diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am index d92f2536..33c4f0a1 100644 --- a/Makefile.am +++ b/Makefile.am @@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ src/espeak-ng.1: src/espeak-ng.1.ronn docs: docs/index.html \ docs/add_language.html \ docs/dictionary.html \ + docs/voices.html \ src/espeak-ng.1.html \ README.html \ src/espeak-ng.1 diff --git a/docs/voices.html b/docs/voices.html deleted file mode 100644 index 073ccaa7..00000000 --- a/docs/voices.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,289 +0,0 @@ - - - - - eSpeak: Voice Files - - - -Back -
-

5. VOICES

-
-

5.1 Voice Files

-A Voice file specifies a language (and possibly a language variant or dialect) together with various attributes that affect the characteristics of the voice quality and how the language is spoken.

-Voice files are placed in the espeak-data/voices directory, or within subdirectories in there.

-The available voice files can be listed by:

-   espeak-ng --voices
-or
-   espeak-ng --voices=<language>
-also -
   espeak-ng --voices=<variant>
-Lists voice variants which can be applied to eSpeak voices. -
   espeak-ng --voices=<mbrola>
-Lists the Mbrola voices. -
-

5.2 Contents of Voice Files

-The language attribute is mandatory. All the other attributes are optional. -

-

Identification Attributes

- -

Voice Attributes

- -

Language Attributes

- -
-

5.3 Voice Files Provided

-A number of Voice files are provided in the espeak-data/voices directory. -You can select one of these with the -v <voice filename> parameter to the -speak command. -

-

-
-default
-
This voice is used if none is specified in the speak command. You can copy your preferred voice to "default" so you can use the speak command without the need to specify a voice.
-
-For a list of voices provided for English and other languages see Languages. - - - - diff --git a/docs/voices.md b/docs/voices.md index aa63a5d7..b68271ac 100644 --- a/docs/voices.md +++ b/docs/voices.md @@ -1,5 +1,41 @@ # Voice Files +- [Contents of Voice Files](#contents-of-voice-files) + - [Identification Attributes](#identification-attributes) + - [name](#name) + - [language](#language) + - [gender](#gender) + - [Voice Attributes](#voice-attributes) + - [pitch](#pitch) + - [formant](#formant) + - [freq\_add](#freq_add) + - [echo](#echo) + - [tone](#tone) + - [flutter](#flutter) + - [roughness](#roughness) + - [voicing](#voicing) + - [consonants](#consonants) + - [breath](#breath) + - [breathw](#breathw) + - [speed](#speed) + - [Language Attributes](#language-attributes) + - [phonemes](#phonemes) + - [dictionary](#dictionary) + - [dictrules](#dictrules) + - [replace](#replace) + - [stressLength](#stressLength) + - [stressAdd](#stressAdd) + - [stressAmp](#stressAmp) + - [intonation](#intonation) + - [charset](#charset) + - [dictmin](#dictmin) + - [alphabet2](#alphabet2) + - [dictdialect](#dictdialect) +- [Voice Files Provided](#voice-files-provided) + - [default](#default) + +---------- + A Voice file specifies a language (and possibly a language variant or dialect) together with various attributes that affect the characteristics of the voice quality and how the language is spoken. @@ -9,271 +45,372 @@ or within subdirectories in there. The available voice files can be listed by: - espeak-ng --voices + espeak-ng --voices + or - espeak-ng --voices= + + espeak-ng --voices= also - espeak-ng --voices= + espeak-ng --voices= Lists voice variants which can be applied to eSpeak NG voices. - espeak-ng --voices= + espeak-ng --voices= Lists the Mbrola voices. ## Contents of Voice Files -The **language** attribute is mandatory. All the other attributes are +The `language` attribute is mandatory. All the other attributes are optional. ### Identification Attributes -* **name  \** - A name given to this voice. +#### name + + name + +A name given to this voice. + +#### language + + language [] + +This attribute should appear before the other attributes which are +listed below. -* **language  \ [\]** - This attribute should appear before the other attributes which are -listed below. It selects the default behaviour and characteristics for the language, and sets default values for "phonemes", "dictionary" and other attributes. The \ should be a two-letter ISO 639-1 language code. One or more language variant codes may be appended, -separated by hyphens. (eg. en-uk-north). +separated by hyphens. (eg. en-uk-north). + The optional \ value gives the preference of this voice compared with others for the specified language. A low value indicates a -more preferred voice. The default value is 5. -More than one **language** line may be present. A voice may be selected +more preferred voice. The default value is 5. + +More than one `language` line may be present. A voice may be selected for other related languages (variants which have the same initial 2 letter language code as the specified language), but it will be less preferred for these. Different language variants may be specified by -additional **language** lines in order to indicate that this is a -preferred voice for them also. Eg. -``` -language en-uk-north -language en -``` - indicates that this is voice is for the "en-uk-north" dialect, but it is +additional `language` lines in order to indicate that this is a +preferred voice for them also. E.g. + + language en-uk-north + language en + +indicates that this is voice is for the "en-uk-north" dialect, but it is also a main choice when a general "en" language is specified. Without -the second **language** line, it would be disfavoured for "en" for being +the second `language` line, it would be disfavoured for "en" for being a more specialised voice. -* **gender  \ [\]** - This attribute is only a label for use in voice selection. It doesn't +#### gender + + gender [] + +This attribute is only a label for use in voice selection. It doesn't change the sound of the voice. - \ may be male, female, or unknown. - \ is optional and gives an age in years. + +* \ may be male, female, or unknown. +* \ is optional and gives an age in years. ### Voice Attributes -* **pitch  \ \** - Two integer values. The first gives a base pitch to the voice (value in +#### pitch + + pitch + +Two integer values. The first gives a base pitch to the voice (value in Hz) The second controls the range of pitches used by the voice. Setting it equal to the base pitch will give a monotone. The default values are 82 118. - -* **formant  \ \ \ \ -\** - Systematically adjusts the frequency, strength, and width of the + +#### formant + + formant + +Systematically adjusts the frequency, strength, and width of the resonance peaks of the voice. Values are percentages of the default values. Changing these affects the tone/quality of the voice. -* **freq\_add** - Adds a constant value (in Hz) to the frequency of the -formant peak. The value may be negative. - * Formants 1,2,3 are the standard three formants which define vowels. - * Formant 0 is used to give a low frequency component to the sounds, of frequency lower than F1. - * Formants 4,5 are higher than F3. They affect the quality of the voice. - * Formants 6,7,8 are weak, high frequency, additions to vowels to give a clearer sound. +#### freq\_add +Adds a constant value (in Hz) to the frequency of the formant peak. The value +may be negative. -* **echo  \ \** - Parameter 1 gives the delay in mS (0 to 250mS). - Parameter 2 gives the echo amplitude (0 to 100). - Adding some echo can give a clearer or more interesting sound, -especially when listening through a domestic stereo sound system, rather -than small computer speakers. +* Formants 1,2,3 are the standard three formants which define vowels. +* Formant 0 is used to give a low frequency component to the sounds, of + frequency lower than F1. +* Formants 4,5 are higher than F3. They affect the quality of the voice. +* Formants 6,7,8 are weak, high frequency, additions to vowels to give a + clearer sound. -* **tone** - Controls the tone of the sound. - **tone** is followed by up to 4 pairs of \ \ +#### echo + + echo + +Parameter 1 gives the delay in mS (0 to 250mS). + +Parameter 2 gives the echo amplitude (0 to 100). + +Adding some echo can give a clearer or more interesting sound, especially when +listening through a domestic stereo sound system, rather than small computer +speakers. + +#### tone + +Controls the tone of the sound. + +`tone` is followed by up to 4 pairs of ` ` which define a frequency response graph. Frequency is in Hz and -amplitude is in the range 0 to 25 The default is: - `tone 600 170 1200 135 2000 110` - This means that from frequency 0Hz to 600Hz the amplitude is 17 From +amplitude is in the range 0 to 25 The default is: + + tone 600 170 1200 135 2000 110 + +This means that from frequency 0Hz to 600Hz the amplitude is 17 From 600Hz to 1200Hz the amplitude decreases from 170 to 135, then decreases to 110 at 2000Hz and remains at 110 at higher frequencies. This adjustment applies only to voiced sounds such as vowels and sonorant -consonants (such as [n] and [l]). Unvoiced sounds such as [s] are -unaffected. - This **tone** statement can also appear in -`espeak-data/config`, in which case it applies to all voices -which don't have their own **tone** statement. +consonants (such as `[n]` and `[l]`). Unvoiced sounds such as `[s]` are +unaffected. -* **flutter  \** - Default value: 100. - Adds pitch fluctuations to give a wavering or older-sounding voice. A +This `tone` statement can also appear in `espeak-data/config`, in which case +it applies to all voices which don't have their own `tone` statement. + +#### flutter + + flutter + +Default value: 100. + +Adds pitch fluctuations to give a wavering or older-sounding voice. A large value (eg. 20) makes the voice sound "croaky". -* **roughness  \** - Default value: Range 0 - 7 - Reduces the amplitude of alternate waveform cycles in order to make the +#### roughness + + roughness + +Default value: Range 0 - 7 + +Reduces the amplitude of alternate waveform cycles in order to make the voice sound creaky. -* **voicing  \** - Default value: 100 - Adjusts the strength of formant-synthesized sounds (vowels and sonorant +#### voicing + + voicing + +Default value: 100 + +Adjusts the strength of formant-synthesized sounds (vowels and sonorant consonants). -* **consonants  \ \** - Default values: 100, 100 - Adjusts the strength of noise sounds which are used in consonants. The -first value is the strength of unvoiced consonants such as "s" and "t". - The second value is the strength of the noise component of voiced +#### consonants + + consonants   + +Default values: 100, 100 + +Adjusts the strength of noise sounds which are used in consonants. The +first value is the strength of unvoiced consonants such as "s" and "t". + +The second value is the strength of the noise component of voiced consonants such as "z" and "d". -* **breath  \** - Default values: 0. - Adds noise which corresponds to the formant frequency peaks. The values -give the strength of noise for each formant peak (formants 1 to 8). - Use together with a low or zero value of the **voicing** attribute to -make a "wisper". For example: -``` - breath 75 75 60 40 15 10 - breathw 150 150 200 200 400 400 - voicing 18 - flutter 20 - formant 0 100 0 100 // remove formant 0 -``` +#### breath -* **breathw  \** - These values give bandwidths of the noise peaks of the **breath** -attribute. If **breathw** values are not given, then suitable default + breath + +Default values: 0. + +Adds noise which corresponds to the formant frequency peaks. The values +give the strength of noise for each formant peak (formants 1 to 8). + +Use together with a low or zero value of the `voicing` attribute to +make a "wisper". For example: + + breath 75 75 60 40 15 10 + breathw 150 150 200 200 400 400 + voicing 18 + flutter 20 + formant 0 100 0 100 // remove formant 0 + +#### breathw + + breathw + +These values give bandwidths of the noise peaks of the `breath` +attribute. If `breathw` values are not given, then suitable default values will be used. -* **speed  \** - Default value 10 - Adjusts the speaking speed by a percentage of the default rate. This +#### speed + + speed + +Default value 10 + +Adjusts the speaking speed by a percentage of the default rate. This can be used if a language voice seems faster or slower compared to other voices. ### Language Attributes -* **phonemes  \** - Specifies which set of phonemes to use from those contained in the -phontab, phonindex, and phondata data files. This is a **phonemetable** +#### phonemes + + phonemes + +Specifies which set of phonemes to use from those contained in the +phontab, phonindex, and phondata data files. This is a `phonemetable` name as given in the "phoneme" source file. - This parameter is usually not needed as it is set by default to the + +This parameter is usually not needed as it is set by default to the first two letters of the "language" parameter. However, different voices of the same language can use different phoneme sets, to give different accents. -* **dictionary  \** - Specifies which pair of dictionary files to use. eg. "english" indicates -that *speak-data/en\_dict* should be used to translate from words to +#### dictionary + + dictionary + +Specifies which pair of dictionary files to use. eg. "english" indicates +that `speak-data/en_dict` should be used to translate from words to phonemes. This parameter is usually not needed as it is set by default to the first two letters of "language" parameter. -* **dictrules  \** - Gives a list of conditional dictionary rules which are applied for this +#### dictrules + + dictrules + +Gives a list of conditional dictionary rules which are applied for this voice. Rule numbers are in the range 0 to 31 and are specific to a -language dictionary. They apply to rules in the language's **\_rules** -dictionary file and also its **\_list** exceptions list. See -[dictionary.html](dictionary.html). +language dictionary. They apply to rules in the language's `*_rules` +dictionary file and also its `*_list` exceptions list. See +[Text to Phoneme Translation](dictionary.md). -* **replace  \ \ \** - Replace a phoneme by another whenever it occurs. - \ may be NULL. - Flags: bit 0: replacement only occurs on the final phoneme of a word. - Flags: bit 