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Adjacency pair

Structure
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Two consecutive lines that form a call-and-response unit within a larger poem

Detailed Definition
An adjacency pair in poetic discourse refers to two successive utterances or stanzas that are structurally and functionally interdependent, such as question-answer, greeting-response, or accusation-defense, borrowed from conversation analysis and applied to dialogic or dramatic poetry; this concept helps analyze how poets simulate natural dialogue, build tension, or enact ideological conflict through tightly coupled exchanges, as in the call-and-response structures of African American spirituals or the dialectical stanzas of dramatic monologues.
Example
Example in poetry:
An adjacency pair in poetic dialogue consists of two linked utterances, like question and answer: “‘Where are you going?’ she cried. / ‘To the edge of the world,’ he replied.”
Additional Notes
Two utterances where second responds to first (question-answer, greeting-response). From conversation analysis. Used studying dramatic or dialogic poetry.
Also Known As
Conversational pair Turn-taking unit Dialogue couplet
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