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L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E school

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

An experimental poetry movement focused on the materiality of language

Detailed Definition
L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E school was a late-20th-century avant-garde poetry movement that deconstructed conventional syntax, reference, and authorship to expose language’s ideological structures; emphasizing textuality over expression, poets like Charles Bernstein and Lyn Hejinian used fragmentation, parataxis, and neologism to challenge transparent meaning.
Example
Example in poetry:
Charles Bernstein’s “Artifice of Absorption” uses L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E techniques to foreground textual materiality; Lyn Hejinian’s “My Life” disrupts narrative through fragmented autobiography; Ron Silliman’s “The New Sentence” rejects syntactic closure for open meaning; Susan Howe’s “Singularities” erases historical texts to expose linguistic power; Contemporary poet Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen” borrows L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E strategies by interrupting lyric with prose; Bruce Andrews’ “Praxis” uses typographical disjunction to challenge reader expectations.
Additional Notes
The L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E school (1970s–80s) prioritized linguistic experimentation over narrative or lyric expression, questioning how syntax and signification shape perception; key figures include Charles Bernstein and Lyn Hejinian.
Also Known As
Language writing L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets linguistic avant-garde text-focused poetics L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets (US)
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