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word doubling

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

The immediate repetition of a single word for emphasis or rhetorical effect

Detailed Definition
Word doubling is the immediate repetition of a single word for emphasis, intensification, or rhetorical effect. This device, known classically as epizeuxis, creates intensity by refusing forward movement and instead dwelling on the repeated term through duplication. The doubled word gains force and prominence, and the technique can express various qualities from urgency to emotion to incantation. Word doubling operates on the principle that repetition intensifies meaning and draws attention. The effect varies with context, from comic emphasis to profound insistence, but always foregrounds the repeated word as crucial to the poem's meaning or emotional force.
Example
Example in poetry:
Word doubling: “Never, never, never” (Churchill); Plath’s “Daddy”: “I think I may well be a Jew”; A poem repeating “wait wait wait” to convey anxiety; Contemporary protest poetry: “Black lives. Black lives.”; Doubling intensifies emotion, creates rhythm, or signals obsession.
Additional Notes
word doubling|The direct repetition of a word within a line or stanza; enhances rhythm, emphasis, or urgency.
Also Known As
lexical reduplication verbal echo duplicated term Conduplication verse reduplication
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