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Glite Dictionary
📊 A sound diagram 🔤 A phonetic alphabet
visible speech

visible speech

9.9
A set of written signs that shows how to make speech sounds with the mouth
  • noun
  • /ˈvɪzəbl spiːch/
  • Archaic
translation icon : habla visible
  • Melville Bell's invention of visible speech was a significant milestone in phonetics.

Examples

  • The teacher demonstrated visible speech symbols to show how each sound is formed.

  • Linguists studied visible speech to understand how spoken sounds could be represented visually.

  • The concept of visible speech is fascinating!

  • Can you explain the concept of visible speech?

  • The teacher used visible speech to illustrate how different phonemes are produced by the mouth and tongue.

  • Through visible speech, students learned to recognize the physical motions involved in articulate sound production.

  • In her presentation, she explained the principles of visible speech to enhance the understanding of speech mechanics.

Synonyms

phonetic alphabet
vsvisible speech
  • Specialized
1 4.9

A set of symbols that each show one speech sound and how words are said

represents positions and movements of vocal organs visually not just sounds
sound alphabet
vsvisible speech
  • Specialized
8.2

A set of letters that show speech sounds like the International Phonetic Alphabet

depicts articulator positions visually rather than representing sounds only
phonography
vsvisible speech
  • Specialized
9.9

A writing system where symbols show speech sounds

focuses on visible organ positions and movements rather than general sound notation

Surface Forms

visible speech singular
visible speeches plural

Morphology

visible + speech

The noun phrase is directly compositional: 'visible' (able to be seen) + 'speech' (spoken language) yields the idea of speech represented or made visible (e.g., spectrograms, visual displays, or visible articulatory cues). Although it is used as a technical term in phonetics, its meaning is transparently derivable from the constituents and should be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

The term visible speech comes from Melville Bell in the 1800s. He made special symbols to show how the lips, tongue and throat move so speech becomes visible, so the name now means 'a system of written symbols that shows how each sound is made'.