vocalization

  1. Noun.  The act of vocalizing or something vocalized; a vocal utterance.
  2. Noun.  Any specific mode of utterance; pronunciation.
  3. Noun.  The use of speech to express an idea.
  4. Noun.  (music) The production of musical sounds using the voice, especially as an exercise.
  5. Noun.  (orthography) In Arabic and Hebrew - supplying the vowels (diacritics), normally not written to show the correct pronunciation, used in dictionaries, children's books, religious texts and textbooks for learners. Arabic terms: ''tashkiil'' ((Arab, تشكيل) ), ''taHriik'' ((Arab, تحريك) ) - (action of supplying the vowel points) , also known as ''ḥarakāt'' ((Arab, حركات) — the singular is ''ḥaraka'' (Arab, حركة) ) - (the diacritical marks), Hebrew term: (Hebr, ניקוד) ''nikud''.
  6. Noun.  (linguistics) 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 English dialects in the US, UK, and the Southern Hemisphere. For example, in African American English the most common pronunciation of the words "people", "cold", and "coal" is [pʰipʊ], [kʰoɤd], or [kʰoɤ] respectively. .

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This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.