
 APPENDIX B
DECTALK PHONEMIC SYMBOLS

SeveralEnglish phonemic alphabets are widely used today.
TheTable below lists the phonemic alphabets that DECtalk
uses, along with an example of each sound. Some
dictionaries put the stress symbol after the vowel nucleus
or at the start of the syllable. DECtalk requires that
the stress symbol appear immediately before the vowel.

MULTI-CHARACTER ALPHABET -
For USER DICTIONARY and PHONETIC Modifications to TEXT
VOWELS
Phonemic Example
Symbol

or born
ey bake
aa Bob
iy beat
 eh bet
ay bite
ih bit
oy boy
ow boat
uw lute
 ah but
aw bout
yu cute
rr bird
ao bought
ae bat
uh book
ix kisses
ax about
ar farm

 CONSONANTS
Phonemic Example
Symbol

p pet
b bet
t test
d debt
k Ken
g guess
f fin
v vest
 th thin
dh this
 s sit
z zoo
sh shin
zh measure
ch chin
jh gin
 m met
n net
nx sing
w wet
yx yet
hx head
r red
l let
el bottle
en button

Note:the [em] phoneme in the early version of DECtalk is
no longer valid but can be replaced with the sequence
[axm].

 Allophones
 PhonemicExample
Symbol
 rx oration (postvocalic r)
 lx electric (postvocalic l)
 q we eat (glottal stop)
 dx rider (flap d)
 txLatin (glottalized t)

ONE-CHARACTER PHONETIC ALPHABET(FOR REDEFINING TYPING
TABLES:
 VOWELS
Phonemic Example
Symbol
 e bake
 a Bob
 i beat
 E bet
 A bite
 I bit
 O boy
 o boat
 u lute
 ^ but
 W bout
 Y cute
 R bird
 c bought
 @ bat
 U book
 | kisses
 x about

 CONSONANTS
 p pet
 b bet
 t test
 d debt
 k Ken
 g guess
 f fin
 v vest
 T thin
 D this
 s sit
 z zoo
 S shin
 Z measure
 C chin
 J gin
 m met
 n net
 G sing
 w wet
 y yet
 h head
 r red
 l let
 L bottle
 N button

Note: For defining pitch within typing tables,use the
command[:pitchnn]. This changes the default pitch in
typing mode from +35 to +nn where nn is some decimal
number.

Stress and Syntactic Symbols(used with both alphabets)
 SYMBOLFUNCTION

 ' primary stress
 ` secondary stress
 " emphatic stress
 - syllable boundary
 * morpheme boundary
 # word boundary (compound nouns)
 <SP>word boundary
 <TAB> word boundary
 <RET> word boundary
 ( beginning of relative clause
 ) end of relative clause
 , end of clause (same as comma)
 . end of normal sentence
 ? end of question
 ! end of exclamation
 _ silence (underscore symbol)

Musical Notes
DECtalk can also be used to sing songs or make various
sounds associated with singing and tones. The following is
a table that allows the developer to more easily encode a
phonemic sequence to produce such sounds.

Note:InDECtalkDTC01, the pitch was calibrated to a physical scale.The new pitches are now calibrated to a musical scale.This will put them on the same scale as
musical instruments (i.e., middle A = 440 Hz rather than
430.4 Hz).

The Number is the code used for Pitch, inthephonemic
command [<duration,pitch>].

Number NotePitch (Hz)
1 C2 65
2 C# 69
3 D 73
4 D# 77
5 E 82B
6 F 87A
7 F#92S
8 G 98S B
9 G#103 | A
10 A 110 | R
11 A#116 | I
12 B 123 | T
13 C3 130 | OT
14 C#138 | NE
15 D 146 | EN
16 D#155 | |O
17 E 164 | |R
18 F 174 | || A
19 F#185 | || L
20 G 196 | || T
21 G#207 | || O
22 A 220 | || |
23 A#233 | || |
24 B 247 | || | S
25 C4 261 | || | O
26 C#277 | || | P
27 D 293 | || | R
28 D#311 | || | A
29 E 329 | || | N
30 F 348 || | O
31 F#370 || | |
32 G 392 || | |
33 G#415| | |
34 A 440| | |
35 A#466| | |
36 B 494| | |
37 C5 523| |

Note: C4 is middle C


End of Appendix B.

