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Visible Speech for Dummies

noun

pronunciation: 'vɪzəbəl_spiʧ

What does Visible Speech really mean?

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Visible Speech is a term that refers to a system of representing speech sounds visually. It's like having a way to show someone's voice using pictures and symbols. Do you know how we use letters to write words? Well, Visible Speech is a bit similar, but instead of letters, it uses different symbols and shapes to represent the sounds we make when we talk.

Imagine you have a friend who is deaf and cannot hear the sounds you make. You want to communicate with them, but sign language might also be challenging for you to learn. That's where Visible Speech comes in handy! With Visible Speech, you can visually show how you make the sounds using your mouth, tongue, and throat. It's almost like drawing a picture of each sound!

Let me give you an example to make it clearer. Think about the sound "mmm" as in the word "mom." When you say "mmm," you press your lips together and make a humming sound, right? Well, in Visible Speech, this specific sound would be represented by a symbol that looks like a small circle placed right in the middle of a line. So, instead of saying "mmm," you can show the symbol to your deaf friend, and they would understand that you mean the sound "mmm."

But Visible Speech isn't just about sounds like "mmm." It covers all the different sounds we humans can make when we speak. Imagine a whole set of symbols for each sound, like a big collection of emojis, each representing a specific sound in our language. This way, using Visible Speech, we can break down words and show exactly how they are pronounced, even if someone cannot hear the sounds.

So, to sum it up, Visible Speech is a way to visually represent all the sounds we make while speaking. It helps people who cannot hear understand and communicate with us by using symbols and shapes that represent each sound in our language.


Revised and Fact checked by Stephanie Wilson on 2023-10-29 23:10:06

Visible Speech In a sentece

Learn how to use Visible Speech inside a sentece

  • When we speak, sound comes out of our mouth. Visible speech is the way we can see the movements our mouth makes when we talk.
  • Have you ever watched a movie where the actor's voice is different from their mouth movements? That's because they used visible speech to match their mouth movements with the words they are saying.
  • When we communicate with someone who cannot hear, we can use sign language or visible speech to help them understand what we are saying.
  • In some scientific experiments, researchers use special cameras to record people's visible speech. They study the movements of the mouth to learn more about how we speak.
  • If you watch a video of yourself talking, you can see your visible speech and notice how your mouth moves differently for different sounds and words.

Visible Speech Hypernyms

Words that are more generic than the original word.