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Gradatio

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 progression in which ideas or images build incrementally, each clause advancing logically from the previous one.

Detailed Definition
Gradatio (or climax) is a rhetorical figure in which a sequence of clauses or phrases builds incrementally in intensity, complexity, or emotional weight, with each step repeating the end of the previous one (e.g., “love leads to trust, trust leads to peace”); it creates persuasive momentum and structural crescendo in poetic argument.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Love leads to marriage, marriage to children, children to legacy”; Cicero’s “I came, I saw, I conquered” as gradatio; Modern: “Fear breeds silence, silence breeds complicity”; Climactic repetition builds rhetorical momentum
Additional Notes
Rhetorical device where each clause takes word from previous one. Climbing pattern. Also "climax." Related: anadiplosis, incremental repetition. Study: how ascent creates emphasis.
Also Known As
step progression climactic building Anadiplosis Climax
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