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Isogram

Constraint
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 word, phrase, or text in which no letter occurs more than once.

Detailed Definition
Isogram is a word or phrase without repeating letters (e.g., “ambidextrously”), and in poetry, isogrammatic constraints may be used experimentally to limit diction and generate lexical novelty; though rare as a full-poem technique, isolated isogram lines challenge poets to maximize expression within strict alphabetic economy, foregrounding language’s combinatorial play and material limits.
Example
Example in poetry:
Isogram: “Bright vixens jump; dozy fowl quack” (pangram without repeats); “Mr. Jock, TV quiz PhD, bags few lynx” (32-letter); “Poem avoiding repeated letters per line” (constraint); “‘Cwm fjord-bank glyphs’—Welsh isogram” (example)
Additional Notes
A text using each letter only once or avoiding certain letters. Lipogram's opposite includes every letter. Constrained writing form. Creates intellectual puzzle. Related to Oulipo constraints and univocalics.
Also Known As
Same-letter poem Single-character text Letter-restriction verse
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