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Grapheme alternative

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

Different written symbols (graphemes) that represent the same speech sound (phoneme), such as “c” and “k” in English /k/ sounds.

Detailed Definition
Grapheme alternative refers to the poetic substitution of one written character for another—such as using “ph” for “f”—to evoke etymology, dialect, or visual symbolism; it draws attention to the materiality of script and linguistic history.
Example
Example in poetry:
In E.E. Cummings, grapheme alternative appears through typographical play: “(here is the deepest secret nobody knows)”; In bpNichol’s “The Alphabet,” grapheme alternative explores letter as image; In Susan Howe’s “Debths,” grapheme alternative excavates archival fragments; In M. NourbeSe Philip’s Zong!, grapheme alternative fractures legal text; In Harryette Mullen’s “Muse & Drudge,” grapheme alternative blends dictionary and blues; In Layli Long Soldier’s “Whereas,” grapheme alternative splits congressional language.
Additional Notes
Grapheme alternative: The use of an alternative spelling or a non-standard character/letter (grapheme) for a word to achieve a visual or phonetic effect, or to suggest an archaic pronunciation; e.g., using 'luv' for 'love'.
Also Known As
letter alternative script variant grapheme variant written substitute Allograph
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