Abstract: Voice utterances are substituted for manipulation of a pointing device, the pointing device being of the kind which is manipulated to control motion of a cursor on a computer display and to indicate desired actions associated with the position of the cursor on the display, the cursor being moved and the desired actions being aided by an operating system in, the computer in response to control signals received from the pointing device, the computer also having an alphanumeric keyboard, the operating system being separately responsive to control signals received from the keyboard in accordance with a predetermined format specific to the keyboard; in the system, a voice recognizer recognizes the voiced utterance, and an interpreter converts the voiced utterance into control signals which will directly create a desired action aided by the operating system without first being converted into control signals expressed in the predetermined format specific to the keyboard.