pronunciation of "the" article

Adam   Friday, October 31, 2003, 10:01 GMT
The universe
The United States

Why "the" is pronounced differently in these two cases in spite of "universe" and "United" begins with the same sound ?
Andy   Friday, October 31, 2003, 13:56 GMT
I would pronounce it the same way in each case.
IloveEnglish   Friday, October 31, 2003, 14:05 GMT
The is pronounced differntly whether it's before a vowel or a consonant.
For instance, /the/ end and /the/ book. the first /the/ is pronounced like /thee/. That's what I learnt in Canada in my English class. Natives would tell you more.
Ryan   Friday, October 31, 2003, 20:14 GMT
The "u" sound in universe and United States is a consonant "u" sound, so the would be pronounced as /th@/ with the schwa. But if you were saying "the umbrella," it would be pronounced like /thee/
Eastie   Friday, October 31, 2003, 21:58 GMT
<<Why "the" is pronounced differently in these two cases in spite of "universe" and "United" begins with the same sound ? >>

There is no difference.
Adam   Monday, November 03, 2003, 07:29 GMT
I know the rule mentioned by IloveEnglish and Ryan. I only thought that the case I asked about is an exception to the rule. Evidently I must have got it wrong.

Thank you very much for your answers.
zi   Monday, November 03, 2003, 08:06 GMT
To Ryan
what is the pronuciation of /@/ in /th@/ ? by @, do you mean the
/D bar/ ?
Adam   Monday, November 03, 2003, 09:47 GMT
You're right Zi, it looks not correctly.
I know only "the" as (using Antimoon's ASCII Phonetic Alphabet):

[TH..] - before a word beginning with consonant - [..] pronounced like in the word "away" or "obey" (at the beginning)

[THi:] - before a word beginning with vowel - [i:] pronounced like in the word "see"
LA   Monday, November 03, 2003, 12:16 GMT
I don't think that vowel rule is correct. I only pronounce the as 'the' when I am emphasising something.
LA   Monday, November 03, 2003, 12:19 GMT
Sorry: I meant to say that I only pronounce 'the' as 'thee' for emphasis.
Adam   Monday, November 03, 2003, 15:04 GMT
It looks like we may pronounce "the" as:

[TH..] - usually before a consonant
[THi] - before a vowel
[THi:] - when we are emphasizing it

(from "Collins COBUILD English Dictionary for Advanced Learners")