#### Title Page Preface Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Appendix A Appendix B

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Appendix B:
DECtalk Software Reference Tables

This chapter provides reference information for phonemic symbols, stress and syntactic symbols, singing tones, homographs, and American English phoneme codes. This information is presented in table form and includes the following.

## Reference Tables

Reference tables in this appendix include:

1. Phonemic Symbols
2. Stress and Syntactic Symbols
3. Tone Table
4. Homographs
5. American English Phoneme Codes

## Phonemic Symbols

The table below lists the phonemic alphabet that 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. However, DECtalk Software requires that the stress symbol appear immediately before the vowel.

Table A -- Phonemic Symbols

    	Consonants			Vowels
             b  b et                     aa  Bo b
            ch  ch in                    ae  ba t
             d  d ebt                    ah  bu t
            dh  th is                    ao  bou ght
            el  bottle                   aw  bou t
            en  button                   ax  a bout
             f  f in                     ay  bi te
             g  g uess                   eh  be t
            hx  h ead                    ey  ba ke
            jh  g in                     ih  bi t
             k  K en                     ix  kisses
             l  l et                     iy  bea t
             m  m et                     ow  boa t
             n  n et                     oy  boy
            nx  sing                     rr  bi rd
             p  p et                     uh  bo ok
             r  r ed                     uw  lu te
             s  s it                     yu  cu te
            sh  sh in           		 Allophones
             t  t est                    dx  rid er
            th  th in                    lx  el ectric
             v  v est                     q  we e at
             w  w et                     rx  or ation
            yx  y et                     tx  Lat in
             z  z oo     			Silence
            zh  az ure   			_(underscore)

## Stress and Syntactic Symbols

The tables list DECtalk Software stress and syntactic symbols and their purposes. For more information on these symbols, see Chapter 4 of the User's Guide.

Table D -- Stress Symbols

     Symbol   Name               Indicates
     [ ' ]    apostrophe		Primary Stress
     [ ` ]    grave accent		Secondary Stress

     [ " ]    quotation mark	Emphatic Stress
      [ /]    slash			Unstressed Syllables
     [ \ ]    backslash		Pitch Control
     [/  \]   slash and backslash	Pitch rise and fall

Table E -- Syntactic Symbols

     Symbol   Name               Indicates
     [  - ]   hyphen		Syllable Boundry
     [ * ]    asterisk		Morpheme Boundry
     [ # ]    number sign		Compound Nouns
     [ ) ]    close parenthesis	Beginning of a Verb Phrase
     [ , ]    comma			Clause Boundaries
     [ . ]    period		About Period
     [ ? ]    question mark		Question Mark
     [ ! ]    exclamation point	Exclamation Point
     [ + ]    plus sign		New Paragraph

## DECtalk Singing

DECtalk Software can be used to sing songs or make various sounds associated with singing and musical tones. The Tone table provides the pitch numbers, associated notes, and frequencies that you need to code a phonemic sequence to produce musical sounds. The example that follows is the code for the song, "Happy Birthday." The command syntax for coding musical sequences is:

`[phoneme<duration, pitch number>]`

Table F -- DECtalk Software Sample Singing Program

`[:phoneme on]`

`[hxae<300,10>piy<300,10> brr<600,12>th<100>dey<600,10> tuw<600,15> yu<1200,14>_<120>]
[hxae<300,10>piy<300,10> brr<600,12>th<100>dey<600,10> tuw<600,17> yu<1200,15>_<120>]
[hxae<300,10>piy<300,10> brr<600,22>th<100>dey<600,19>dih<600,15>rdeh<600,14&g;ktao<600,12>k_<120>_<120>]
[hxae<300,20>piy<300,20> brr<600,19>th<100>dey<600,15> tuw<600,17> yu<1200,15>]`

``

Tone Table

DECtalk Software can be used to sing songs or make various sounds associated with singing and musical tones. The Tone table provides the pitch numbers, associated notes, and frequencies that you need to code a phonemic sequence to produce musical sounds. The example that follows is the code for the song, "Happy Birthday." The command syntax for coding musical sequences is:

[phoneme<duration, pitch number>]

Tone Table

    Pitch       Note      Pitch  Vocal Ranges
    Number
    1           C2        65
    2           C#        69
    3           D         73
    4           D#        77
    5           E         82      B
    6           F         87      A
    7           F#        92      S
    8           G         98      S  B
    9           G#        103        A
    10          A         110        R
    11          A#        116        I
    12          B         123        T
    13          C3        130        O  T
    14          C#        138        N  E
    15          D         146        E  N
    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

## Homographs

Homographs are two or more words that have the same spelling but are pronounced differently. These are often different in terms of which syllable is accented. For example, if permit is a noun, the accent is on the first syllable (permit); if, however, the word is used as a verb, then the accent is on the second syllable (permit). This often makes a great deal of difference in understanding DECtalk when it is speaking such words in connected discourse.

