diff --git a/drivers/staging/speakup/buffers.c b/drivers/staging/speakup/buffers.c
index 461f131644a234a0425ea3f244e818ad31307e8c..5fa7c2f7ce5d50d7e635b29f462d9d1b93f8ec60 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/speakup/buffers.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/speakup/buffers.c
@@ -77,6 +77,9 @@ void synth_buffer_add(u16 ch)
 	*buff_in++ = ch;
 	if (buff_in > buffer_end)
 		buff_in = synth_buffer;
+	/* We have written something to the speech synthesis, so we are not
+	 * paused any more. */
+	spk_paused = 0;
 }
 
 u16 synth_buffer_getc(void)
diff --git a/drivers/staging/speakup/main.c b/drivers/staging/speakup/main.c
index af30b7099bedfaba607c188aae3064bce8d98d3a..b7fae36d41d96343e2ea4e3950653cb250b0f683 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/speakup/main.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/speakup/main.c
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ short spk_punc_mask;
 int spk_punc_level, spk_reading_punc;
 char spk_str_caps_start[MAXVARLEN + 1] = "\0";
 char spk_str_caps_stop[MAXVARLEN + 1] = "\0";
+char spk_str_pause[MAXVARLEN + 1] = "\0";
+bool spk_paused = 0;
 const struct st_bits_data spk_punc_info[] = {
 	{"none", "", 0},
 	{"some", "/$%&@", SOME},
@@ -1782,6 +1784,11 @@ static void speakup_con_update(struct vc_data *vc)
 		/* Speakup output, discard */
 		return;
 	speakup_date(vc);
+	if (vc->vc_mode == KD_GRAPHICS && !spk_paused && spk_str_pause[0])
+	{
+		synth_printf("%s", spk_str_pause);
+		spk_paused = 1;
+	}
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&speakup_info.spinlock, flags);
 }
 
diff --git a/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup.h b/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup.h
index 3d8bda8b96202383b813ad5a57eab798bfd759aa..e4f4f00be2dcf551a7df909db879e554f95f7e2b 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup.h
+++ b/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup.h
@@ -94,7 +94,8 @@ extern struct spk_synth *synth;
 extern char spk_pitch_buff[];
 extern u_char *spk_our_keys[];
 extern short spk_punc_masks[];
-extern char spk_str_caps_start[], spk_str_caps_stop[];
+extern char spk_str_caps_start[], spk_str_caps_stop[], spk_str_pause[];
+extern bool spk_paused;
 extern const struct st_bits_data spk_punc_info[];
 extern u_char spk_key_buf[600];
 extern char *spk_characters[];
diff --git a/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup_dummy.c b/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup_dummy.c
index aa0c900f79f2618c9ac7b33af86d189e7e8ae8d5..7df1a84297f632784aaaf756c5ed63759bf9a04e 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup_dummy.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup_dummy.c
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 static struct var_t vars[] = {
 	{ CAPS_START, .u.s = {"CAPS_START\n" } },
 	{ CAPS_STOP, .u.s = {"CAPS_STOP\n" } },
+	{ PAUSE, .u.s = {"PAUSE\n"} },
 	{ RATE, .u.n = {"RATE %d\n", 8, 1, 16, 0, 0, NULL } },
 	{ PITCH, .u.n = {"PITCH %d\n", 8, 0, 16, 0, 0, NULL } },
 	{ VOL, .u.n = {"VOL %d\n", 8, 0, 16, 0, 0, NULL } },
diff --git a/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup_soft.c b/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup_soft.c
index 0a1a7c259ab0aacdbbe278ab130508a5bdbde6c7..a61bc41b82d7845f29dda7cd34669a2311833896 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup_soft.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup_soft.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ static int misc_registered;
 static struct var_t vars[] = {
 	{ CAPS_START, .u.s = {"\x01+3p" } },
 	{ CAPS_STOP, .u.s = {"\x01-3p" } },
+	{ PAUSE, .u.n = {"\x01P" } },
 	{ RATE, .u.n = {"\x01%ds", 2, 0, 9, 0, 0, NULL } },
 	{ PITCH, .u.n = {"\x01%dp", 5, 0, 9, 0, 0, NULL } },
 	{ VOL, .u.n = {"\x01%dv", 5, 0, 9, 0, 0, NULL } },
@@ -154,7 +155,7 @@ static char *get_initstring(void)
 	var = synth_soft.vars;
 	while (var->var_id != MAXVARS) {
 		if (var->var_id != CAPS_START && var->var_id != CAPS_STOP &&
-		    var->var_id != DIRECT)
+		    var->var_id != PAUSE && var->var_id != DIRECT)
 			cp = cp + sprintf(cp, var->u.n.synth_fmt,
 					  var->u.n.value);
 		var++;
diff --git a/drivers/staging/speakup/spk_types.h b/drivers/staging/speakup/spk_types.h
index 4203bed90b4f4b98342d7b6d725ee041e5896e14..3e082dc3d45cec002a4fdc48753ec7b249c9e203 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/speakup/spk_types.h
+++ b/drivers/staging/speakup/spk_types.h
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ enum var_id_t {
 	SAY_CONTROL, SAY_WORD_CTL, NO_INTERRUPT, KEY_ECHO,
 	SPELL_DELAY, PUNC_LEVEL, READING_PUNC,
 	ATTRIB_BLEEP, BLEEPS,
-	RATE, PITCH, VOL, TONE, PUNCT, VOICE, FREQUENCY, LANG, DIRECT,
+	RATE, PITCH, VOL, TONE, PUNCT, VOICE, FREQUENCY, LANG, DIRECT, PAUSE,
 	CAPS_START, CAPS_STOP, CHARTAB,
 	MAXVARS
 };
diff --git a/drivers/staging/speakup/varhandlers.c b/drivers/staging/speakup/varhandlers.c
index 321405532a8ea57132c4f924499b7c7509a73e1e..54a76b6752ad126b900e5edcf06640526084070a 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/speakup/varhandlers.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/speakup/varhandlers.c
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ static struct st_var_header var_headers[] = {
 	{ "lang", LANG, VAR_NUM, NULL, NULL },
 	{ "chartab", CHARTAB, VAR_PROC, NULL, NULL },
 	{ "direct", DIRECT, VAR_NUM, NULL, NULL },
+	{ "pause", PAUSE, VAR_STRING, spk_str_pause, NULL },
 };
 
 static struct st_var_header *var_ptrs[MAXVARS] = { NULL, NULL, NULL };