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semantic-free line

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

A line constructed without semantic content, favoring sound, rhythm, or abstraction

Detailed Definition
A semantic-free line is a verse line stripped of conventional denotative meaning, relying instead on sound, rhythm, or visual arrangement for effect; often found in Dadaist or sound poetry, it challenges the primacy of semantics, foregrounding the materiality of language over communicative function.
Example
Example in poetry:
Asemantic lines like Aram Saroyan’s “lighght” prioritize visual form over meaning; In concrete poetry, “silence” printed in faint ink creates a semantic-free line; Jackson Mac Low’s sound poems use phonemes without lexical meaning; Dadaist poems like Hugo Ball’s “Karawane” use invented words in semantic-free lines
Additional Notes
semantic-free line: A line of verse composed of words that, when put together, resist clear, conventional meaning, creating a sense of ambiguity or nonsense; see also semantic void.
Also Known As
Nonsensical line semantic-free phrase meaningless verse Asemic line
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