Variations in the pronunciation of "the"

Question

Although there are rather simple rules determining the pronunciation of "the", native speakers quite often deviate from these rules (including, e.g., TV shows). According to the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary,

The EFL learner is advised to use [ðə] before a consonant sound (the boy, the house), [ði] before a vowel sound (the egg, the hour). Native speakers, however, sometimes ignore this distribution, in particular by using [ðə] before a vowel (which is in turn usually reinforced by a preceding ʔ), or by using [ði:] in any environment, though especially before a hesitation pause. Furthermore, some speakers use stressed [ðə] as a strong form, rather than the usual [ði:].

My question is: when native speakers use [ðə] instead of [ði] before a vowel sound, do they do it on purpose or accidentally? If it is on purpose, how do they (typically) decide which pronunciation to use? What is a valid reason to use [ðə] before a vowel sound?

Answer 1

To summarize the discussion here and elsewhere:

In contrast to the pronunciation-based distinction between a and an, the pronunciation of "the" is not strictly determined by the pronunciation of the following word. The guidelines in, for example, the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary are in fact just guidelines for non-native speakers. If one listens closely to native speakers, it becomes obvious that [ðə] and [ði] are chosen relatively freely, irrespective of the following word. Hence, it is interesting that people who learn English as a foreign language are usually told by teachers and textbooks that the pronunciation of "the" follows the same strict rule as the distinction between a and an. This misconception can even be found on English language sites such as here.

A similar answer was given here.

Answer 2

For rather a lot of English there are "rather simple rules" that are flat out wrong (the order of the letters "i" and "e" when together is my favorite example). You just have to memorize them.

In the case of "The", it is often pronounced with the long E sound for emphasis, which means that the same phrase might use a different pronunciation depending on the point the speaker wants to get across. The point of emphasis is often if the speaker wants to draw attention to the fact that it is somehow unique.

For example there's "The Ohio State University". If someone is just rattling off its official name, typically you'd hear the softer sound. However, many people are kind of annoyed at how insistent they are about the "The" at the front of the name (most US universities don't do that), so I often hear it pronounced with the harsher long E sound (and the entire word "The" louder than the rest of the name).

Answer 3

The pronunciation ending with a long -e sound before a vowel also serves as what is termed "liaison" in speaking French. In English, using the long -e before a vowel, we can smoothly say "the eggs" (approximately, "thee-yeggs") instead of using a glottal stop: ("the [glottal stop] eggs").

Answer 4

I can't find a rule anywhere. But based on some experiments in the last few minutes, I conclude that the short vowel before a vowel sound may just be a contraction or elision of the vowel sound. I might say "the eggs" with a long e, but what sounds like a short e is probably actually "th' eggs", pronounced with one syllable, not two.

[I'm in Texas, where slurrin's a fact o' life. That may make a diff'rence.]

Answer 5

Those speakers who do not use the pronunciation "thee" for the generally do not have words that begin with a vowel. They use a glottal stop before what is an initial vowel for most speakers. These same people are often heard to use a where the "correct" article would be an. This is usually a regionalism that school teachers were unsuccessful in beating out of their students.

Answer 6

I’ve been fascinated by this phenomenon recently. I’m a non-linguist Canadian and I’ve always used the “an” and “thee” pronunciations before a vowel. I’m in my 70s. I recently started noticing on American TV that a large number of speakers consistently do not use these forms. It certainly doesn’t appear to be accidental. And then I even began noticing this phenomenon in some Canadian speakers. My observation is that it appears to be younger Canadians who are doing this. I’ve even been considering constructing a little reading “test” to see how some Canadians I know will pronounce these words in a text.

Today I decided to do a search to see if there was anything about this on the Internet and was really pleased to come across this discussion.