8. A method comprising steps of: specifying a speech input with a speech-enabled markup; defining within said speech-enabled markup at least one operation of an application that is to be executed upon a detection of said specified speech input; associating said speech-enabled markup with a graphical user interface element of said application; after said defining and associating steps, instantiating said application; monitoring to determine whether said graphical user interface element receives focus; loading said speech-enabled markup into a markup interpreter and activating said speech-enabled markup if said graphical user interface element receives focus; monitoring audible input to determine whether said specified speech input is received when said speech-enabled markup is activated; executing said application operation if said specified speech input is received when said speech-enabled markup is activated; and deactivating said speech-enabled markup so that said application no longer monitors audible input for said specified speech input if said graphical user interface element loses focus.
8. A method comprising steps of: specifying a speech input with a speech-enabled markup; defining within said speech-enabled markup at least one operation of an application that is to be executed upon a detection of said specified speech input; associating said speech-enabled markup with a graphical user interface element of said application; after said defining and associating steps, instantiating said application; monitoring to determine whether said graphical user interface element receives focus; loading said speech-enabled markup into a markup interpreter and activating said speech-enabled markup if said graphical user interface element receives focus; monitoring audible input to determine whether said specified speech input is received when said speech-enabled markup is activated; executing said application operation if said specified speech input is received when said speech-enabled markup is activated; and deactivating said speech-enabled markup so that said application no longer monitors audible input for said specified speech input if said graphical user interface element loses focus. 12. The method of claim 8 , wherein said speech-enabled markup is written in a Voice Extensible Markup Language.