Programmer's Reference Manual

Plum Voice Platform v. 3.0

4. TTS Speech Engine Characteristics

4.1 Voice Tag Attributes

<gender>:

AT&T Natural Voices, Cepstral Engine:

This attribute works fine for these speech engines.

RealSpeak Engine:

The gender attribute should not be used if the name attribute is already being used for the <voice> tag.

<age>:

AT&T Natural Voices:

This attribute is not supported.

Cepstral Engine:

This attribute looks for an exact match, instead of looking for the closest match. For example, <voice age="10"> will only select a ten-year-old voice, or fall back to the default voice if one is not found.

RealSpeak Engine:

This attribute is not supported.

<name>:

If you have an onsite system, please contact your sales account manager for which of these voices you have installed on your server.

The following names are supported by their respective engines:

AT&T Natural Voices:

Language	Name	Gender	US	UK
American English (en_us)	Mel	male	x
American English (en_us)	Mike	male	x	x
American English (en_us)	Ray	male	x	x
American English (en_us)	Rich	male	x
American English (en_us)	Claire	female	x
American English (en_us)	Crystal	female	x	x
American English (en_us)	Julia	female	x
American English (en_us)	Lauren	female	x	x
Spanish (es_us)	Alberto	male	x
Spanish (es_us)	Rosa	female	x
British English (en_uk)	Charles	male	x	x
British English (en_uk)	Anjali	female	x
British English (en_uk)	Audrey	female	x	x
French (fr_fr)	Alain	male	x
French (fr_fr)	Juliette	female	x	x
German (de_de)	Reiner	male	x	x
German (de_de)	Klara	female	x	x

If no name is specified, mike is the default voice for the US AT&T Natural Voices while charles is the default voice for the UK AT&T Natural Voices.

Cepstral Engine (case-sensitive):

Language	Name	Gender	US	UK
American English (en_us)	David	male	x	x
American English (en_us)	William	male	x	x
American English (en_us)	Diane	female	x	x
Spanish (es_us)	Miguel	male	x	x
Spanish (es_us)	Marta	female	x	x
British English (en_uk)	Lawrence	male	x	x
British English (en_uk)	Millie	female	x	x
French (fr_fr)	Jean-Pierre	male	x	x
French (fr_fr)	Isabelle	female	x	x
German (de_de)	Matthias	male	x	x
German (de_de)	Katrin	female	x	x
Italian (it_it)	Vittoria	female	x	x

If no name is specified, Diane is the default voice for the US Cepstral Engine while Millie is the default voice for the UK Cepstral Engine. .

RealSpeak Engine (case-sensitive):

Language	Name	Gender	US	UK
American English (en-US)	Tom	male	x
American English (en-US)	Jennifer	female	x
American English (en-US)	Jill	female	x
American English (en-US)	Samantha	female	x
Mexican Spanish (es-MX)	Javier	male	x
Mexican Spanish (es-MX)	Paulina	female	x
British English (en-GB)	Daniel	male	x	x
British English (en-GB)	Emily	female	x	x
Australian English (en-AU)	Lee	male	x
Australian English (en-AU)	Karen	female	x
Canadian French (fr-CA)	Felix	male	x
Canadian French (fr-CA)	Julie	female	x
Portuguese (pt-PT)	Madalena	female	x
Brazilian Portuguese (pt-BR)	Raquel	female	x
German (de-DE)	Yannick	male		x
German (de-DE)	Steffi	female	x	x
Spanish (es-ES)	Diego	male		x
Spanish (es-ES)	Isabel	female		x
French (fr-FR)	Sebastien	male		x
French (fr-FR)	Virginie	female		x
Italian (it-IT)	Silvia	female	x	x
Dutch (nl-NL)	Claire	female	x	x
Belgian Dutch (nl-BE)	Ellen	female		x
Mandarin Chinese (zh-CN)	Mei-Ling	female	x

If no name is specified, Jill is the default voice for the US Realspeak Engine while Emily is the default voice for the UK Realspeak Engine.

Please contact your account manager if you want any of the following Realspeak voices:

Language	Name	Gender
Danish (da-DK)	Nanna	female
Italian (it-IT)	Paolo	male
Indian English (en-IN)	Sangeeta	female
Spanish (es-ES)	Monica	female
Basque (eu-ES)	Arantxa	female
Japanese (ja-JP)	Kyoko	female
Korean (ko-KR)	Narae	female
Korean (kr-KR)	Narae	female
Norwegian (no-NO)	Nora	female
Polish (pl-PL)	Agata	female
Russian (ru-RU)	Katerina	female
Swedish (sv-SE)	Ingrid	female
Hong Kong Cantonese (zh-HK)	Sin-ji	female

For the RealSpeak Engine, this attribute MUST be used along with its corresponding xml:lang attribute if the language is not en-US (American English). For example, to hear the Mexican Spanish voice "Javier", one must type the following:

<speak xml:lang="es-MX"><voice name="Javier">
¿Hacen usted tienen gusto de los huevos?
</voice></speak>

NOTE: For US speech recognition, we currently only offer American English speech recognition, Spanish speech recognition, and French-Canadian speech recognition for hosting. If you are interested in any other speech recognition languages, please contact your sales representative.

