Abstract
Casual observation of persons speaking different languages reveals that some
languages are more highly visible than others. This observation is not only of
academic interest to the linguist but also of interest to the rehabilitative audiologist
who wishes to add to his store of information concerning the effects of "code" upon
the lipreadability of certain languages. The authors are quite cognizant of the fact,
however, that there is variability within languages vis-a-vis visibility, as a function of
individual speaker differences, and also as a function of the language units spoken.
Through the use of an appropriate experimental design and careful administration of
an experiment, it is possible to obtain data concerning visibility of languages that
lend themselves to treatment which provide a base for making reasoned generalizations
about the relative visibility of languages.