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Articulation

Performance
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

The clear formation of consonants and vowels in speech. It helps listeners catch a poem’s precise language.

Detailed Definition
Articulation is the physical shaping of speech sounds through the lips, tongue, teeth, and jaw. In poetry performance, careful articulation can make intricate rhyme, alliteration, dialect, or compressed imagery intelligible without flattening the poem into overly formal speech. A performer may sharpen consonants for urgency or soften them for intimacy, using clarity to reveal the poet’s choices in sound and meaning.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise,” crisply articulating “I rise” makes the refrain sound defiant rather than rushed; A performer can slow the consonants in “black ocean, leaping and wide” so each image is understandable; In a poem with repeated s sounds, the reader can articulate them lightly to preserve musicality without hissing; Before performing a fast spoken-word poem, a poet can practice difficult word clusters such as “sudden storm” until every syllable lands clearly
Additional Notes
Practice consonant endings without overpronouncing them. Clear articulation is especially important when a poem uses wordplay, rhyme, or rapid pacing.
Also Known As
Enunciation Pronunciation Elocution
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