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Deictic shift

Concept
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 shift in the speaker’s or poem’s frame of reference—such as time, place, or perspective—that reorients the reader’s interpretive stance.

Detailed Definition
Deictic shift refers to a change in the deictic center—the speaker’s “here,” “now,” or “I”—within a poem, often signaling a change in perspective, time, or narrative voice; it allows poets to navigate multiple subjectivities or temporal planes within a single text.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” the speaker’s “I” shifts the reader into complicity; Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” moves from “I” to “we” to implicate collective guilt; Deictic shift occurs in Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen” when “you” becomes the reader; Shakespeare’s sonnets shift from “I” to “thou” to reorient emotional space.
Additional Notes
Deictic shift changes reference point of "here," "now," "I" within poem. Related to deixis. Common in dramatic monologue, narrative shifts. Reader must reorient—creates immediacy or multiple perspectives.
Also Known As
Perspective change Viewpoint movement Referential shift Positional transition
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