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Self-emphasis word

Grammar
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

A word that underscores the agency or presence of the self, often through reflexive or emphatic forms

Detailed Definition
Self-emphasis word is a term—often a pronoun, adjective, or adverb—deployed to foreground the speaker’s presence, perspective, or uniqueness within the poem; words like “alone,” “truly,” or “I myself” function rhetorically to assert subjectivity, distinguish experience, or resist erasure in the face of external forces.
Example
Example in poetry:
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 121: “’Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed”; Emily Dickinson: “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”; Walt Whitman: “I celebrate myself”; Sylvia Plath: “I am the arrow.”
Additional Notes
A self-emphasis word (e.g., “I myself,” “none but me”) underscores the speaker’s uniqueness or authority; students should consider whether it conveys confidence, defensiveness, or isolation.
Also Known As
Self-assertive word Personal emphasis Identity marker Autobiographical intensifier Intensive pronoun
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