Free reference
Yfirlit yfir Viseme-svindl
A visual guide for artists and researchers working on lipsync: American English phonemes and the visemes they commonly map to.
Phoneme to viseme chart
English consonants. Hover over a sound to see its lip shape. Select it to jump to its photo poses.
In a pair, the voiceless sound is on the left. To hear each phoneme, visit the IPA chart hosted by Cambridge University Press & Assessment.
Chart Key Terms
bilabial: the upper and lower lips come together
labiodental: the lower lip touches or comes close to the upper teeth (the reverse, upper lip to lower teeth, is possible but rare)
dental: the tongue tip touches or comes close to the teeth, either between the upper and lower teeth or behind the upper teeth
alveolar: the tongue tip touches or comes close to the gum ridge just behind the upper teeth (the alveolar ridge)
postalveolar: the tongue makes a narrow passage just behind the alveolar ridge
palatal: the middle of the tongue rises toward the hard palate, the bony center of the roof of the mouth
velar: the back of the tongue touches or comes close to the munnþakið (mýkra gómur)
glottal: the sound is made at the glottis, the opening between the vocal folds: closing it briefly makes ʔ. For h, the vocal folds are held apart to allow free airflow
labiovelar: two constrictions at once: the lips round while the back of the tongue rises toward the velum, as in w. Neither closes completely, which makes it an approximant (more on approximants)
Before you copy a pose
These are isolated poses. Visemes in natural speech are much more complicated and context-dependent, but being able to observe them in unobstructed form is a helpful first step.
Every viseme varies. Some have fixed requirements (e.g. m/b/p need the lips to close entirely or nearly entirely), but the facial actions fluctuate with individual facial features, coarticulation, emotional context, volume, and other speech-related conditions. More on variability
Consonant poses
Ordered from the lips back to the throat, like the chart. Select a sound to switch the photo.
hlutlaus / þögul
engin hljóð, afslappaður
p/b/m
p eins og í pút
bilabial, plosive, voiceless
/p/ and /b/ require the lips to part after the initial closure to propel air for the plosive sound, hence the closed and open states.
b eins og í buppvakningamaður
vörur, sprenghljóð, hljóðað
/p/ and /b/ require the lips to part after the initial closure to propel air for the plosive sound, hence the closed and open states.
m eins og í msetja í
vörur, nef, hljóðaður
f/v
f eins og í fás
vör-tann, nístandi, óhljóðaður
v eins og í vsjónrænt
labiodental, hljóðmýkt frikativ
θ/ð (th)
θ eins og í þoracic, wreaþ
tann-, smjúkandi, óhljóðaður
ð as in teeþing, mouþandi
tann-, hljóðbrot-, hljóðað
t/d
t eins og í temporalískur
lungnablásturs-, smell- og hljóðlaus
d eins og í depressor
lungnablöðrukenndur, sprengihljóð, hljóðaður
Under most circumstances, ɾ as in butter may be included in this viseme group.
s/z
s eins og í ssjá
lungnablöðrulækur, nístandi, óhljóðrænn
z eins og í zygómatic
lungna, smáhnissandi, hljóðaður
n/l
n eins og í nupprunalegur
lungnablöðrulægur, neflegur, hljóðaður
l eins og í labial
lungna-, hliðlætur, hljóðaður
tʃ/dʒ/ʃ/ʒ
tʃ eins og í kíí
postalveolar, affricate, voiceless
dʒ eins og í jæi, gég er að sofa
postalveolar, affricate, voiced
ʃ eins og í skÍna, spatíal
postalveolar, fricative, voiceless
ʒ eins og í ginnra, mínsþitt
postalveolar, fricative, voiced
w
w eins og í wink
labiovelar, approximant, voiced
Under most circumstances, ɹ at the start of a syllable, as in red, may be included in this viseme group.
k/g
k eins og í kandi
velar, sprenghljóð, óhljóð
g eins og í guess
velar, sprenghljóð, hljóðað
Under most circumstances, ŋ as in tongue and ʔ as in uh-oh may be included in this viseme group.
In many circumstances, j as in yawn may also be included in this viseme group.
h
h eins og í hhestháls, hHamingjusamur
hálskveðju-, nístandi-, óhljóðrænn
Vowel poses
ég (í)
eins og í sjál, chsjásé, meitt eintakt
í (í)
eins og í lip, hikí
ɛ (eh)
eins og í aný, kept, levator
æ
eins og í cat, FACS, zygómaatíkur
a (áh)
eins og í jaw, cáttundisé, stop
This reference doesn’t distinguish between [ɑ] and [ɔ].
a (áh)
eins og í anatomy, nasal, about
ú (óh)
eins og í puöllir, lóók, góód
ú (ú)
eins og í fóód, rve, móód
oʊ (oh)
eins og í lowerer, slow, mókeypis aðgangurt
ɔɪ (oy)
eins og í jó, só, jHæn
The basics
Hvað er visemi?
A viseme is a group of phonemes that are visually indistinct from one another. /f/ and /v/ are acoustically distinct, but their observable lip, tongue, and/or jaw configurations are not perceptibly different, so they map to the same viseme.
The word is a portmanteau of “visual” and “phoneme,” coined by Kletus G. Fisher í frumgrein sinni frá 1968 “Confusions among visually perceived consonants.”
“Orðið ”sjávískaffónema" hefur verið stytt í "visema" og verður notað um hvaða einstaka og andstæðanlega sjónrænt skynjaða einingu sem er.”
Hvernig eru hljóðeiningar kortlagðar á sjónhljóðeiningar?
It’s a murky area in facial animation and research. There is no standardized set of visemes and no standardized method for grouping phonemes, so you will find different mappings everywhere you go.
How you should cluster phonemes depends heavily on your use case. If you want simple speech movements or can’t represent the tongue, you do not have a strong need to differentiate things like /t/ vs. /k/. If you want to get as nuanced as possible and can represent key tongue positions, it would behoove you to consider a more complex grouping system.
How is “viseme” pronounced?
Fisher did not specify, so there is no formal record. You may hear “veye-zeem,” “vih-zeem,” “veye-seem,” “vih-seem,” and others. Personally, I prefer “veye-zeem,” but I’m open to considering arguments against it.
For structured learning and frameworks
Live workshop · March 6, 2027
Lipsync Mechanics
Reading phonemes, building visemes, and judging lipsync. Learn the mechanical requirements for each sound as well as why and how to build them with FACS-based shapes.
Go deeper on speech
More reference guides
How to cite this page
APA
Ozel, M. (2022, janúar). Yfirlit yfir Viseme-svindl. Snúðu þér að FACS. https://melindaozel.com/viseme-cheat-sheet/
BibTeX
@misc{ozel2022viseme, author = {Ozel, Melinda}, title = {Viseme Cheat Sheet}, year = {2022}, month = jan, howpublished = {\url{https://melindaozel.com/viseme-cheat-sheet/}} }