1. A codebook excited linear prediction (CELP) coding system comprising: a first excitation codebook; a first selector for selecting a codevector from the first excitation codebook; a second excitation codebook comprising a VSELP codebook, with the codevector being selected from the first excitation codebook used as an additional VSELP basis vector for searching the second codebook; a second selector for selecting a codevector from the second excitation codebook; and an output generator for providing at least one codeword that is a function of at least the first selected codevector and the second selected codevector.