[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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