The default is the more frequent form. In the event the alternate pronunciation is needed, you can insert the correct phonetics from the homograph index below. Use a [:pron alt] command to obtain an alternative pronunciation for a word. For example, the primary pronunciation of the word bass is b'eys, as in bass guitar. The secondary pronunciation is denoted by [:pron alt]b'aes, as in the fish, bass. The secondary pronunciation for the word wind, is w'aynd, as in 'wind up the top'.

Table G -- "A" Homograph Phonetics

    SPELLING        PRIMARY               ALTERNATE
    abstract        'aebstraekt           aebstr'aekt
    abuse           axby'uz               axby'us
    addict          axd'ihkt              'aedihkt
    advocate        'aedvaxkeyt           'aedvaxkaxt
    affix           'aefihks              axf'ihks
    ally            'aelay                axl'ay
    alternate       'aoltrrnaxt           'aoltrrneyt
    animate         'aenihmeyt            'aenihmaxt
    annex           'aenehks              axn'ehks
    appropriate     axpr'owpriyaxt        axpr'owpriyeyt
    arithmetic      axr'ihthmaxtixk       aerixthm'ehtixk
    articulate      aart'ihkyeleyt        aart'ihkyelaxt
    associate       axs'owshiyeyt         axs'owshiyaxt
    attribute       axtr'ihbyuwt          'aetrixbyuwt
    august          'aogaxst              aog'ahst

Table H -- "B" and "C" Homograph Phonetics

Use a [:pron alt] command before the alternate pronunciation of the word to obtain an alternative pronunciation for a word.

    SPELLING         PRIMARY               ALTERNATE
    bass             b'eys                 b'aes
    baton            baxt'aon              b'aetaxn
    close            kl'owz                kl'ows
    combat           kaxmb'aet             k'aambaet
    combine          kaxmb'ayn             k'aambayn
    compact          kaxmp'aekt            k'aampaekt
    complex          k'aamplehks           kaxmpl'ehks
    compound         k'aampawnd            kaxmp'awnd
    compress         kaxmpr'ehs            k'aamprehs
    concert          k'aansrrt             kaxns'rrt
    conduct          kaxnd'ahkt            k'aandahkt
    confederate      kaxnf'ehdrrixtrreyt   kaxnf'ehd
    confine          kaxnf'ayn             k'aanfayn
    conflict         k'aanflihkt           kaxnfl'ihkt
    conglomerate     kaxnxgl'aamrixt       kaxnxgl'aamrreyt
    console          k'aansowl             kaxns'owl
    construct        kaxnstr'ahkt          k'aanstraxkt
    content          k'aantehnt            kaxnt'ehnt
    contest          k'aantehst            kaxnt'ehst
    contract         k'aantraekt           kaxntr'aekt
    contrast         k'aantraest           kaxntr'aest
    converse         k'aanvrrs             kaxnv'rrs
    convert          kaxnv'rrt             k'aanvrrt
    convict          kaxnv'ihkt            k'aanvihkt
    coordinate       kow'aordeneyt         kow'aordixnaxt

Table I --"D" - "E" -" F" -" G" Homograph Phonetics

Use a [:pron alt] command before the alternate pronunciation of the word to obtain an alternative pronunciation for a word.

