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swallows

Birds
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

Small migratory birds with pointed wings and forked tails. They are often associated with spring and swift flight.

Detailed Definition
Swallows are small birds known for their graceful, fast flying and seasonal migration. In poetry they often suggest warmth, movement, and the return of spring. Here, their presence adds a bright contrast to the speaker’s grief.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The happy swallows in the blue” joins the birds’ swift flight to a clear sky; Yeats’s “the swallows’ cry” uses their return as a seasonal sound; “Swallows stitch the evening over the barn” exploits their darting motion as metaphor; “Under the bridge, swallows build with mud and patience” observes a familiar nesting habit.
Additional Notes
The word “swallows” names a bird species in the quoted line, which may need identification for some readers.; Found in the poem, On the Moor by Cale Young Rice
Also Known As
birds flight migratory swifts
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