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Sound metaphor

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 metaphor in which sound qualities are compared or mapped to other experiences

Detailed Definition
A sound metaphor equates a non-auditory experience (e.g., color, emotion, texture) with a sound to create synesthetic understanding (e.g., "the blue silence hummed"); by translating one sensory mode into another, it deepens perception and reveals hidden dimensions of the described phenomenon.
Example
Example in poetry:
Comparing sound to something else: "Her voice was honey poured in moonlight"; "The thunder growled like a wounded beast"; "Silence screamed in the empty room"; "Laughter tinkled like glass bells"
Additional Notes
A Sound metaphor is a figure of speech where a sound is described in terms of something non-acoustic, or vice versa (e.g., "The silence was a thick blanket," "Her voice was a velvet rope"); it bridges the sensory gap between hearing and touch/sight.
Also Known As
acoustic metaphor auditory trope Acousmatic metaphor Phonetic metaphor
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