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Call-and-response

Black American
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 participatory structure in which one line or stanza is answered by another

Detailed Definition
Call-and-response is a performative poetic structure rooted in African and African-American oral traditions, where a lead voice (call) is answered by a chorus or audience (response); it fosters communal participation, rhythmic interplay, and dialogic meaning-making. Call and response is a musical and communal structure in which a statement is answered by a reply, creating dialogue between performer and audience or between poetic lines, rooted in African and African American traditions
Example
Example in poetry:
Call and response originates in West African musical and ceremonial practice and persists through the spirituals, gospel, blues, jazz, and hip hop into poetry itself. In poetic form it creates a dialogic structure where assertion invites answer, where the speaker is never alone but always in conversation with a community. It challenges the solitary lyric speaker of the Western tradition, replacing monologue with dialogue, performance with participation. Related to vernacular tradition, jazz cadence, gospel poetry, and sanctified rhythm, call and response is one of the foundational structural principles of African American expressive culture. Call-and-response alternates between leader and group voices; example: African American spirituals: “Who’ll be a witness? (I’ll be a witness!) / For my Lord? (For my Lord!).”
Additional Notes
African-American musical/poetic tradition: leader's call answered by group response. Related: antiphony, work song, spirituals. See also: responsory. Communal form influencing slam and performance poetry.
Also Known As
Antiphonal verse responsorial poetry echo structure question-answer form Antiphon Antiphonal singing Echoic structure Antiphony
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