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Paralipsis

Device
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

Also called praeteritio; drawing attention to something by professing to omit it.

Detailed Definition
Paralipsis (also known as apophasis) is a rhetorical strategy in which a speaker or poet emphasizes a point by pretending to omit or pass over it, often using phrases like “I won’t mention…” or “It’s not important that…” to draw heightened attention to the very thing being ostensibly dismissed; in poetry, this device creates irony, tension, or dramatic emphasis, as seen in Shakespeare’s sonnets where suppressed emotions or forbidden topics gain potency through feigned neglect, revealing the speaker’s internal conflict or societal constraints.
Example
Example in poetry:
Paralipsis in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” (“I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him”); ironic omission in Alexander Pope’s satires; modern paralipsis in Claudia Rankine (“I didn’t say…”); strategic silences in M. NourbeSe Philip’s “Zong!”
Additional Notes
Mentioning something by claiming not to mention it. Rhetorical irony common in satirical verse. Related to apophasis and praeteritio.
Other Meanings of “Paralipsis”
Also Known As
praeteritio apophasis
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