Vocalized

Vocalized is the past participle of vocalize and functions as an adjective or as the verb form in phrases such as “was vocalized.” In general use, it means spoken aloud or expressed in speech, and it can describe something produced by the voice or someone who has voiced a concern or opinion.

In linguistics and phonetics, vocalization often refers to voicing. A vocalized sound involves vibration of the vocal folds, while a voiceless sound does not. In technical discussions, vocalized and voiced are frequently used interchangeably, though many authors prefer the term voiced for the presence of vocal fold vibration. This distinction is central to describing phonemes, such as the voiced sounds [b], [d], and [z] versus the voiceless [p], [t], and [s].

In writing systems, vocalized can describe text that includes vowel notation. For example, Hebrew and Arabic can be written in a vocalized form that uses diacritics (niqqud in Hebrew, harakat in Arabic) to indicate vowel quality and quantity; unvocalized text omits these marks and relies on readers to supply the vowels.

Etymology traces vocalized to the Latin word vocalis, meaning “pertaining to the voice,” through the English verb vocalize, with the suffix -ize forming the past participle and adjective. The term appears across linguistic, literary, and typographic contexts, generally signaling voice, speech, or vowel-related marking.