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Circumflex

Notation
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 diacritical mark (ˆ) indicating historical vowel length, pitch, or contraction in poetry.

Detailed Definition
The circumflex (ˆ) appears in French, Welsh, and classical transliterations to denote vowel length, pitch contour, or elided letters; in poetry, it guides pronunciation and metrical scansion, preserving rhythmic accuracy and etymological nuance essential to lyrical integrity.
Example
Example in poetry:
Circumflexes in French poetry mark historical elision: “hôpital” from “hospital”; English poets use “château” with circumflex for exotic effect; In Portuguese, “pêssego” uses circumflex for vowel quality; Dickinson’s manuscripts show circumflex-like marks for emphasis; In Greek transliteration, circumflexes denote pitch accents; Modern poets retain circumflexes in loanwords for rhythmic precision.
Additional Notes
Circumflex: The circumflex (ˆ) in poetry may denote a long vowel in classical scansion, a historical elision, or a pitch accent in tonal languages; in French-influenced English verse, it sometimes signals archaic spelling or rhythmic emphasis—use it judiciously to avoid confusion with mathematical or proofreading symbols.
Also Known As
circumflex accent hat
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