vocalize

English

WOTD – 21 June 2008

Alternative forms

• vocalise (non-Oxford British English)

Etymology

From vocal +‎ -ize.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈvoʊ.kə.laɪz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

vocalize (third-person singular simple present vocalizes, present participle vocalizing, simple past and past participle vocalized)

1. To express with the voice, to utter.
   • 1876, Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, preface to the 1876 edition:

     Following the modern spirit, the real poems of the present, ever solidifying and expanding into the future, must vocalize the vastness and splendor and reality with which scientism has invested man and the universe, […]

2. (of animals) To produce noises or calls from the throat.

   We could hear the monkeys vocalizing, though we could not see them.

3. (music) To sing without using words.
4. (linguistics) To turn a consonant into a vowel.

   In Hong Kong English, /l/ may be vocalized at the end of a syllable.

5. (linguistics, dated) To make a sound voiced rather than voiceless.
6. (linguistics) To add vowel points to a consonantal script (e.g. niqqud in Hebrew)

Synonyms

• (of humans): outspeak (rarely used as a synonym of vocalize)

Derived terms

• vocalization

Translations

to express with the voice, to utter

Bulgarian: произнасям гласно (proiznasjam glasno) Hungarian: kiejt (hu), kimond (hu), szavakba önt, artikulál (hu) Portuguese: vocalizar (pt)

of animals: to produce noises or calls from the throat

Hungarian: vokalizál (hu), hangot ad (ki) Portuguese: vocalizar (pt)

music: to sing without using words

Bulgarian: изпълнявам вокали (izpǎlnjavam vokali) Hungarian: énekel (hu), dúdol (hu), dúdolgat (hu), lalázik

linguistics: to turn a consonant into a vowel

Hungarian: magánhangzóvá alakít, magánhangzósít, vokalizál (hu)

(dated in English) linguistics: to make a sound voiced rather than voiceless

Hungarian: zöngésít

linguistics: to add vowel points to a consonantal script (e.g. niqqud in Hebrew)

Arabic: شَكَلَ (šakala) Hungarian: pontokat kiteszi

Portuguese

Verb

vocalize

1. inflection of vocalizar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative