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Language poets

Movement
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 late 20th-century avant-garde group emphasizing linguistic experimentation

Detailed Definition
Language poets were a group of experimental American writers in the 1970s–90s who prioritized the materiality of language over referential meaning, challenging narrative coherence and lyrical subjectivity; through disjunction, polyvocality, and typographical innovation, they sought to reveal how language constructs reality and ideology.
Example
Example in poetry:
Lyn Hejinian’s “My Life” fragments perception; Ron Silliman’s “Tense” reorders syntax; Charles Bernstein’s “China” fractures meaning; Susan Howe’s “Singularities” blends text and space; Rae Armantrout’s minimal lines question language itself
Additional Notes
Language poets (associated with the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E school) deconstruct conventional syntax and meaning to foreground language’s materiality; they reject transparent expression in favor of reader-active interpretation.
Also Known As
experimental linguists postmodern word artists deconstructive versifiers L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets (US) Language Poetry Movement
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