subvocalizev.
/ˌsʌbˈvəʊkəlʌɪz/, /ˌsʌbˈvəʊkl̩ʌɪz/, U.S. /ˌsəbˈvoʊkəˌlaɪz/ transitive and intransitive. To form or utter (words or sounds) silently or with barely audible sound; esp. to form (speech) in one's mind, as while reading, often with the accompaniment of subtle movements of the speech muscles, the lips, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > loss or lack of voice > deprive of voice [verb (transitive)] > subvocalize
subvocalize1903
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > loss or lack of voice > lose the voice [verb (intransitive)] > subvocalize
subvocalize1947
1903 Psychol. Rev. 10 16 The rhythm may be uttered, or sub-vocalized, or the auditory sensations indicated may be called up in imagination as inner speech or song.
1947 G. T. Buswell in Elem. School Jrnl. Dec. 193/2 Persons who subvocalize in silent reading have a much slower rate than those who suppress all tendencies to deal with words separately.
1978 K. Amis Jake's Thing xv. 153 Jake had subvocalized an oath.
1988 J. Bradshaw Healing Shame that Binds You ii. vii. 151 Say it again. Subvocalize it as you get up to walk out of your theater.
2005 C. Stross Accelerando vi. 227 She mutters aloud, unable to subvocalize.
Derivatives
subˈvocalizer n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > loss or lack of voice > [noun] > silence or not uttering > subvocalization > person
subvocalizer1925
1925 E. B. Skaggs Further Stud. Retroactive Inhibition in Psychol. Monogr. No. 161. 33 FCD was the subvocalizer of the group.
1947 G. T. Buswell in Elem. School Jrnl. Dec. 194/2 They were subvocalizers, the victims of a method of teaching reading that fixed oral-reading habits first.
2000 J. L. Andreassi Psychophysiol. (ed. 4) viii. 177 Subjects were asked to read silently and then to stop reading... 17 [subjects] were found to be subvocalizers.
subˈvocalizing n. and adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > loss or lack of voice > [adjective] > subvocalizing
subvocalizing1924
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > loss or lack of voice > [noun] > silence or not uttering > subvocalization
subvocalizing1924
subvocalization1925
1924 D. W. La Rue Child's Mind & Common Branches xiii. 259 Even experts sometimes assert that thinking is talking to one's self, or speaking low, or sub-vocalizing.
1929 Commonweal 6 Nov. 12/1 Surely his hypothetical scion of the Pharaohs and his sub-vocalizing child are far inferior to the one about the angels on the point of a needle.
1966 New Scientist 29 Dec. 738/3 Of 17 subvocalizing college students out of 50..nearly all managed to reduce their involuntary vocal activity to nil within five minutes.
2006 Mod. Lang. Jrnl. 90 328/1 A subvocalizing strategy was counterproductive in a sentence copying task for some subjects.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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v.1903