NOTE: For UK speech recognition, we currently only offer American English speech recogition and British English speech recognition for hosting. If you are interested in any other speech recognition languages, please contact your sales representative.

<xml:lang>:

If you have an onsite system, please contact your sales account manager for which of these languages you have installed on your server.

The following languages are supported by their respective engines:

AT&T Natural Voices:

Language	Code Value	US	UK
German	de_de	x	x
British English	en_uk	x	x
American English	en_us	x	x
Spanish	es_us	x	x
French	fr_fr	x	x

Cepstral Engine:

Language	Code Value	US	UK
American English	en_us	x	x

RealSpeak Engine:

Language	Code Value	US	UK
American English	en-US	x
Mexican Spanish	es-MX	x
Canadian French	fr-CA	x
German	de-DE		x
British English	en-GB		x
French	fr-FR		x
Spanish	es-ES		x
Belgian Dutch	nl-BE		x
Dutch	nl-NL		x

Please contact your account manager if you want any of the following Realspeak languages:

Language	Code Value
Danish	da-DK
Swiss German	de-CH
Australian English	en-AU
Indian English	en-IN
Basque	eu-ES
Belgian French	fr-BE
Swiss French	fr-CH
Swiss Italian	it-CHC
Italian	it-IT
Japanese	ja-JP
Korean	ko-KR
Korean	kr-KR
Norwegian	no-NO
Polish	pl-PL
Brazilian Portuguese	pt-BR
Portuguese	pt-PT
Russian	ru-RU
Swedish	sv-SE
Mandarin Chinese	zh-CN
Hong Kong Cantonese	zh-HK

Note that different syntax is used for the xml:lang attribute for the RealSpeak Engine. For example, <voice xml:lang="fr-FR"> would have to be typed to hear a French speaker. For the AT&T Natural Voices Engine and Cepstral Engine, one would type <voice xml:lang="en_us"> to hear an American speaker.

4.2 Voice Child Tags

An "x" marks that the Child Tag is supported by the speech engine. An asterisk (*) means that there are notes to explain the difference between the speech engines.

Child Tag	AT&T Natural Voices	Cepstral Engine	RealSpeak Engine
<break>*	x	x	x
<emphasis>
<enumerate>
<mark>
<paragraph>*	x	x	x
<phoneme>*	x	x
<prosody>*	x	x	x
<say-as>*	x	x	x
<sentence>*	x	x	x
<speak>	x	x	x
<sub>	x	x	x
<value>	x	x	x

<break>:

AT&T Natural Voices:

The break element works fine for when the voice speaker is en_us (American English) or when the language is set to en-us (American English). However, for the other languages (de_de (German), fr_fr (French), en_uk (British English), es_us (Spanish)), the "size" attribute does not work.

Cepstral Engine:

The "size" attribute of the break element does not work for the Cepstral Engine.

RealSpeak Engine:

The break element works fine for the RealSpeak Engine.

<paragraph>:

Cepstral Engine:

The "xml:lang" attribute does not work with the paragraph element.

<phoneme>:

AT&T Natural Voices and Cepstral Engine:

The phoneme element works fine using the Phoneme Sets shown below.

RealSpeak Engine:

This element is not supported.

Phoneme Set for AT&T Natural Voices:

US English:

Phoneme	Example	Transcription
aa	Bob	b aa b 1
ae	bat	b ae t 1
ah	but	b ah t 1
ao	bought	b ao t 1
aw	down	d aw n 1
ax	about	ax 0 b aw t 1
ay	bite	b ay t 1
b	bet	b eh t 1
ch	church	ch er ch 1
d	dig	d ih g
dh	that	dh ae t 1
dx	butter	b ah 1 dx er 0
eh	bet	b eh t 1
em	Chatham	ch ae 1 dx em 0
en	satin	s ae 1 q en 0
er	bird	b er d 1
ey	bait	b ey t 1
f	fog	f ao g 1
g	got	g aa t 1
hh	hot	h aa t 1
ih	bit	b ih t 1
iy	beat	b iy t 1
jh	jump	jh ah m p 1
k	cat	k ae t 1
l	lot	l aa t 1
m	Mom	m aa m 1
n	nod	n aa d 1
ng	sing	s ih ng 1
ow	boat	b ow t 1
oy	boy	b oy 1
p	pot	p aa t 1
q	button	b ah 1 q en 0
r	rat	r ae t 1
s	sit	s ih t 1
sh	shut	sh ah t 1
t	top	t aa p 1
th	thick	th ih k 1
uh	book	b uh k
uw	boot	b uw t 1
v	vat	v ae t 1
w	won	w ah n 1
y	you	y uw 1
z	zoo	z uw 1
zh	measure	m eh 1 zh er

