Speaking apparatus having differing speech modes for word and phrase synthesis
First Claim
1. A speech producing apparatus comprising:
- input means for receiving a sequence of input data, said sequence of input data including a first part containing a sequence of phonological linguistic unit indicia and a second part including at least word boundary indicia indicative of word boundaries;
control means connected to said input means for converting said sequence of input data into a sequence of speech identifying data by (1) substituting internal phonological linguistic unit indicia for word final phonological linguistic unit indicia occurring at word endings where vocalic phonological lignuistic unit indicia are beginning the next word, and (2) substituting shorter strong vowel phonological linguistic unit indicia for long strong vowel phonological linguistic unit indicia occurring in nonfinal word positions; and
speech synthesis means connected to said control means for generating one or more audible words of human language corresponding to said sequence of speech identifying data.
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Abstract
The present invention provides a conversion between a speech mode in which each word is clearly enunciated as if spoken in isolation and in which a phrase is spoken as a whole taking into account the influence of adjacent words. In the phrase mode, word ending final phonological linguistic units are replaced with their corresponding internal versions, and short strong vowels are substituted for the corresponding long strong vowels except at the word ends. In the word mode, a word final pronunciation is given when a corresponding internal phonological linguistic unit occurs at a word end, and short strong vowels are replaced by the corresponding long strong vowel when the short strong vowel occurs at the end of a word or prior to a set of voiced consonants. In either mode, a substitution may be made for the pronunciation of frequently used words. This invention is most useful in speaking electronic learning aids which permit word or phrase speech synthesis from the same data.
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14 Claims
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1. A speech producing apparatus comprising:
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input means for receiving a sequence of input data, said sequence of input data including a first part containing a sequence of phonological linguistic unit indicia and a second part including at least word boundary indicia indicative of word boundaries; control means connected to said input means for converting said sequence of input data into a sequence of speech identifying data by (1) substituting internal phonological linguistic unit indicia for word final phonological linguistic unit indicia occurring at word endings where vocalic phonological lignuistic unit indicia are beginning the next word, and (2) substituting shorter strong vowel phonological linguistic unit indicia for long strong vowel phonological linguistic unit indicia occurring in nonfinal word positions; and speech synthesis means connected to said control means for generating one or more audible words of human language corresponding to said sequence of speech identifying data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A speech producing apparatus comprising:
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input means for selectively receiving either a sequence of input data containing a plurality of phonological linguistic unit indicia and a plurality of word boundary indicia, each word boundary indicia indicative of a word boundary, corresponding to a phrase of human speech or at least one phonological linguistic unit indicia and a single word boundary indicia corresponding to a single word of human speech; mode determining means connected to said input means for entering a phrase mode if said sequence of input data corresponds to a phrase of human speech and for entering a word mode if said sequence of input data corresponds to a single word of human speech; phonemic memory means for storing speech synthesis parameters corresponding to each of said phonological linguistic unit indicia; control means connected to said input means, said mode determining means and said phonemic memory means for converting said sequence of input data into a sequence of speech synthesis parameters by (1) recalling said speech synthesis parameters corresponding to said received phonological linguistic unit indicia when in said phrase mode and (2) recalling said speech synthesis parameters from said phonemic memory means corresponding to said received phonological linguistic unit indicia except (a) recalling speech synthesis parameters corresponding to word final phonological linguistic unit indicia when a corresponding internal phonological linguistic unit indicia occurs at the end of said word, and (b) recalling speech synthesis parameters corresponding to long strong vowels when a corresponding short strong vowel occurs at the end of said word or is the final vowel of said word and is followed by only voiced consonant phonological linguistic unit indicia; and speech synthesis means connected to said control means for generating one or more audible words of human language corresponding to said sequence of speech synthesis parameters. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification