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—voicer, n.n.1. the sound or sounds uttered through the mouth of living creatures, esp. of human beings in speaking, shouting, singing, etc.2. the faculty or power of uttering sounds through the mouth by the controlled expulsion of air; speech: to lose one's voice.3. a range of such sounds distinctive to one person, or to a type of person or animal: Her voice is commanding.4. the condition or effectiveness of the voice for speaking or singing: to be in poor voice.5. a sound likened to or resembling vocal utterance: the voice of the wind.6. something likened to speech as conveying impressions to the mind: the voice of nature.7. expression in spoken or written words, or by other means: to give voice to one's disapproval by a letter.8. the right to present and receive consideration of one's desires or opinions: We were given no voice in the election.9. an expressed opinion or choice: a voice for compromise.10. an expressed will or desire: the voice of the people.11. expressed wish or injunction: obedient to the voice of God.12. the person or other agency through which something is expressed or revealed: a warning that proved to be the voice of prophecy.13. a singer: one of our best voices.14. a voice part: a score for piano and voice.15. Phonet. the audible result of phonation and resonance.16. Gram.a. a set of categories for which the verb is inflected in some languages, as Latin, and which is typically used to indicate the relation of the verbal action to the subject as performer, undergoer, or beneficiary of its action.b. a set of syntactic devices in some languages, as English, that is similar to this set in function.c. any of the categories of these sets: the English passive voice; the Greek middle voice.17. the finer regulation, as of intensity and color, in tuning, esp. of a piano or organ.18. the still, small voice, the conscience: He was only occasionally troubled by the still, small voice.19. with one voice, in accord; unanimously: They arose and with one voice acclaimed the new president.v.t.20. to give utterance or expression to; declare; proclaim: to voice one's discontent.21. Music.a. to regulate the tone of, as the pipes of an organ.b. to write the voice parts for (music).22. to utter with the voice.23. Phonet. to pronounce with glottal vibration.24. to interpret from sign language into spoken language.adj.25. Computers. of or pertaining to the use of human or synthesized speech: voice-data entry; voice output.26. Telecommunications. of or pertaining to the transmission of speech or data over media designed for the transmission of speech: voice-grade channel; voice-data network.[1250-1300; ME (n.) < AF voiz, voice (OF voiz, vois) < L vocem, acc. of vox; akin to vocare to call, Gk óps voice, épos word (see EPIC), Skt vakti (he) speaks]Syn. 5. cry, call. 6. sound, language, speech, tongue. 11. order, command. 12. mouthpiece, organ. 20. reveal, disclose, publish.
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IIn grammar, the form of a verb indicating the relation between the participants (subject, object) in a narrated event and the event itself.English grammar distinguishes between the active voice ("The hunter killed the bear") and the passive voice ("The bear was killed by the hunter"). In the active voice, the emphasis is on the subject of the active verb (the agent performing the action named), whereas the passive voice indicates that the subject receives the action.II(as used in expressions)* * *
▪ grammarin grammar, form of a verb indicating the relation between the participants in a narrated event (subject, object) and the event itself. Common distinctions of voice found in languages are those of active, passive, and middle voice. These distinctions may be made by inflection, as in Latin, or by syntactic variation, as in English. The active-passive opposition can be illustrated by the following sentences:The action remains the same, but the focus is different. The subject of an active verb governs the process as an actor, or agent, and the action may take an object as its goal. The passive voice indicates that the subject is being acted upon. The topicalized goal of the action (“the bear”) is the grammatical subject of the passive sentence and is acted upon by the agent (“the hunter”), which is the logical, but not the grammatical, subject of the passive sentence. Passive constructions do not always require the agent to be expressed:Although many transitive verbs in English can take either active or passive voice, there are exceptions. Some transitive verbs do not occur in the passive.It is believed that proto-Indo-European distinguished between an active and a middle voice, and it is from the latter that the passive voice in later Indo-European languages developed. The middle voice signifies either an action or a state in which the principal interest is the subject of the verb, as is seen in the following examples from Russian: (Russian language)In the middle voice the subject may or may not be the agent; the focus is on the action affecting him, whereas the passive voice focuses on the recipient of the action.The category of voice is not found in all languages. Languages that can preserve meaning while changing focus by means of different forms of the verb can be analyzed as having the category of voice.also called Full Voice,in phonetics, the sound that is produced by the vibration of the vocal cords (vocal cord). All vowels are normally voiced, but consonants (consonant) may be either voiced or voiceless (i.e., uttered without vibration of the vocal cords). The liquid consonant l and the nasal m, n, ng (as in “sing”) are normally voiced in English, and the stops, fricatives, and affricates characteristically possess both voiced and voiceless forms. In English, for example, b is a voiced bilabial stop, whereas p is a voiceless bilabial stop. Of the other stops, fricatives, and affricates, v, d, th (as in “this”), z, zh (the sound of the s in “pleasure”), j (as in “jam”), and g are normally all voiced sounds; while f, t, th (as in “thin”), s, sh, ch, and k are all voiceless sounds. See also vocal fry; whisper.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
