Poetry, performance, theater, readings, film dialogue, everyday conversation, interviews, testimonial, stories, rap, recitativo, ethnographic documents, political, religious, legal and academic discourse, testimony, dance, yoga and gymnastic lessons, military and sports instruction, hypnosis, litany, prayer, ceremonies, television news, editorial, sports, storytelling, reporting, sales pitches, advertising, auctions, vocal synthesizers: The Encyclopedia of the Spoken Word tries to capture a cross-section of the startling diversity of spoken forms.

The Encyclopedia of the Spoken Word's first year, September 2007 to June 2008, consisted of monthly “listening sessions” in which participants were exposed to a wide variety of sound bites assembled by a rotating group of "collectors" and mixed live by a DJ or sound designer. Each session hinged on a different aspect of the spoken word: pacing, social context, repetition, timbre, and intention.

The resulting blends were never based on the semantic content of the source material, or on categories like genre, discipline, or origin, but on minute similarities and formal parallels the project thought fit to reveal. Not only did this give collectors a basis for sifting through their sound libraries, it gave the listener a set of predetermined criteria with which to listen to each offering.

For the 2008-2009 season, The Encyclopedia of the Spoken Word will show its work at 48-hour open houses, which will include not only listening sessions, but also sound pieces, conferences, performances, installations, workshops and radio plays in partnership with Arte Radio and France Culture. These events are to be planned and executed by a fixed group including Grégory Castéra, Frédéric Danos, Nicolas Fourgeaud, Joris Lacoste, Pierre Yves Macé, Nicolas Rollet, and Esther Salmona. They will be held in January, in June and again in November 2009.

Like last year, each open house constitutes work toward completion of a so-called encyclopedia of spoken forms. This Encyclopedia of the Spoken Word doesn't claim to be an exhaustive or scientific collection of sounds, languages and discourses, or of their infinite combinations. Rather - as much as any aesthetic object can - it tries to be an interdisciplinary tool for oral practitioners.