Home › Glossary › Letter A

Alternating-voice lyric

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

Lyric poetry structured around alternating perspectives or voices.

Detailed Definition
Alternating-voice lyric is a poem where two distinct speakers or perspectives alternate throughout, each expressing their viewpoint in turn. This structure allows for dialogue, debate, or the juxtaposition of contrasting experiences without merging the voices into a single narrative perspective. Common in love poetry, political verse, and dramatic lyrics, alternating-voice poems can represent actual conversations or present parallel soliloquies that comment on each other through their proximity and contrast.
Example
Example in poetry:
The lyric shifted perspectives each stanza, first a shepherd praising the fields, then a ploughman in the same fields cursing the hard soil, in an alternating-voice structure.
Additional Notes
Alternating-voice lyric is a poem written in a lyric style that features two distinct voices or personae who speak in alternation, often to express contrasting perspectives on a central theme (e.g., love, conflict).
Also Known As
Responsive lyric Voice-alternating lyric Call-and-response song Antiphonal lyric
Skip to main content