Speech synthesis system and method utilizing phenome information and rhythm imformation
First Claim
1. A speech synthesis system for synthesizing speech based on input text data, comprising:
- (a) a text analysis word dictionary in which a plurality of words and at least the reading, accent, and part of speech for each word are stored;
(b) a text analysis means for resolving said input text data into elements by morphological analysis and providing information on the reading, accent, and part of speech of each of the resolved elements by referencing to said text analysis word dictionary and also providing information on the text structure of said text data;
(c) a rhythm control means for generating a pitch pattern and setting a phonemic power and a phonemic time length, based on said information provided by said text analysis means;
(d) a synthesis unit dictionary in which an independent word synthesis unit dictionary including a plurality of independent word synthesis units and an adjunct word chain synthesis unit dictionary including a plurality of adjunct word chain synthesis units are stored;
(e) a synthesis unit selection means for obtaining, based on said information on the part of speech provided by said text analysis means, necessary independent word synthesis units from said independent word synthesis unit dictionary in response to said part of speech being an independent word and for obtaining corresponding adjunct word chain synthesis units from said adjunct word chain synthesis unit dictionary in response to an adjunct word chain being found; and
(f) a speech generation means for outputting synthetic speech, based on said pitch pattern, phonemic power, and phonemic time length provided by said rhythm control means and on said synthesis units provided by said synthesis unit selection means.
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Abstract
To synthesize speech, which is clear and high in naturalness, in a Japanese-language speech synthesis system by improving not only phoneme information but also rhythm information. In the Japanese-language, the independent word speech and the adjunct word speech are remarkably different in speech characteristic. The difference in speech characteristics between them is clearly observed, particularly in rhythmical elements such as the intensity, speech, and pitch of speech. From this fact, there is provided a new rule synthesis method which uses as a speech synthesis unit an adjunct word chain unit comprising a chain of one or more adjunct words and which is capable of synthesizing speech whose naturalness is high. The portion other than the adjunct word portion, i.e., the independent word portion, is constituted in a CV/VC unit.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A speech synthesis system for synthesizing speech based on input text data, comprising:
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(a) a text analysis word dictionary in which a plurality of words and at least the reading, accent, and part of speech for each word are stored; (b) a text analysis means for resolving said input text data into elements by morphological analysis and providing information on the reading, accent, and part of speech of each of the resolved elements by referencing to said text analysis word dictionary and also providing information on the text structure of said text data; (c) a rhythm control means for generating a pitch pattern and setting a phonemic power and a phonemic time length, based on said information provided by said text analysis means; (d) a synthesis unit dictionary in which an independent word synthesis unit dictionary including a plurality of independent word synthesis units and an adjunct word chain synthesis unit dictionary including a plurality of adjunct word chain synthesis units are stored; (e) a synthesis unit selection means for obtaining, based on said information on the part of speech provided by said text analysis means, necessary independent word synthesis units from said independent word synthesis unit dictionary in response to said part of speech being an independent word and for obtaining corresponding adjunct word chain synthesis units from said adjunct word chain synthesis unit dictionary in response to an adjunct word chain being found; and (f) a speech generation means for outputting synthetic speech, based on said pitch pattern, phonemic power, and phonemic time length provided by said rhythm control means and on said synthesis units provided by said synthesis unit selection means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A speech synthesis method for synthesizing speech based on input text data, comprising the steps of:
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(a) preparing a text analysis word dictionary in which a plurality of words and at least the reading, accent, and part of speech for each word are stored; (b) preparing a synthesis unit dictionary in which an independent word synthesis unit dictionary including a plurality of independent word synthesis units and an adjunct word chain synthesis unit dictionary including a plurality of adjunct word chain synthesis units are stored; (c) resolving said input text data into elements by morphological analysis, and providing information on the reading, accent, and part of speech for each of the resolved elements by referencing said text analysis word dictionary and also providing information on the text structure of said text data; (d) a rhythm control means for generating a pitch pattern and setting a phonemic power and a phonemic time length, based on said information on the text structure provided by said step (c); (e) obtaining, based on said information on the part of speech provided by said step (c), necessary independent word synthesis units from said independent word synthesis unit dictionary in response to said part of speech being an independent word, and obtaining corresponding adjunct word chain synthesis units from said adjunct word chain synthesis unit dictionary in response to an adjunct word chain being found; and (f) outputting synthetic speech, based on said pitch pattern, phonemic power, and phonemic time length provided by said step (d) and on said synthesis unit selection means. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification