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sigh phrase

Phrase
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

An expression conveying exhalation as metaphor for sorrow, relief, or longing

Detailed Definition
Sigh phrases use breath’s release to articulate what words cannot hold; they mark moments of resignation, tenderness, or exhaustion, where sound becomes the body’s honest utterance beyond speech.
Example
Example in poetry:
Sigh phrase: The breath between two heartbeats; the pause before the confession; the silence after the last note; the sigh phrase is the emotion the poem cannot name.
Additional Notes
Sigh phrases convey emotion through breath: “The pause before the confession”; they are the sonic embodiment of longing, relief, or surrender; use them to model line breaks, caesuras, or emotional pacing; avoid literalism—let the sigh be metaphorical: “a sigh that outlasted the storm”; related to breath phrase, silent phrase, and dying phrase; ideal for confessional and lyric poetry.
Also Known As
exhalation phrase breath sigh sigh motif
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