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Turn-taking unit

Structure
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 poetic line or passage that mimics conversational exchange and role alternation

Detailed Definition
A Turn-taking unit is a stanza or line designed for dialogic exchange—between speakers, voices, or perspectives—often in collaborative or dramatic poetry; it structures poetic conversation through call-and-response, antiphony, or alternating viewpoints, as in duet poems or polyphonic works that stage social or psychological multiplicity.
Example
Example in poetry:
Call-and-response in spirituals: “Leader: Who’ll ride? / Chorus: Joshua!”; Dialogue poems like Browning’s “My Last Duchess” — implicit turn-taking; “He said: ‘Stay.’ / She left.” — minimal turn-taking unit; Collaborative poetry where lines alternate speakers
Additional Notes
Turn-taking unit|In conversational or dialogue poetry, a structural unit (line or stanza) that represents a complete utterance or segment spoken by one character before the other speaker takes their "turn"; essential for maintaining dialogue coherence.
Also Known As
Antiphonal unit Exchange unit Turn-taking verse Adjacency pair
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