0 Unstressed
1 Primary stress
2 Secondary stress
& Word boundary

UK English:

Phoneme	Example	Transcription
p	point	p OI n t 1
b	big	bIg1
t	team	t i: m 1
d	dare	de@1
k	case	k eI s 1
g	good	gUd1
dZ	ginger	dZ I n 1 dZ @ 0
tS	check	tS e k 1
f	fool	f u: l 1
v	vest	vest1
D	this	DIs1
T	thick	TIk1
s	sell	sel1
z	zeal	z i: l 1
S	shoot	S u: t 1
Z	measure	me1Z@0
h	house	h aU s 1
m	main	m eI n 1
n	name	n eI m 1
N	sing	sIN1
l	life	l aI f 1
@I	bottle	b Q 1 t @l 0
r	right	r aI t 1
j	yes	jes1
w	wood	wUd1
i:	beat	b i: t 1
I	bit	bIt1
eI	bait	b eI t 1
e	bet	bet1
A:	father	f A: 1 D @ 0
{	bat	b{t1
@U	boat	b @U t 1
O:	bought	b O: t 1
Q	boss	bQs1
u:	boot	b u: t 1
U	book	bUk1
V	but	bVt1
3:	bird	b 3: d 1
aU	bout	b aU t 1
OI	boy	b OI 1
aI	bite	b aI t 1
@	scallop	sk{1l@p0
I	believe	b I 0 l i: v 1

0 Unstressed
1 Primary stress
2 Secondary stress
& Word boundary

Phoneme Set for Cepstral Engine:

US English:

Phoneme	Example	Transcription
aa	father	f aa1 dh er0
ae	cat	k ae1 t
ah	about	ah0 b aw1 t
ao	bought	b ao1 t
aw	cow	k aw1
ay	buy	b ay1
b	book	b uh1 k
ch	catch	k eh1 ch
d	bad	b ae1 d
dh	then	dh eh1 n
eh	get	g eh1 t
er	earth	er1 th
ey	ate	ey1 t
f	fat	f ae1 t
g	good	g uh1 d
h	hello	h eh0 l ow1
i	sheep	sh i1 p
ih	ship	sh ih1 p
j	yes	j eh0 s
jh	digit	d ih1 jh ih0 t
k	camera	k ae1 m r ah0
l	late	l ey1 t
m	man	m ae1 n
n	new	n uw1
ng	bang	b ae1 ng
ow	float	f l ow1 t
oy	boy	b oy1
p	camper	k ae1 m p er0
r	car	k aa1 r
s	sit	s ih1 t
sh	ship	sh ih1 p
t	tap	t ae1 p
th	thin	th ih1 n
uh	full	f uh1 l
uw	moon	m uw1 n
v	have	h ae1 v
w	water	w ao1 t er0
z	zero	z i0 r ow0
zh	vision	v ih1 zh ah0 n

0 Unstressed
1 Primary stress
2 Secondary stress
& Word boundary

UK English:

Phoneme	Example	Transcription
t	tap	t ae1 p
p	pat	p ae1 t
b	book	b uh1 k
d	done	d ah1 n
k	camera	k ae1 m r ah0
g	good	g uh1 d
ch	chart	ch a1 t
jh	jack	jh ae1 k
f	fat	f ae1 t
v	various	v e@1 r i0 ih0 s
th	thin	th ih1 n
dh	then	dh eh1 n
s	sit	s ih1 t
z	zero	z i1 r ow0
sh	clash	k l ae1 sh
zh	vision	v ih1 zh ah0 n
h	hello	h eh1 l ow0
m	man	m ae1 n
n	new	n j uw1
ng	sitting	s ih1 t ih0 ng
r	reason	r i1 z ah0 n
l	late	l ey1 t
w	water	w ao1 t er0
j	yellow	j eh1 l ow0
i	sheep	sh i1 p
ih	image	ih1 m ih0 jh
eh	end	eh1 n d
ae	bank	b ae1 ng k
er	earth	er1 th
ah	about	ah1 b aw0 t
a	father	f a1 dh er0
oa	on	oa1 n
ao	bought	b ao1 t
uh	could	k uh1 d
uw	moon	m uw1 n
ay	buy	b ay1
aw	cow	k aw1
oy	oyster	oy1 s t er0
ow	float	f l ow1 t
ey	bacon	b ey1 k ah0 n
e@	fairly	f e@1 l i0
i@	weary	w i@1 r i0

0 Unstressed
1 Primary stress
2 Secondary stress
& Word boundary

<prosody>:

AT&T Natural Voices:

The prosody element works fine for this engine. You can specify a preset rate ("fast", "medium", "slow", or "default"). However, using a preset rate is not recommended because it either sets the voice rate to too slow or too fast. The "rate" attribute can also be set to an integer value such as "100.0" or "50.0". A normal voice rate should be set to around "150.0". These values are not in accordance with the SSML spec, where rates are specified relative to 1. Additionally, you can also adjust the voice rate by using percentages. To increase the rate you could type "+50%" to make the voice rate 50% faster or "-50%" to make the voice rate 50% slower.

