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Concatenation

Device
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 rhetorical device where stanzas or lines are linked by repeating a word or phrase from the end of one unit at the start of the next.

Detailed Definition
Catenation: The repetition of a consonant sound at the junction of two words, often the final consonant of one word and the initial consonant of the next. This is also known as "consonance in contact." Catenation creates a linking or flowing effect, binding words together and smoothing the transition between them. An example from the provided context is the repetition of the 'n' sound in "nodded, nearly napping" from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. This device is distinct from alliteration, which requires the repetition of initial consonant sounds, and from assonance, which involves the repetition of vowel sounds. Catenation contributes to the overall musical texture of a poem and can enhance the sense of fluidity or create a harsh, jarring effect depending on the consonants used.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” lines flow without punctuation, creating concatenation: “I celebrate myself and sing myself”; Marianne Moore’s “Poetry” uses enjambed clauses strung together like beads; Ginsberg’s “Howl” chains clauses with “who” in relentless concatenation; Concatenation appears in Old English alliterative verse like “Beowulf,” where half-lines bind tightly; Contemporary poet Claudia Rankine uses concatenation in “Citizen” to link microaggressions fluidly.

Catenation: In Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “The Windhover,” phrases link through enjambment and sound repetition (“dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon”), demonstrating catenation—chain-like syntactic and sonic continuity.
Additional Notes
Linking or chaining of words, ideas, or stanzas. Creates continuity and progression. Related to: anadiplosis, chain rhyme. Effective for cumulative effects.

Catenation: The linking of words or phrases in a chain-like sequence; in poetry, produces fluidity or hypnotic rhythm—e.g., through anadiplosis (repeating the last word of one line at the start of the next).
Also Known As
Linking verse chain connection Catenation Chain repetition Linking chaining connection
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