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plural vocables
(linguistics) A word or utterance, especially with reference to its form rather than its meaning. quotations examples
Without words and almost with the seriousness of asylum nurses they at once set upon an unsavoury-looking matron who began to cry out Mediterranean vocables of distress.
1974, Anthony Burgess, The Clockwork Testament
At first the man puzzled; then he smiled. He pronounced a string of uncouth vocables.
1925, John Buchan, The House of the Four Winds
(music) A syllable or sound without specific meaning, used together with or in place of actual words in a song. quotations examples
Many Native American songs employ vocables, syllables that do not have referential meaning. These may be used to frame words or may be inserted among them; in some cases, they constitute the entire song text.
a. 2010, Victoria Lindsay Levine, Native American Music, Encyclopaedia Britannica
not comparable
(linguistics) Able to be uttered. examples