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Ordinal indicator

Notation
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

Superscript letters (º, ª) denoting ordinal numbers, rarely used in poetry except typographically.

Detailed Definition
Ordinal indicators appear in dates or titles within poems; their superscript form adds visual subtlety, occasionally used in concrete poetry to explore hierarchy, sequence, or temporal layering.
Example
Example in poetry:
Ordinal indicators (ª, º) appear in poetic dates: “5º día de lluvia”; In Portuguese poetry, “2ª vez” uses ª for feminine ordinal; Some poets use º for masculine ordinals: “1º amor”; In minimalist verse, “3º attempt” employs ordinal indicators; Experimental works use ordinals for sequence; In bilingual poems, ordinals blend languages typographically.
Additional Notes
Ordinal indicator: Ordinal indicators (º, ª) denote ordinal numbers (1º, 2ª); while rare in English poetry, they appear in Romance-language verse or multilingual editions—recognize them as typographic markers of sequence, not to be confused with degree symbols or superscripts.
Also Known As
ordinal symbol
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