vocalicadj.n.
/və(ʊ)ˈkalɪk/, U.S. /voʊˈkælɪk/, /vəˈkælɪk/ Chiefly Linguistics.
A. adj.
1.
a. Of the nature or character of a vowel; consisting of a vowel or vowels. Cf. vocal adj. 9, consonantal adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective]
vowellisha1637
vocalic1782
monophthongal1783
vocular1813
vocalistic1848
phthongal1875
vocal1887
vocoid1943
1782 S. Rogers Poems on Var. Occasions I. 64 How must this epistle [of Penelope to Ulysses] appear, when transfused into a harsh northern dialect, and viewed through the medium of a tongue..almost without inflection or vocalic termination?
1866 G. Stephens Old-Northern Runic Monuments I. i. 25 The sing. accusative ending in a vowel or a vocalic consonant.
1891 A. L. Mayhew Synopsis Old Eng. Phonol. 19 In final unaccented syllables e was developed from a vocalic liquid or nasal.
1935 A. G. Kennedy Current Eng. 79 For a different reason the liquids l and r and the two nasals m and n may be used as vowels.., and so are often called vocalic consonants.
2013 Reading Res. Q. 48 234/1 Decoding is generally difficult in Hebrew due to the frequently unmarked vocalic sounds.
b. Of a language: rich in vowels; having many vowels.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] > having > many
vowelled1664
vowelly1712
vocalic1814
1814 W. Scott Waverley I. xxii. 331 The Gaelic language, being uncommonly vocalic, is well adapted for sudden and extemporaneous poetry. View more context for this quotation
1885 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 22 91 The language is vocalic, and with few gutturals or harsh palatals.
1908 Celtic Rev. 5 142 Gaelic is a fine vocalic language, well adapted to give the massive effects of choral singing.
2017 M. Shapiro Speaking Self (ed. 2) i. 111 The explanation for this change has to do with the kind of language English is typologically, namely a consonantal language, and not a vocalic language.
c. Of, relating to, affecting, or concerning a vowel or vowels.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] > relating to
vocalic1851
vocal1887
1851 J. R. Logan in Jrnl. Indian Archipel. & Eastern Asia 5 213 Many instances of this are afforded in those parts of Asianesia in which the vocalic system meets the consonantal or penetrates into it.
1876 J. S. Blackie Lang. & Lit. Sc. Highlands i. 63 No man with an ear will deny vocalic depth..to the following lines.
1909 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 39 79 Terms denoting relatives by marriage undergo a vocalic change to indicate the death of the connecting relative.
1938 Mod. Philol. 36 116 Like the East Anglians, the Kentishmen made extensive use of vocalic alliteration.
2013 Lang. Resources & Eval. 47 976 The non-vocalized Hebrew orthography (the standard Hebrew script) lacks prosodic information and includes a very limited range of vocalic information.
d. Of a form or inflection of a word: having or characterized by a vowel or vowels.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] > characterized by
vocalized1838
vocalic1851
1851 J. R. Logan in Jrnl. Indian Archipel. & Eastern Asia 5 555 Ngaju, Binua, Battan, Achean, use the vocalic forms ba, ma, mi &c.
1874 A. H. Sayce Princ. Compar. Philol. ii. 92 The varying vocalic forms of the Imperfect [tense].
1958 Language 34 184 The same phonological changes which led to the differentiation of -ā from -os, -om took place in adjectives of the vocalic declension.
2001 H. G. Simonsen & R. T. Endresen Cognitive Approach to Verb i. 86 The vocalic conjugation or V-class has past suffixes which are vowel initial.
e. Of text or a writing system: provided with vowels or signs representing vowels.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] > written with vowel sounds represented
plene1867
vocalic1903
1903 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 24 279 Dr. Breasted of Chicago objects to the old vocalic transliteration.
1941 Bull. Amer. Schools Oriental Res. No. 81. 20 He disregards the evidence of the Berlin execration texts for an early stage of vocalic orthography.
1958 Vetus Testamentum 8 118 As for the vocalic text of [MS] 448, we are going to prove its Oriental Babylonian character.
2006 L. Cantoni & S. Tardini Internet i. 20 Early alphabets were syllabic..; then signs got to refer to consonant phonemes; only in the eighth century bce did the Greeks invent the vocalic alphabet.
2. Of, relating to, by means of, or conveyed by the non-phonemic but vocal components of speech, such as tone of voice, tempo of speech, and sighing, by which communication is assisted; designating a non-phonemic but vocal component of speech; paralinguistic. Cf. sense B. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > [adjective] > paralanguage
paralinguistic1955
vocalic1970
supralanguage1975
1970 R. L. Birdwhistell Kinesics & Context ii. 17 The meaning varying in a consistent manner with each significant vocalic or kinesic shift.
