vocalism

1. 1.

   the system of vowels used in a particular language

   Synonymsvowel system

   Broaderphonemic system
2. 2.

   the sound made by the vibration of vocal folds modified by the resonance of the vocal tract

   “a singer takes good care of his voice”

   “the giraffe cannot make any vocalizations”

   Synonymsvoicevocalizationvocalisationphonationvox

   Broadercommunication

   Narrowersinging voicesprechgesangvoice over

Other forms of vocalism

plural

vocalisms·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about vocalism

What does vocalism mean?

vocalism means "the system of vowels used in a particular language". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in vocalism?

vocalism has 3 syllables: vo-ca-lism. The stress falls on "vo".

What is another word for vocalism?

Close synonyms include vowel system, voice, vocalization, vocalisation, phonation. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is vocalism a common word?

vocalism is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.