Antiphony

Quick meaning: Antiphony is a noun meaning (music, singing) Alternate, or responsive singing by a choir split into two parts; a piece sung or chanted in this manner.

Meaning

(music, singing) Alternate, or responsive singing by a choir split into two parts; a piece sung or chanted in this manner.

More Meanings

1. Alternate, or responsive ideas or opinions; juxtaposition.
2. (phonetics) Synonym of apophony (“contrastive vowel modification”).

Example Sentences

The various types of reduplication […] include full reduplication (tum-tum), […] vowel antiphony (flip-flop, criss-cross) […]

Roman Jakobson gives evidence to show how language uses ‘antiphony’ or vowel opposition in pairs of words with opposite meanings: ‘gleam’ and ‘gloom’, ‘here’ and ‘there’, or in French ‘petit’ and ‘grand’.

Still another phase of language which interests Professor Orr is that of vowel antiphony in the functional development of language; e.g. the “front-back” vowel sequence (tittle-tattle, et patati et patata, etc.).

Besides that Cardan pleases himself with that Antiphonie in Nature, that as the Ostrich being a Bird, yet never shes in the Aire, so this Bird of Paradise should alwayes be in the Aire, and never rest upon the Earth.

Word Forms

• antiphonies

Synonyms for antiphony

Depending on context, synonyms include apophony, antiphon.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include antiphon, heterophony, alternation, call-response, counterphrase, homophony.

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