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Emphasis

Performance
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

Extra stress placed on selected words or syllables. It directs listeners toward important sounds, images, or ideas.

Explore this topic in depth (1)

Repetition in Poetry — Repetition is one of poetry’s most flexible ways of making language memorable. It can establish a beat, return us to an idea, sharpen an argument or make the same words mean differently each time they come back.

Detailed Definition
Emphasis is a performer’s choice to make particular language more noticeable through stress, duration, pitch, or slight pause. In poetry, changing the emphasized word can alter a line’s implication, reveal irony, or shift the emotional center of a sentence. A reader might stress a repeated word differently each time it returns, allowing its meaning to evolve. Effective emphasis arises from close reading rather than from treating every important word as equally forceful.
Example
Example in poetry:
When performing William Carlos Williams’s “The Red Wheelbarrow,” a reader can emphasize “so much depends” to establish the poem’s central claim; In a repeated refrain, stressing a different word each time can reveal a changing meaning; A poet can emphasize “not” in a line of denial so the audience hears the speaker’s resistance; Rather than shouting every important word, a performer can use a pause and slight increase in volume to emphasize one crucial image
Additional Notes
Emphasize selectively so important words remain noticeable. Stressing every word weakens contrast; use emphasis to reveal the poem’s central action or image.
Other Meanings of “Emphasis”
Also Known As
Stress Accentuation
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