speaking vs tongue-tied

speaking

intj
  • Indication that the person requested is the same as the one who is currently speaking. 

adj
  • Used in speaking. 

  • Having competence in a language. 

  • Having the ability of speech. 

  • Expressive; eloquent. 

  • Involving speaking. 

noun
  • One's ability to communicate vocally in a given language. 

  • An oral recitation of e.g. a story. 

  • The act of communicating vocally. 

tongue-tied

adj
  • Reluctant to speak up; reserved, reticent. 

  • Having tongue-tie or ankyloglossia (“a congenital oral anomaly in which the lingual frenulum (a membrane connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth) is unusually short and thick, decreasing mobility of the tongue and affecting eating, speech, etc.”). 

  • Physically unable to speak; dumb, mute. 

  • Prevented from or unable to express oneself clearly or fluently, or freely; at a loss for words, speechless. 

How often have the words speaking and tongue-tied occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )