sound system

See also: Soundsystem

English

Alternative forms

• soundsystem (chiefly Jamaican sense)

Noun

sound system (plural sound systems)

1. An electronic system used to reproduce sound.
2. The set of speech sounds that make up a language; a phonology.
   • 1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 277:

     One young Tamil teacher had assimilated the sound-system of English so thoroughly to that of his mother-tongue that none of the Chinese and Malay children understood him.

3. (music, originally Jamaica) A mobile platform playing selected recorded music, set up as a social event, often with an entrance fee.
   • 2019 August 23, Dave Simpson, “The sound systems of Notting Hill carnival: 'I'll stop when I can't walk'”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Rooted in Caribbean culture and introduced to the UK by the Windrush generation, sound systems – static or truck-bound collectives of MCs and DJs playing music through customised, bass-heavy speakers – have been integral to Notting Hill carnival since 1973.

Translations

electronic system that produces sound

• Danish: lydsystem n
• Esperanto: sonaparato
• German: Soundsystem n
• Greek: ηχοσύστημα (el) n (ichosýstima)
• Hungarian: hangosítás (hu), hangtechnika (hu), hangosító berendezés, erősítés (hu), hangerősítés, hangberendezés, hifiberendezés, hangsugárzó rendszer, hangosítástechnikai rendszer
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lydanlegg n

  Nynorsk: lydanlegg n

the set of speech sounds that make up a language; a phonology

• Hungarian: hangrendszer (hu)