Cepstral Engine:

The prosody element works fine for the Cepstral Engine. Also, the "pitch" attribute only works for the Cepstral Engine.

RealSpeak Engine:

When using a Realspeak TTS voice, the talking speed of the TTS voice does not revert back to the normal speed after the <prosody> tag has been used. To revert it back to normal, you must use the <prosody> tag again with the attribute of "volume" set to "100.0" and the attribute of "rate" set to "default".

<say-as>:

The table below shows the <say-as> tag types and the speech engines that support them. An "x" marks that the <say-as> tag is supported by the speech engine.

Say-as Tag Types	AT&T Natural Voices	Cepstral Engine	RealSpeak Engine
acronym*	x	x
address	x	x	x
number	x	x	x
number:cardinal	x	x	x
number:ordinal	x	x	x
number:digits		x	x
number:decimal	x	x	x
number:fraction	x	x	x
number:telephone	x	x	x
date	x	x	x
date:dmy*	x	x	x
date:mdy*	x	x	x
date:ymd*		x	x
date:ym*		x	x
date:my*	x	x	x
date:md*	x	x	x
date:dm*	x	x	x
date:y*	x	x	x
date:m	x	x	x
date:d		x	x
date:day			x
digits			x
duration			x
duration:h			x
duration:hm			x
duration:m			x
duration:ms			x
duration:s			x
measure*	x	x	x
name	x
net:email	x	x	x
net:uri	x	x	x
time*	x	x	x
time:h	x	x	x
time:hm	x	x	x
time:hms	x		x
spell			x
telephone*	x	x	x
currency*	x	x	x

acronym: The acronym tag type works fine in the US, but does not work in the UK. If you are using AT&T Natural Voices and you want to spell out words or say back digits in the UK, you would have to use commas inside of a string such as "a, c, r, o, n, y, m" or "1, 2, 3, 4, 5".

date:mdy: The preferred format of this tag is "month abbreviation day, year". For example, to return "December 25, 2001", you would type "Dec 25, 2001". You can also use the "month/day/year" format such as "12/25/01" for the US, but this format will not work in the UK.

date:dmy: The preferred format of this tag is "day month abbreviation, year". For example, to return "December 25, 2001", you would type "25 Dec, 2001".

date:ymd: The preferred format for this tag is "year month abbreviation day". For example, to return "December 25, 2001", you would type "2001, Dec 25".

date:my: The format of this tag should be "month abbreviation, year". For example, to return "December, 2001", you would type "Dec, 2001".

date:md: The preferred format for this tag is "month abbreviation day". For example, to return "December 25", you would type "Dec 25". You can also use the "month/day" format such as "12/25" for the US, but this format will not work in the UK.

date:dm: The preferred format for this tag is "day month abbreviation". For example, to return "December 25", you would type "25 Dec".

date:ym: The preferred format for this tag is "year/month". For example, to return "December 2001", you would type "2001/12".

date:y: The date:y tag type works fine in the US, but does not work in the UK.

measure: For AT&T Natural Voices, you could use either a format such as 5'4" or 5m (5 meters). For Cepstral, the preferred format would follow one such as 5m. For Realspeak, the preferred format would follow one such as 5'4".

time: The time tag type works fine in the US, but does not work in the UK.

telephone: The telephone tag type works fine in the US, but does not work in the UK.

The format for telephone numbers is: 123-456-7890

The format for telephone extensions is: 123-456-7890 ext1234

NOTE: For extensions, AT&T Natural Voices and Realspeak will say the number back correctly. In the example above, AT&T Natural Voices and Realspeak will say, "one two three four five six seven eight nine zero, extension one two three four." However, Cepstral will say, "one two three four five six seven eight nine zero, extension twelve thirty-four." To account for this, you can insert commas between the numbers after extension: 123-456-7890 ext1,2,3,4.

currency: When using the say-as type, currency, for AT&T Natural Voices with a Spanish TTS voice, please keep in mind that you will need to format the currency to $<dollar amount>,<cents amount>. The currency amount will not be pronounced correctly if you format it as $<dollar amount>.<cents amount>.

<sentence>:

Cepstral Engine:

The xml:lang attribute does not work with the sentence element.