Said to be upright but headless (4)
I believe the answer is:
oral
'said' is the definition.
(both can mean spoken)
I don't understand the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for oral that I've seen before include "Like some tradition" , "Exam using speech" , "Verbal" , "Via the mouth" , "'Spoken, not written (4)'" .)