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


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.