List Every Installed Speech Voice with say -v '?'
Enumerate the voices available to the say command, with their language tags, before writing your text-to-speech script.
Run say -v '?' to print one line per installed voice: its name, locale (e.g. zh_CN) and a sample sentence.
01Command
Command
$ say -v '?'02What it does
say -v takes a voice name, but you must use a name that exists — the '?' form dumps the full list straight from the Speech Synthesis manager. Each line shows the exact name to pass to -v, and extra voices can be added in System Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content.
03Risk
!Warning: Voice availability differs between macOS versions and languages installed; a voice present on one Mac may be missing on another, so check rather than assume.
04Undo
✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.
05Sources
- say - Convert Text to Audible SpeechEvidence: Documents the -v voice option and shows 'say -v ?' to list all installed voices with their languages and example text.
- say(1) man pageEvidence: The say man page shows the [-v voice] synopsis and describes how a voice name is matched and how listing the available voices works.
Last verified: 2026-09-19 · Category: Media