High quality concatenative reading system

Abstract

Computer-stored text, such as numerical information, is processed by a word list generator to develop a word list corresponding to those words that are to be spoken by the system. The word list generator assigns a prosodic environment state or token to each entry in the list. The prosodic environment identifies how the word functions in its current prosodic context. Different intonations are applied based on the prosodic environment. Next, the preceding and adjacent words are examined to determine how each word may need to be pronounced differently, based on the ending phoneme of the preceding word and the beginning phoneme of the following word. Using this phonological information along with the prosodic information, a sample list is generated by accessing a dictionary of stored samples. The sample list is then serially played through suitable digital-to-analog conversion circuitry to generate the text-to-speech output. The result is a natural, human-like reading, complete with appropriate intonation changes suitable to the context of the text material.