How do you pronounce the word "the" ?

[Abedy 0]

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Thee before a vowel; thuh before a consonant. That's what I do, and it seems most natural. I'm surprised anyone doesn't do this. Freaks.

If you use thuh before a vowel then you have to put an awkward glottal stop between the words (like in the middle of uh-oh). But if you use thee, then you can run the words together with kind of a 'y' sound between them.

What I don't get is why posh people use an instead of a before words starting with a hard 'h'. For example, 'an hotel'.

Good one. I really looked for an article posted by a British fellow just for confirmation of what I was taught, picked up and use, of course. (I have to admit that I picked up most of what could now be referred to as my "accent" or "variety" of English from Strine and South-Western England (Cornwall mainly))

Regarding your hotel/otel-question: There is an interesting article on BBC's website. There you can read:
"One suggestion is that it touches on a long anxiety in English over the letter aitch. In the 19th Century, it was normal to pronounce hospital, hotel and herb without the h. Nowadays "aitch anxiety" has led to all of them acquiring a new sound, a beautifully articulated aitch at the beginning. America has perhaps hung on to its aitchless herb because it has less class anxiety attached to pronunciations."

Interestingly enough, Americans tend to cling to older forms of pronunciation in quite a many cases. (Hence, for example, the mainly rhotic pronunciation that was the prestige pronunciation in the 17th century in England (and its colonies) whilst non-rhotic pronunciation - which was the prestige pronunciation in the late 18th century - can be found in Australia and New Zealand. I may look up an article about this topic if need be...)

The sky is not the limit. The ground is.

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[warpedskydiver 0]

Ay wot ye say?

Ye owt to ave yer eed looked

[Abedy 0]

The sky is not the limit. The ground is.

The Society of Skydiving Ducks

[airtwardo 7]

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I have asked a few people now because one person, not mentioning any names insist it is pronounce "theeeeee" and not "the" .

It was googled and google said something like if "the" is followed by a word that starts with a Vowel it is "theeeeee" and if 'the" is followed by a word starting with a consonant it is "the" .

Now with that said I still say it is "THE" no matter what follows it. You grammar folks please chime in to educate us dumb asses on the proper usage...



( well not me cause i am using it correctly )

Thinking about it...I tend to pronounce it the way google describes.
It's the way I learned I guess because it's not a conscious choice.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[karenmeal 0]

I still doubt that rule from googling is correct. Most people cannot accurately assess their own conversational speech because doing so changes the way that they would produce certain sounds.

For example, what consonant sound goes in the middle of the word "button"?

Standard American English speakers use a glottal stop instead of a "t". A glottal stop is produced by momentarily bringing your vocal cords together and stopping airflow.

"Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

[airtwardo 7]

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I still doubt that rule from googling is correct. Most people cannot accurately assess their own conversational speech because doing so changes the way that they would produce certain sounds.

For example, what consonant sound goes in the middle of the word "button"?

Standard American English speakers use a glottal stop instead of a "t". A glottal stop is produced by momentarily bringing your vocal cords together and stopping airflow.

I think it may be a regional difference, I use the t in button, as well as the th sound in clothes...drives me nuts when someone says 'close'...which is really the way I hear it most often unless I'm back where I grew up.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[karenmeal 0]

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I think it may be a regional difference, I use the t in button, as well as the th sound in clothes...drives me nuts when someone says 'close'...which is really the way I hear it most often unless I'm back where I grew up.

I really doubt that you do... again, most people truly can't assess specific speech sounds within their own conversational speech. The observation of a specific aspect of speech would likely end up modifying your behavior.

I tried to argue these sorts of points early in my studies of speech science. Fast forward 7 years (after experience teaching classes on Standard American English/Accent reduction, research experience transcribing normal and disordered speech and a couple years working as a speech-language pathologist) and now I'm on the other side of that argument.

I know it is silly to try and debate this stuff over the internet when people might be going from this thread to the one with pictures of boobies, but I really enjoy speech science and am quite particular about discussing it accurately.

"Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

[airtwardo 7]

I lived with a speech pathologist for 8 years, and my wife has a masters in linguistics so I do kind of pick up on the nuances of pronunciation just from being around people that analyse it all the time.

I know there IS something to the regional idea, my wife told me I was from central Illinois the first night I met her, Midwest accent I asked...no, farm-belt pronunciation she said.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[shropshire 0]

It's regional in the U.K too ... some folks will say it like "cloves"

P.S
I like master cunning linguists

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[airtwardo 7]

You said a mouthful!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[JohnMitchell 16]

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Interestingly enough, Americans tend to cling to older forms of pronunciation in quite a many cases.

So, we're traditionalists who go our own way and don't put on a lot of fancy airs?

[airtwardo 7]

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Interestingly enough, Americans tend to cling to older forms of pronunciation in quite a many cases.

So, we're traditionalists who go our own way and don't put on a lot of fancy airs?

Fuckin' A Bubba!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[JohnMitchell 16]

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I really doubt that you do... again, most people truly can't assess specific speech sounds within their own conversational speech. The observation of a specific aspect of speech would likely end up modifying your behavior.

My brother in law, now a Phd in Linguistic Philosophy, did some research into the language used by students at my high school. He had some great stories of the stilted language and pronunciations the students would adopt when questioned by a "university student." Just like quantum physics, observation changes the outcome.

So, I grew up in Texas, spent a dozen years in Utah, and now live in the NW. When you and I chat, do you visualize mashed potatoes with my accent?

[Abedy 0]

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Interestingly enough, Americans tend to cling to older forms of pronunciation in quite a many cases.

So, we're traditionalists who go our own way and don't put on a lot of fancy airs?

Rather "revolutionaries with occasional desire for keeping values"
Think of Noah Webster - quite revolutionary work.

The sky is not the limit. The ground is.

The Society of Skydiving Ducks