Home › Glossary › Letter P

Phonetic repetition

Sound
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

The repetition of sounds in verse, contributing to rhyme, alliteration, or assonance

Detailed Definition
Phonetic repetition encompasses a range of sound-based poetic devices—including alliteration, assonance, consonance, and anaphora—that involve the recurrence of phonemes, syllables, or rhythmic patterns to create musicality, emphasize meaning, or evoke mood; unlike simple rhyme, phonetic repetition operates at the sublexical level, weaving sonic textures that can mimic natural phenomena (like wind or water), reinforce thematic motifs (such as obsession or ritual), or generate hypnotic or incantatory effects, as in the cascading consonants of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s sprung rhythm.
Example
Example in poetry:
Repeated “s” sounds for softness; Consonant repetition in “clasp” and “grasp”; Assonance of “blue moon” and “true tune”; Recurring phoneme adding rhythm
Additional Notes
Phonetic repetition emphasizes sound patterns (alliteration, assonance) over semantic meaning. Related to sound pattern rhyme. Use it to create mood or musicality—read aloud to hear how sound shapes emotional resonance.
Also Known As
Sound repetition Echoed phoneme Recurrent sound Ablaut reduplication Frequency rhyme reduplication Phonetic echo
Skip to main content