1974 R. L. Applbaum & K. W. E. Anatol Strategies for Persuasive Communication iv. 72 When both verbal and vocalic elements are present, as we find in normal speech, vocalic communication is considered paralinguistic.
1988 Semiotica 71 285 One body of studies has looked at measurable differences between males and females in their respective use of such vocalic features as pitch, intonation, and pronunciation.
2013 L. K. Guerrero & B. Wiedmaier in J. A. Hall & M. L. Knapp Nonverbal Communication xix. 581 Certain kinesic and vocalic cues also send unambiguous messages of affection.
B. n.† 1. In plural. Apparently: pronunciation; articulation of speech sounds. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > [noun] > correct pronunciation of speech sounds
pronunciation?a1475
prosody1588
voculation1656
vocalics1875
1875 N. R. Johnston Let. 2 Dec. in Reformed Presbyterian & Covenanter (1876) Jan. 19 Before closing the school we give some concert lessons in the vocalics and the elements of the language.
2. A vowel. Cf. sense A. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [noun]
vowelc1308
vocalc1570
monophthong1616
vowel-sound1795
oral1885
vocalic1902
1902 Rev. Hist. Publ. relating to Canada 6 183 The Kwakiutl language..is phonetically very rich, variable in its vocalics, and expresses grammatical relations by means of suffixes and by reduplication.
1913 H. Jonhston Phonetic Spelling iv. 59 Our vocalics are for the most part harmonious.
1969 K. Gregerson Study Middle Vietnamese Phonol. 45 With reference to co-occurrence of vocalics with semivowels, there is a general dissimilation of the roundedness feature.
2013 D. Ringe & J. F. Eska Hist. Linguistics vi. 107 Retroflexion of the sibilant is effected by the notorious ‘ruki-rule’, by which /s/ becomes retroflex immediately following dorsals, rhotics, and high vocalics.
3.
a. A non-phonemic but vocal component of speech, such as tone of voice, tempo of speech, or sighing, by which communication is assisted. Cf. sense A. 2.
ΚΠ
1975 French Rev. 48 856 Particularly for adults, the vocalics of a second language are difficult to learn.
1999 Symbolic Interaction 22 228 The use of laughter, laugh tokens, and highly textured vocalics (rising and falling inflection, volume variations, exclamatory tones).
2003 W. P. Robinson Lang. in Social Worlds v. 90 The extra-linguistic vocalics and the paralinguistic features are involved in all but the metalinguistic functions.
2013 T. D. Afifi & A. Denes in J. A. Hall & M. L. Knapp Nonverbal Communication xii. 352 Another channel of nonverbal communication that has been linked to physiology involves vocal cues or vocalics.
b. In plural with singular agreement. The non-phonemic but vocal components of speech considered collectively; the use of these for communication, or the study of this; paralanguage, paralinguistics.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > [noun] > paralanguage
paralanguage1958
vocalics1978
1978 J. K. Burgoon & T. Saine Unspoken Dialogue iii. 80/2 Vocalics includes all stimuli produced by the human voice (other than words themselves) that affect the auditory sense.
1979 R. E. Crable Using Communication vi. 64 Vocalics is the study of how the voice can communicate certain messages.
1987 Business Marketing Mar. 134/2 Paralanguage—or vocalics—is one of the more important non-verbal factors affecting presentations.
2009 S. Duck & D. T. McMahan Basics of Communication iii. 71 In contrast to verbal communication, vocalics involves the voice rather than the content of speech.
Derivatives
voˈcalically adv.
ΚΠ
1863 W. Stokes in Gwreans An Bys 201 (note) A fem. iâ-stem like myl..‘thousand’, vocalically infects the governed substantive.
1919 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 39 268 The verb-prefixes, varying as they do vocalically, are..a fairly sure indication of the presence of indeterminate vowels in these preformatives.
1966 Amer. Speech 41 115 In the variety of English that I am speaking of, sighted:sided contrast vocalically and durationally.
2010 Politics & Life Sci. 29 57/2 How a comment is delivered, not only verbally and vocalically, but also in terms of facial and body movement, affects whether and to what extent a comment is perceived as humorous.
voˈcalicness n.
ΚΠ
1962 Slavic & East European Jrnl. 6 146 The Cj..sequence before the /á/ alternant..is predictable in terms of the diffuseness or vocalicness of the preceding feature set.
1989 C. Jones Hist. Eng. Phonol. ii. 119 Both voiceless obstruents and high front vowels are low in vocalicness for their phonological class.
2000 Phonol. 17 431 The first alternative appeals to the difference in vocalicness between /n/ and /ŋ/.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1782