    SPELLING         PRIMARY               ALTERNATE
    decrease         diykr'iys             d'iykriys
    defect           daxf'ehkt             d'iyfehkt
    delegate         d'ehlixgaxt           d'ehlixg`eyt
    deliberate       daxl'ihbrraxt         daxl'ihbrreyt
    desert           d'ehzrrt              dixz'rrt
    desolate         d'ehselixt            d'ehseleyt
    diffuse          dixf'yuws             dixf'yuwz
    digest           d'ayjhehst            dayjh'ehst
    discharge        dixsch'arjh           d'ihscharjh
    discount         d'ihskawnt            dihsk'awnt
    dove             d'owv                 d'ahv
    duplicate        d'uwplixkeyt          d'uwplixkaxt
    elaborate        axl'aebrraxt          axl'aebrreyt
    estimate         'ehstixmeyt           'ehstixmaxt
    excerpt          'ehksrrpt             ehks'rrpt
    excuse           ixksky'uz             ehksky'us
    expatriate       ehksp'eytriyaxt       ehksp'eytriieyt
    exploit          ixkspl'oyt            'ehksployt
    export           ehksp'ort             'ehksport
    extract          ehkstr'aekt           'ehkstraekt
    ferment          frrm'ehnt             f'rrmehnt
    frequent         fr'iykwixnt           friykw'eynt
    geminate         jh'ehmixnaxt          jh'ehmixneyt
    graduate         gr'aejhuweyt          gr'aejhuwaxt

Table J --"i" - "J" - "K" -" L" Homograph Phonetics

Use a [:pron alt] command before a word to obtain an alternative pronunciation for the word.

    SPELLING         PRIMARY               ALTERNATE
    impact           'ihmpaekt             ixmp'aekt
    implant          ihmpl'aent            'ihmplaent
    import           'ihmport              ihmp'ort
    imprint          'ihmprihnt            ihmpr'ihnt
    incense          ixns'ehns             'ihnsehns
    incline          ixnkl'ayn             'ihnklayn
    increase         ihnkr'iys             'ihnkriys
    insert           ihns'rrt              'ihnsrrt
    insult           ihns'ahlt             'ihnsaxlt
    interchange      'ihntrrcheynjh        ihntrrch'eynjh
    intimate         'ihntaxmaxt           'ihntaxmeyt
    invalid          ixnv'aelixd           'ihnvaxlixd
    just             jhixst                jh'ahst
    lead             l'iyd                 l'ehd
    live             l'ihv                 l'ayv

Table K -- - N - O - P Homograph Phonetics

Use a [:pron alt] command before a word to obtain an alternative pronunciation for a word.

    SPELLING      PRIMARY          ALTERNATE
    minute       m'ihnixt         mayn'uwt
    miscount     m'ihskawnt       mihsk'awnt
    misprint     m'isprInt        mispr'int
    misuse       mixs'yuz         mixs'yus
    moderate     m'aadrraxt       m'aadrreyt
    object       'aabjheht        axbjh'ehkt
    overrun      'owvrrrahn       owvrrr'ahn
    perfect      p'rrfixkt        prrf'ehkt
    permit       prrm'iht         p'rrmiht
    pervert      prrv'rrt         p'rrvrrt
    polish       p'aalihsh        p'owlixsh
    postulate    p'aascheleyt     p'aaschelaxt
    predicate    pr'ehdixkeyt     pr'ehdixkaxt
    predominate  prixd'aamixneyt  prixd'aamixnaxt
    present      priyz'ehnt       pr'ehzaxnt
    proceed      praxs'iyd        pr'owsiyd
    produce      praxd'uws        pr'aaduws
    progress     pr'aagrehs       praxgr'ehs
    project      pr'aajhehkt      praxjh'ehkt
    protest       pr'owtehst       prowt'ehst

Table L -- - S - T- U - V - W Homograph Phonetics

Use a [:pron alt] command before a word to obtain an alternative pronunciation for a word.

