[DECtalk] Adding words to Dectalk dictionary

Brandon Misch bmisch2002 at gmail.com
Fri Jan 28 19:47:26 EST 2011


hey 19.95 sounds great to me. will it have more than one language or just english? 

On Jan 28, 2011, at 3:17 PM, Alex H. wrote:

> Hi Corine,
> 
> Thanks for the reply. This is exciting news! I'd gladly pay $19.99 for
> a DECTalk Sapi5 synth. I'll be able to use it with NVDA to read long
> documents and sing. I believe singing should be possible with the SAPI
> version using TTSApp.exe. It allows playback of the typed in text and
> will even export to wave files! 4.6.4 is a pretty solid version of DT
> as well, so this is great news.
> 
> 
> Alex
> 
> On 1/28/11, Corine Bickley <corine.bickley at gallaudet.edu> wrote:
>> Hi Alex,
>> I'm sorry I've taken so long to reply.
>> I haven't tried singing with the new version yet (only accessing it thru a
>> screen reader) but we do hope to have it able to sing. If it doesn't work
>> right now, we'll fix it so it does sing.
>> The version of DT SAPI to be available from Enable Rehab is DT 4.6.4.
>> We are still considering the cost. Our goal is to make the release easily
>> available to all who are interested, and yet generate a little bit of income
>> to keep going with changes that users point out. My first thought was $19.95
>> as a download. Snail-mailed CDs would be a little more to cover the cost of
>> mailing and the CD.
>> What do you think?
>> corine bickley
>> 
>> On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 2:26 PM, Alex H. <linuxx64.bashsh at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> I think that list is a pretty complete, i don't know a lot about how
>>> the dictionary actually works but know hponemes pretty well. Hopefully
>>> this can be implimented.
>>> 
>>> I have afew questions.
>>> 
>>> Will a users be able to sing with the Sapi dectalk
>>> What version is this based on of dectalk?
>>> Wht will be the cost of this synth?
>>> 
>>> thanks!
>>> Alex
>>> 
>>> On 1/25/11, Jayson Smith <ratguy at insightbb.com> wrote:
>>>> 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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>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
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>>>> 
>>>> 
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>>>>> 
>>>> 
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>> 
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