Home › Glossary › Letter W

Written prosody

Concept
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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 analysis of poetic meter, stress, and rhythm as visually represented on the page, distinct from performed prosody.

Detailed Definition
Written prosody refers to the study or practice of poetic meter and rhythm as manifested in textual form rather than performance; it encompasses scansion, syllabic counting, and metrical notation, focusing on how rhythm is encoded visually through lineation, punctuation, and orthography in the absence of vocal delivery.
Example
Example in poetry:
Longinus’ On the Sublime — discusses poetic meter in writing; Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria — written prosody rules; Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ On Literary Composition — Greek written metrics; modern textbooks like Attridge’s The Rhythms of English Poetry.
Additional Notes
Written prosody studies meter as it appears on the page, not just in performance. Crucial for silent reading traditions—contrast with vocal prosody in oral-formulaic verse.
Also Known As
Textual prosody scansion on the page silent meter orthographic rhythm Glyphic prosody
Skip to main content