    SPELLING         PRIMARY               ALTERNATE
    read             r'iyd                 r'ehd
    reading          r'iydixnx             r'ehdixnx
    rebel            r'ehbel               rixb'ehl
    recall           rixk'aol              r'iykaol
    recap            riyk'aep              r'iykaep
    recess           r'iysehs              riys'ehs
    record           r'ehkrrd              rixk'ord
    recount          riyk'awnt             r'iykawnt
    refill           r'iyfihl              riyf'ihl
    refresh          riyfr'ehsh            r'iyfrehsh
    refund           riyf'ahnd             r'iyfahnd
    refuse           rixf'yuz              r'ehfyus
    reject           rixjh'ehkt            r'iyjhehkt
    relapse          r'iylaeps             rixl'aeps
    relay            r'iyley               rixl'ey
    remake           r'iymeyk              riym'eyk
    rerun            r'iy*rahn             riy*r'ahn
    research         r'iysrrch             riys'rrch
    resume           riy|z'uwm             r'ehzaxmey
    retake           riyt'eyk              r'iyteyk
    rewrite          riyr'ayt              r'iy*rayt
    segment          s'ehgmixnt            sehgm'ehnt
    separate         s'ehpaxreyt           s'ehpaxraxt
    sow              s'ow                  s'aw
    subject          s'ahbjhehkt           saxbjh'ehkt
    sublet           saxbl'eht             saxbl'eht
    subordinate      saxb'ordenaxt         saxb'ordeneyt
    survey           s'rrvey               srrv'ey
    suspect          s'ahspehkt            saxsp'ehkt
    syndicate        s'ihndixkixt          s'ihndixkeyt
    tear             t'er                  t'ir
    torment          torm'ehnt             t'ormehnt
    transform        traensf'orm           tr'aensform
    transplant       traenspl'aent         tr'aensplaent
    transport        traensp'ort           tr'aensport
    upset            axps'eht              'ahpseht
    use              y'uwz                 y'uws
    wind             w'ihnd                w'aynd
    wound            w'awnd                w'uwnd

## American English Phoneme Codes

The American English Phoneme Codes are the phoneme values returned when DECtalk performs speech-to-memory operations using the TextToSpeechOpenInMemory() function. These symbols are referred to as phonemes although many are actually allophones.

Table A -- American English Phoneme Codes

    Phoneme  Value Phoneme  Value       Phoneme       Value  Phoneme      Value
    SIL      0     AR         21          S             41   Explicit     61
                                                             hat fall
    IH       2     OR         22          Z             42   Explicit     62
                                                             hat
                                                             rise-fall
    EY       3     UR         23          SH            43   Syllable     63
                                                             boundary
    EH       4     W          24          ZH            44   Morpheme     64
                                                             boundary
    AE       5     Y          25          P             45   For noun     65
                                                             compounds
    AA       6     R          26          B             46   Word         66
                                                             boundary
    AY       7     LL         27          T             47   Prep         67
                                                             phrase
                                                             start
    AW       8     HX               28    D             48   Verb         68
                                                             phrase
                                                             start
    AH       9     RX               29    K             49   Intro. to    69
                                                             sentence
                                                             or clause
    AO       10    LX               30    G             50   End of       70
                                                             clause
    OW       11    M                31    DX            51   End of       71
                                                             sentence
    OY       12    N                32    TX            52   End of       72
                                                             question
    UH       13    NX               33    Q             53   End of       73
                                          (glottalstop)      exclamatory
                                                             sentence
    UW       14    EL               34    CH            54   Explicit     74
                                                             new
                                                             paragraph
    RR       15    D_Dentalized     35    JH              55
    YU       16    EN               36    Block           56
                                          Allophone
                                          Substitutions

    AX       17    F                37    Secondary       57
                                          Stress
    IX       18    V                38    Primary Stress  58
    IR       19    TH               39    Emphatic        59
                                          Stress
    ER       20    DH               40    Explicit hat    60
                                          rise

## Glossary

allophone

A positional or free variant of a phoneme.

applet

A small application that normally performs a very specific function and can be used with other larger applications.

arpabet

A special phonetic alphabet used to write phonemes and syllables.

clause boundary

The natural boundary between two or more clauses in a sentence that helps the listener easily separate the sentence into its component parts. Commas, periods, exclamation points, and question marks are symbols used to indicate clause boundaries.

clause mode

The normal mode in which DECtalk Software speaks text a phrase, clause, or sentence at a time. In clause mode, speaking starts when DECtalk Software is sent a clause terminator (period, comma, exclamation point, or question mark) followed by a space.

clause terminator

A symbol used to begin and terminate a clause boundary. Symbols can be periods, commas, exclamation points, or question marks.

comma pause

The pause DECtalk Software takes in speaking that is equivalent to inserting a comma in a sentence. Comma pause can be increased and decreased with the Comma Pause command.