1: replacement doesn't occur in stressed syllables. - eg. -``` - replace 0 h NULL // drops h's - replace 0 V U // replaces vowel in 'strut' by that in 'foot' - // as occurs in northern British English - replace 3 N n // change 'fishing' to 'fishin' etc. - // (only the last phoneme of a word, only in unstressed syllables) -``` - The phoneme mnemonics can be defined for each language, but some are -listed in [phonemes](phonemes.md) +#### replace -* **stressLength  \<8 integer values\>** - Eight integer parameters. These control the relative lengths of the + replace + +Replace a phoneme by another whenever it occurs. +\ may be NULL. + +Flags: bit 0: replacement only occurs on the final phoneme of a word. +Flags: bit 1: replacement doesn't occur in stressed syllables. + +e.g. + + replace 0 h NULL // drops h's + replace 0 V U // replaces vowel in 'strut' by that in 'foot' + // as occurs in northern British English + replace 3 N n // change 'fishing' to 'fishin' etc. + // (only the last phoneme of a word, only in unstressed syllables) + +The phoneme mnemonics can be defined for each language, but some are +listed in [Phonemes](phonemes.md). + +#### stressLength + + stressLength <8 integer values> + +Eight integer parameters. These control the relative lengths of the vowels in stressed and unstressed syllables. - * 0 unstressed - * 1 diminished. Its use depends on the language. In English it's used for unstressed syllables within multisyllabic words. In Spanish it's used for unstressed final syllables. - * 2 secondary stress - * 3 words marked as "unstressed" in the dictionary - * 4 not currently used - * 5 not currently used - * 6 stressed syllable (the main syllable in stressed words) - * 7 tonic syllable (by default, the last stressed syllable in the clause) -* **stressAdd  \<8 integer values\>** - Eight integer parameters. These are added to the voice's corresponding -stressLength values. They are used in the voice variant files in +* 0 unstressed +* 1 diminished. Its use depends on the language. In English it's used for + unstressed syllables within multisyllabic words. In Spanish it's used + for unstressed final syllables. +* 2 secondary stress +* 3 words marked as "unstressed" in the dictionary +* 4 not currently used +* 5 not currently used +* 6 stressed syllable (the main syllable in stressed words) +* 7 tonic syllable (by default, the last stressed syllable in the clause) + +#### stressAdd + + stressAdd <8 integer values> + +Eight integer parameters. These are added to the voice's corresponding +`stressLength` values. They are used in the voice variant files in `espeak-data/voices/!v` to give some variety. Negative values may be used. -* **stressAmp  \<8 integer values\>** - Eight integer parameters. These control the relative amplitudes of the +#### stressAmp + + stressAmp <8 integer values> + +Eight integer parameters. These control the relative amplitudes of the vowels in stressed and unstressed syllables (see stressLength above). The general default values are: 16, 16, 20, 20, 20, 24, 24, 22, although these defaults may be different for particular languages. -* **intonation  \** - 1 Default. - 2 Less intonation. - 3 Less intonation, and comma does not raise the pitch. - 4 Pitch rises (rather than falls) at the end of sentence. +#### intonation + intonation -* **charset  \** - The ISO 8859 character set number. (not all are implemented). +* 1 -- Default. +* 2 -- Less intonation. +* 3 -- Less intonation, and comma does not raise the pitch. +* 4 -- Pitch rises (rather than falls) at the end of sentence. -* **dictmin \** - Used for some languages to detect if additional language data is +#### charset + + charset + +The ISO 8859 character set number. (not all are implemented). + +#### dictmin + + dictmin  + +Used for some languages to detect if additional language data is installed. If the size of the compiled dictionary data for the language (the file `espeak-data/*_dict`) is less than this size then a warning is given. -* **alphabet2  \ \** - Used to specify a language to be used to speak words which are written -in a non-native alphabet. eg: - ``` - alphabet2 cyr ru - ``` - Alphabets names include: latin, cyr (cyrillic), ar (arabic). The default +#### alphabet2 + + alphabet2 + +Used to specify a language to be used to speak words which are written +in a non-native alphabet. e.g.: + + alphabet2 cyr ru + +Alphabets names include: latin, cyr (cyrillic), ar (arabic). The default language for latin alphabet is English. -* **dictdialect  \** - Words can be marked in the \*\_list or \*\_rules file to be spoken using -a foreign voice. This **dictdialect** attribute can be used to specify +#### dictdialect + + dictdialect + +Words can be marked in the `*_list` or `*_rules` file to be spoken using +a foreign voice. This `dictdialect` attribute can be used to specify which dialect of the foreign language should be used, instead of the -default dialect. The currently available dialects are: - **en-us** (US English) - **es-la** (Latin American Spanish). - eg. - ``` - dictdialect en-us - ``` - This means that any words or rules which are maked with \_\^\_EN will be +default dialect. The currently available dialects are: + +* `en-us` (US English) +* `es-la` (Latin American Spanish) + +e.g. + + dictdialect en-us + +This means that any words or rules which are maked with `_^_EN` will be spoken with the US English voice instead of the default UK English voice. - + Additional attributes are available to set various internal options which control how language is processed. These would normally be set in the program code rather than in a voice file. ## Voice Files Provided -A number of Voice files are provided in the -`espeak-data/voices` directory. You can select one of these -with the **-v \** parameter to the speak command. +A number of Voice files are provided in the `espeak-data/voices` directory. +You can select one of these with the `-v ` parameter to +the `espeak-ng` command. -* **default** - This voice is used if none is specified in the speak command. You can +#### default + +This voice is used if none is specified in the speak command. You can copy your preferred voice to "default" so you can use the speak command without the need to specify a voice. - -For a list of voices provided for English and other languages see -[Languages](languages.md).