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L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets (US)

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

1970s–80s US avant-garde group foregrounding language over referent

Detailed Definition
L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets (US) were a late-20th-century avant-garde group—including Charles Bernstein and Lyn Hejinian—who prioritized linguistic materiality over referential meaning, deconstructing syntax, narrative, and authorial voice to expose how language constructs reality, identity, and power through fragmentation and textual play.
Example
Example in poetry:
L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets (US): Experimental poets (e.g., Charles Bernstein, Lyn Hejinian) who foreground language’s materiality over meaning; example: “Word / sword / board / bored— / syntax as site of resistance, not sense.”
Additional Notes
Late 20th-century American avant-garde movement emphasizing language materiality over representation. Challenges conventional syntax and meaning-making. Key figures: Bernstein, Hejinian, Silliman. Related to L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E magazine.
Also Known As
Language poets American avant-garde L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E school Experimental language movement
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