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voice, sound produced by living beings

(Encyclopedia)voice, sound produced by living beings. The source of the sound in human speaking and singing is the vibration of the vocal cords, which are inside the larynx, and the production of the sounds is call...

voice, in grammar

(Encyclopedia)voice, grammatical category according to which an action is referred to as done by the subject (active, e.g., men shoot bears) or to the subject (passive, e.g., bears are shot by men). In Latin, voice...

middle voice

(Encyclopedia)middle voice, in grammar: see voice. ...

Voice of America

(Encyclopedia)Voice of America, broadcasting service of the United States Information Agency, est. 1942. Originally set up as a means of fighting the cold war, the Voice of America produces and broadcasts radio pro...

castrato

(Encyclopedia)castrato kăsträˈtō [key] [Ital.,=castrated], a male singer with an artificially created soprano or alto voice, the result of castration in boyhood. The combination of the larynx of a youth and the...

Dravidian languages

(Encyclopedia)Dravidian languages drəvĭdˈēən [key], family of about 23 languages that appears to be unrelated to any other known language family. The Dravidian languages are spoken by more than 200 million peo...

Sound, the

(Encyclopedia)Sound, the: see Øresund, Denmark and Sweden. ...

Boulez, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Boulez, Pierre pyĕr bo͞olĕzˈ [key], 1925–2016, French conductor and composer of modernist classical music. He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Olivier Messiaen (1944–45) and studied twel...

Martin, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Martin, Mary, 1913–90, American musical comedy star, b. Weatherford, Tex. From Martin's first stage appearance in Leave It to Me (1938), she starred in several enormously successful musicals, includ...

Berio, Luciano

(Encyclopedia)Berio, Luciano lo͞ochäˈnō bĕrˈyō [key], 1925–2003, Italian composer, b. Oneglia. After studying at the Milan Conservatory and working as a coach and conductor in Italian opera houses, Berio w...