vocalization — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The act of vocalizing or something vocalized; a vocal utterance

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2. Any specific mode of utterance; pronunciation

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3. The use of speech to express an idea

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4. The production of communication sounds with the syrinx or larynx (in tetrapods) or with the swim bladder (in fish)

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5. The production of musical sounds using the voice, especially as an exercise

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6. The vowel diacritics in certain scripts, like Hebrew and Arabic, which are not normally written, but which are used in dictionaries, children's books, religious texts and textbooks for learners.

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7. The addition of these diacritics and the respective phonemes to a word; the spoken form the word thereby receives.

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8. The change in pronunciation of historically or variably consonant (typically sonorant) sounds as vowels. For example, the syllabic /l/ in words like people or the coda one in words like cold or coal are variably realized as a high back vowel or glide—[ʊ], [u], [ɤ] or [o]—in many dialects of English in the US, UK, and the Southern Hemisphere. For example, in African American Vernacular English, one common pronunciation of the words "people", "cold", and "coal" is [pʰipʊ], [kʰoɤd], or [kʰoɤ] respectively.

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Noun

1. the sound made by the vibration of vocal folds modified by the resonance of the vocal tract

   Synonyms

   voicevocalisationvocalismphonationvox

   Broader terms

   communication

   Examples

   a singer takes good care of his voice

   the giraffe cannot make any vocalizations

2. the use of uttered sounds for auditory communication

   Synonyms

   utterance

   Broader terms

   auditory communication