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Barge

Transport
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

A broad, flat-bottomed boat used for carrying goods or passengers on canals and rivers.

Detailed Definition
A barge often brings a stately, industrial, or dreamlike presence to poetry. Its low shape and deliberate pace can evoke working waterways, urban margins, and the weight of commerce. Poets may contrast a barge’s heavy cargo with drifting light, birds, or reflections, making it an emblem of endurance amid change. In elegiac writing, a barge can also resemble a funeral vessel moving quietly toward an unknown shore.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The coal barge moved like a black thought downriver” uses a working vessel to darken the landscape; A poet might contrast wealth and poverty with “A pleasure barge passed the fishermen’s torn nets”; “On the barge, iron slept beneath the rain” gives industrial cargo a heavy, personified presence; A funeral poem could say, “The river bore her flowers away on a barge,” making the vessel a quiet image of farewell
Additional Notes
A barge suggests slow movement, labor, and trade on inland waters. Poets may contrast its heavy cargo with the flowing river or canal.
Also Known As
Canal Boat Flatboat ferry
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