Home › Glossary › Letter B

Breath group

Sound
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

A unit of poetic sound or phrasing based on a single breath span

Detailed Definition
Breath group is a phrase or clause structured to align with a single inhalation and exhalation, forming the natural unit of speech and poetic lineation in breath-based poetics; Charles Olson’s “Projective Verse” champions this organic measure, where line length mirrors physiological rhythm to create embodied, immediate expression.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” each line often matches a natural breath group; Charles Olson’s “Projective Verse” theory emphasizes breath groups as compositional units; Denise Levertov aligns line breaks with breath groups to shape emotional pacing; In “Howl,” Ginsberg uses breath groups to sustain long, incantatory lines; Contemporary poet Layli Long Soldier uses breath groups to reflect Lakota speech patterns.
Additional Notes
A rhythmic unit in spoken verse defined by the amount of text that can be comfortably uttered in a single exhalation; The poetic line may be structured to correspond to the natural length of a breath; A key concept in Projective Verse; Related to Breath-length line.
Also Known As
Phonemic breath-group Breath unit Air-group measure
Skip to main content