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Hyperbaton

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 that intentionally disrupts standard syntax to create emphasis, rhythm, or poetic effect.

Detailed Definition
Hyperbaton: A rhetorical inversion of normal word order (e.g., “him I saw” instead of “I saw him”) used for emphasis, metrical adjustment, or poetic elevation; common in Latin poetry and English Romanticism to disrupt syntax for dramatic effect.
Example
Example in poetry:
Hyperbaton: “Sweet the rain’s new fall” (Hopkins) inverts syntax for emphasis; “Him I saw” instead of “I saw him” for poetic stress; Latin poetry: “Arma virumque cano” (arms and the man I sing); “Bright the moon” heightens luminosity through inversion; “Gone the days of youth” emphasizes loss; Modernist verse using hyperbaton to fracture time
Additional Notes
Inversion of normal word order. "Him I saw" vs. "I saw him." Related: anastrophe, grammatical inversion. Study: when inversion serves meter vs. emphasis vs. archaism.
Other Meanings of “Hyperbaton”
Also Known As
Word inversion scrambled syntax transposed order syntactic displacement word order reversal
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