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.
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)
Table D -- Stress Symbols
Table E -- 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.
Stress and Syntactic 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
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 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>]
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
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'.
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.
Homographs
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
Table A -- American English Phoneme Codes
allophone
Glossary
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.