There may be some missing phonemes and visemes. Feel free to comment on this page to point out any specific ones (already aware about ng & y).
Each viseme is variable. While some visemes possess fixed characteristics required for mechanical production (e.g. b/p/m will always need the lips to close), facial actions required for each viseme will fluctuate depending on numerous factors including – but not limited to – individual facial features and speech context.
Visemes in the wild (during natural speech) are much more complicated and context-dependent than the isolated visemes presented in this document.
Check out the key terms at the bottom of the page!
Slide through carousal, and hover over images to reveal phoneme & phoneme state.
IMPORTANT: /b/ and /p/ require the lips to part after the initial lip closure in order to propel air for the plosive sound – hence the references for closed and open states.
ʧ / ʤ / ʃ / ʒ
ʧ
as in chin
post-alveolar, affricate, voiceless slide 1
ʤ
as in jaw, gem
post-alveolar, affricate, voiced slide 2
ʃ
as in shine, spatial
post-alveolar, fricative, voiceless slide 3
ʒ
as in genre, measure
post-alveolar, fricative, voiced not shown in slides
CH viseme reference
J viseme reference
SH viseme reference
Претходна
Следећи
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d / t
d
as in depressor
alveolar, plosive, voiced slide 1
t
as in temporalis
alveolar, plosive, voiceless slide 2
D viseme reference
T viseme reference
Претходна
Следећи
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f / v
f
as in face
labiodental, fricative, voiceless slide 1
v
as in viseme
labiodental, fricative, voiced slide 2
F viseme reference
V viseme reference
Претходна
Следећи
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g / k
g
as in guess
velar, plosive, voiced slide 1
k
as in king
velar, plosive, voiceless slide 2
G viseme reference
K viseme reference
Претходна
Следећи
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h
h
as in hippocampus, happy
glottal, fricative, voiceless realtime, then slowmo
l
l
as in labial
alveolar, lateral, voiced
n
n
as in nasal
alveolar, nasal, voiced
r
r
as in red
post-alveolar, approximant, voiced
s / z
s
as in see
alveolar, fricative, voiceless slide 1
z
as in zygomatic
alveolar, fricative, voiced slide 2
S viseme reference
Z viseme reference
Претходна
Следећи
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θ / ð (th)
θ
as in wreath (voiceless)
dental, fricative, voiceless
ð
as in thoracic (voiced)
dental, fricative, voiced
Example not present. ð is in the same viseme category as θ.
the vowels
ɑ (ah)
ɑ
as in jaw, because, stop
not distinguishing between [ɑ] and [ɔ]
æ
æ
as in cat, FACS, zygomaticus
ɛ (eh)
ɛ
as in any, kept, levator
i (ee)
i (ee)
as in eel, cheese, meat
ɪ (ih)
ɪ
as in lip, which
u (oo)
u
as in food, rue, mood
ʊ (ouh)
ʊ
as in puller, look, good
oʊ (oh)
oʊ
as in lowerer, slow, moat
o diphthong, part 1
o diphthong, part 2
Претходна
Следећи
ɔɪ (oy)
ɔɪ
as in joy, soy, join
ɔɪ viseme reference, o sound
ɔɪ viseme reference, y sound
Претходна
Следећи
ə (uh)
ə
as in upper, other
Check back soon 🙂
key terms
alveolar: tip of tongue touches the gum line behind the teeth (the alveolar ridge)
bilabial: upper and lower lips come together
labiodental: lip touches the teeth (Usually it is the lower lip touching the top teeth; however, an equivalent sound can technically be achieved from the reverse.)
dental: tongue interacts with teeth either by being placed between upper and lower teeth or against back of upper teeth
post-alveolar: tongue is placed right behind the gum line behind teeth
palatal: tongue is raised against the center of mouth roof