.DIC file

The loadable dictionary file created by the User Dictionary Build Tool from a .tab source file.

emphatic stress

The emphasis placed on a syllable of a word to give it more meaning.

falling intonation

A decrease in voice pitch.

flush

Process by which the Text-To-Speech system discards data in the system.

heuristic

A method or rule used to decide among several courses of action. Often called a "rule of thumb." In the case of DECtalk Software, pronunciation heuristics govern the manner in which DECtalk Software pronounces words.

homograph

Pairs of words that have the same spelling but which are pronounced differently. For example, the pronunciation of permit as a noun and the pronunciation of permit as a verb.

index marker (flag)

A marker placed in the text stream to synchronize an external event. An index marker is inserted with the Index Mark command.

intonation

The manner in which a voice imparts extra meaning to speech by adjusting sounds' durations and voice pitch. For example, the emphasis and meaning of the sentence, Bill, put in the edits. can be changed by putting stronger emphasis on the name, Bill. Bill! Put in the edits!

letter mode

The state in which DECtalk Software speaks each letter as it is queued. In word and letter mode, DECtalk Software does not need to wait for a clause terminator to begin speaking. This command interacts with the rate selection command so that you can set both rate selection and letter mode for optimal output.

log file

A file that can contain text, phonemes, or syllables. The phonemes and syllables are written using the arpabet phoneme alphabet.

morpheme

The minimum syntactic unit of a language that has an important role in determining pronunciations. For example, "spell" has only one morpheme, while "misspelling" is made up of three: "mis," "spell," and "ing."

period pause

The pause DECtalk Software inserts when it finds a period that marks the end of the sentence. This pause imitates humans taking a breath. This pause is approximately half a second.

phoneme

Smallest unit of speech that distinguishes one word from another. Phonemes are divided into vowel and consonant phonemes. DECtalk Software Software interprets text brackets as phonemes only after the phoneme arpabet command is used.

phoneme arpabet command

A command that causes all text within brackets to be treated as phonemic text.

phoneme string

Two or more phonemes together used to pronounce a special word or group of words.

phonemicize

To encode words as strings of phonemes.

phonemic mode

A mode DECtalk Software software uses for speaking phoneme strings.

phonemic transcription

A word written the way it is pronounced is said to be in phonemic transcription or simply in phonemics. When DECtalk Software says a word or phrase not as you intended, you might need to use phonemic transcription to get the desired pronunciation. For example, [r'ehd] is the phonemic transcription of the word read.

phrase boundary

A clause boundary formed by terminating punctuation -- comma, period, exclamation point, question mark -- followed by a space.

pitch control symbols

Symbols used to override built-in DECtalk Software pitch control. Symbols include pitch rise [/], pitch fall [\], and pitch rise and fall [/ \].

primary stress

Most content words of English (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) contain one primary stressed syllable. The primary stress symbol in DECtalk Software is the apostrophe [ ' ].

proper name

First names, last names, street names, company names, and place names are all examples of proper names.

secondary stress

A symbol used to indicate a degree of stress that is between primary and unstressed (no stress). The secondary stress symbol is the grave accent [`].

silence phonemes

Silences of specified durations inserted into text files in the same manner as you would insert a phoneme.

syntactic function words

A set of words that are either unstressed or have secondary stress. They include prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, auxiliary verbs, pronouns, question mark, and clause introducers. DECtalk Software uses stress and syntactic symbols to control aspects of rhythm, stress, and intonation patterns. These symbols include punctuation marks such as commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation points.

.TAB file

The source file used to build a user dictionary.

user dictionary

The dictionary that you define so DECtalk Software can load and use with an application to control the pronunciation of specific words processed by the application.

user dictionary builder

A program applet included with DECtalk Software to build and compile user dictionaries.

voice-control command

A DECtalk Software command inserted into text strings and used to control basic and special Text-To-Speech functions, such as speaking voice and speaking rate.

WAVE file

A Microsoft standard file format for storing wave form audio data. WAVE files have a .WAV file extension.

wave form output

The digitized reproduction of a sound wave form. DECtalk Software produces wave form output from the Speak program applet and the API, both of which allow you to save an ASCII text file to .WAV file format.

word boundary

A white space character (space, tab, or carriage return) in the text that indicates a boundary between words. DECtalk Software uses word boundary symbols to select the word-beginning or word-ending allophone of a phoneme.

word mode

A text-processing mode where DECtalk speaks one word at a time. A blank space or equivalent after a character or string of characters causes that string to be spoken in word mode.