[DECtalk] Adding words to Dectalk dictionary
Jayson Smith
ratguy at insightbb.com
Tue Jan 25 17:11:58 EST 2011
Hi,
As for getting the word out, here's one thought. As many of you probably
know, RSGames is a free service offering Internet multi-player Monopoly,
Uno, Yahtzee and Blackjack games which are totally accessible to the blind
using a special client. This client runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It
works directly with most popular screen readers. Recently RSGames started
running text advertisements in order to defray the costs of running the
service. Ads cost $15 per month and reach a targeted audience of blind
gamers. Anyone interested in an ad can hit a single keystroke to have a copy
of that ad Emailed to them, along with a web link to obtain more information
about the product or service. Payments should be made via Paypal. For more
info about RSGames, go to www.rsgames.co.nr, and to ask about ads, write to
rsgames at gmail.com. When constructing your ad, you should provide a website
where potential customers can get more info.
Other ways of reaching out would be Twitter, Facebook, etc. Obviously this
list. Fred's Head, Top Tech Tidbits on Thursday, etc.
Now, a few questions. Is this going to be a Fonix product? Any estimate on a
release date? Price? Will it have an exceptions dictionary? Imho it should.
Also imho novice users should be able to use standard misspelling techniques
to adjust the pronunciation, but advanced DECtalk geeks should be able to
get down to the phoneme level if they wish.
Another thing that always bugged me about DECtalk is that the end user
didn't have access to the d phoneme used in regular speech. Thus, when using
a custom pronunciation dictionary or making DECtalk sing, the d sounds
always sounded a bit weird. Is this going to be fixed?
Thanks, and I look forward to playing with this!
Jayson
----- Original Message -----
From: <Dectalk at aol.com>
To: <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 10:33 PM
Subject: Re: [DECtalk] Adding words to Dectalk dictionary
> Hi guys! I'll be in charge of the Dectalk dictionary, but I don't have
> anything yet. If it will do phrases, this won't be a problem. But, I'm
> thinking that the dictionary is single word only. So I have no clue how
> to
> handle double pronunciations.
>
> One question I have is, is there a control character that appears as a
> space, that I could use as a command for an alternative pronunciation? I
> know
> in one Dectalk version it was control something, but I can't remember
> what
> it was.
>
> I would live to stay away from a visible command so it won't show up in a
> document. I have no clue how.
>
> I have another question. If E-voice still existed, I could let everyone
> know about the Dectalk SAPI 5 within hours. I miss E-voice to no end!
> So
> on the internet, what is the best way to get the word out about this SAPI
> 5?
>
>
> SNOOPI BOTTEN
>
>
> In a message dated 1/24/2011 9:37:25 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> musicalman1 at comcast.net writes:
>
> Well, I am not familiar with the Dectalk dictionary in any way, but those
> kinds of rules would not be easy to implement even if such a dictionary
> existed. I believe most synths that can pronounce words two different
> ways
> use context clues to figure out which pronunciation to use. For instance,
> read has two pronunciations, as you know. For example:
> you should read the book by Thursday.
> or
> The book should be read by Thursday.
> You could probably just put phrases in the dictionary, and changing their
> pronunciations accordingly. That is, if the Dectalk dictionary supports
> phrases, which it should although i'm just guessing here. This might work
> in
> the example you mentioned, as putting words in front of record would
> determine how it is pronounced. For example, you would never say, the
> re-cord. So it is safe to change this in the dictionary. you could
> probably
> do that for a lot of different word combinations and it would be pretty
> accurate. Adding all these rules would take a lot of time, and you would
> have to be careful with it. If the Dectalk dictionary supports context
> clues
> though, I wouldn't know how you would help it determine which
> pronunciation
> is correct.
> These are just my thoughts. I don't know how accurate this is, but I am
> pretty sure it is a good work-around if no other can be found.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Blake Roberts" <beroberts at hughes.net>
> To: "'DECtalk Discussions'" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 8:31 PM
> Subject: [DECtalk] Adding words to Dectalk dictionary
>
>
>> Hi all,
>> Snoopi and I have been involved with the Dectalk SAPI project for
>> several
>> months now. I am happy to report that a SAPI Dectalk is nearing reality.
>>
>> The project leader gave Snoopi the task of adding words to the Dectalk
>> dictionary. Specifically, enabling Dectalk to say the same word two
>> different ways, such as record. Does anyone have ideas on how the
>> Dectalk
>> dictionary can be modified so that Dectalk will know when to use
> different
>> pronunciations for the same word?
>>
>> I know Snoopi is on this list. I am writing on his behalf because Snoopi
>> asked me to inquire of people familiar with Dectalk. Any advice would be
>> appreciated.
>> Blake
>>
>>
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