ⁓ ɻ ⁓ ɻʷ ⁓ r] here, with the lastmost really appearing only in Scotland amongst native speakers.
• This word’s written ‹E› is any of [i ⁓ ɪ ⁓ ᵻ ⁓ ə] here.
• This word’s written ‹P› is always [pʰ] here because it is at the onset of a stressed syllable.
• This word’s written ‹O› is any of [ɔ ⁓ ɒ ⁓ ɑ] here.
• This word’s written ‹S› is either of [s ⁓ z] here.
• This word’s written ‹I› is any of [ɪ ⁓ ᵻ ⁓ ə] here.
• This word’s written ‹T› is either of [t ⁓ tʰ] here, with the aspirated version occurring in those speakers who use any stress at all for this syllable.
• This word’s written ‹O› is any of [o ⁓ ɔ ⁓ ə] or nothing at all here, sometimes written [∅].
• This word’s written ‹R› is any of [ɹ ⁓ ɻ ⁓ r] here, again with the final sound possible “only” in Scotland.
• This word’s written ‹Y› is any of [i ⁓ ᵻ ⁓ ə] here.

You might think that that mapping just given of one letter mapping to many possible sounds would be enough, but it isn't. Not only do letters and sounds enjoy no one-to-one mapping in English, they even lack a one-to-many mapping. One letter can represent one of many possible sounds, or no sound at all, sometimes groups of letters together can represent groups of sounds that cannot be decomposed into any simple relationship. For example, sometimes the complex consonant cluster [tʃɻʷ] appears, particularly in some North American and Irish speakers who use a pronunciation of just four syllables and a single stress rather than a pronunciation of five syllables with two stresses.

Answer 3

"reposi-tree" is British; "reposi-to-ree" is American.

One big clue is the origin of the dictionary you're using. Merriam-Webster is an American reference dictionary ("About Us," Merriam-Webster), so its pronunciations tend to be American. Macmillan has an American and a British listing, and each has a distinct pronunciation:

(American) /rɪˈpɑzəˌtɔri/

(British) /rɪˈpɒzɪt(ə)ri/

The difference is in the vowel - /(ə)/ denotes an optional schwa, or unemphasized vowel, so (it-ree) or (it-er-ee) are both possible in British English. /ɔ/ denotes the (o) sound you're describing; in American English the extra vowel/syllable is more common. That said, experience may vary based on the local dialect or one's idiolect; dictionaries represent common usage, not universal usage.