The rule as you understand it applies in most cases, but context can allow differences. I might say 'Cambridge is THE University for studying modern languages'; in this case the pronunciation would be /ði: ju:.../.
b

Student or Learner
I was taught to pronounce 'the' in the weak form as ðə (thuh) before a consonant sound (the house, the year), and ði (thee) before a vowel sound (the umbrella, the hour). But what's the pronunciation of 'the' in the following words: 'the university', 'the University of California', 'the UN', 'the United States', 'the United Kingdom?' The sound after 'the' in these words is juː and according to the rule, 'the' should be pronounced as ðə. However, because my Longman Dictionary has pronunciations of the example sentences, I tried to listen and noticed that the pronunciation of 'the' in these cases seems more similar to ði than ðə.
I'd like to know how you pronounce 'the' in the cases I just proposed.
PS: If there are any errors in my post, please let me know.
Thanks very much.
The rule as you understand it applies in most cases, but context can allow differences. I might say 'Cambridge is THE University for studying modern languages'; in this case the pronunciation would be /ði: ju:.../.
b
Yes. The example was badly chosen. (But the point about context holds good. Also, it differs from speaker to speaker; the headmaster at my primary school (a northerner or Scot - I was too young to note which) always used the strong form.
b
I would use the same form of "the" before "university" as I do before "year" because the word sounds as if it starts with the "y" sound.
Last edited by emsr2d2; 14-Jul-2012 at 23:56. Reason: typo or two
Remember - if you don't use correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing, anything you write will be incorrect.
Actually, both are correct. I am a native English speaker... and this is a very good question. After saying both types of 'the', I could not say which one I would use. To be completely honest, 'the' is pronounced somewhere in between 'thu' and 'thee', but slightly closer to 'thu'.
Bookmarks