mirror of
https://github.com/rhasspy/espeak-ng.git
synced 2026-11-07 23:31:26 +00:00
128 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
128 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
<<<<<<< HEAD
|
|
# eSpeak NG - Documentation
|
|
======================
|
|
|
|
### [Usage](commands.md)
|
|
|
|
### [Languages](languages.md)
|
|
|
|
### [Voice Files](voices.md)
|
|
|
|
Voice files specify a language and other characteristics of a voice.
|
|
|
|
### [Mbrola Voices](mbrola.md)
|
|
|
|
eSpeak NG can be used as a front-end for Mbrola diphone voices.
|
|
|
|
### [Pronunciation Dictionary](dictionary.md)
|
|
|
|
### [Adding a Language](add_language.md)
|
|
|
|
How to add or improve a language.
|
|
|
|
### [Phonemes](phonemes.md)
|
|
|
|
The list of phoneme mnemonics for English, for use in the Pronunciation
|
|
Dictionary.
|
|
|
|
### [Phoneme Tables](phontab.md)
|
|
|
|
The tables of the phonemes used by each language, with their properties
|
|
and sound production.
|
|
|
|
### [Intonation](intonation.md)
|
|
|
|
Different intonation "tunes" may be defined for different languages for
|
|
clauses which end in full-stop, comma, question-mark, and
|
|
exclamation-mark.
|
|
|
|
### [eSpeak NG Library API](speak_lib.h)
|
|
|
|
API definition and header file for a shared library version of eSpeak NG.
|
|
|
|
### [Markup tags](ssml.md)
|
|
|
|
SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language) and HTML tags recognized by
|
|
eSpeak NG.
|
|
|
|
### [The espeakedit program](editor.md)
|
|
|
|
GUI software to edit vowel files and to compile the phoneme data for use
|
|
by eSpeak NG. See also [Espeakedit user interface](editor_if.md).
|
|
|
|
|
|
=======
|
|
# eSpeak NG: Speech Synthesizer
|
|
|
|
- [Features](#features)
|
|
- [History](#history)
|
|
- [Languages](languages.html)
|
|
- [Adding a Language](add_language.html)
|
|
- [Pronunciation Dictionary](dictionary.html)
|
|
- [Voice Files](voices.html)
|
|
- [MBROLA Voices](mbrola.html)
|
|
- [Phonemes](phonemes.html)
|
|
- [Phoneme Tables](phontab.html)
|
|
- [Intonation](intonation.html)
|
|
- [Markup Tags](ssml.html)
|
|
- [License](../COPYING)
|
|
|
|
----------
|
|
|
|
eSpeak NG is a compact open source software speech synthesizer for English and
|
|
other languages, for Linux and Windows.
|
|
|
|
eSpeak NG uses a "formant synthesis" method. This allows many languages to be
|
|
provided in a small size. The speech is clear, and can be used at high speeds,
|
|
but is not as natural or smooth as larger synthesizers which are based on human
|
|
speech recordings.
|
|
|
|
eSpeak is available as:
|
|
|
|
* A command line program (Linux and Windows) to speak text from a file or
|
|
from stdin.
|
|
* A shared library version for use by other programs. (On Windows this is
|
|
a DLL).
|
|
* A SAPI5 version for Windows, so it can be used with screen-readers and
|
|
other programs that support the Windows SAPI5 interface.
|
|
* eSpeak has been ported to other platforms, including Solaris and Mac OSX.
|
|
|
|
## Features
|
|
|
|
* Includes different Voices, whose characteristics can be altered.
|
|
* Can produce speech output as a WAV file.
|
|
* SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language) is supported (not complete),
|
|
and also HTML.
|
|
* Compact size. The program and its data, including many languages,
|
|
totals about 1.4 Mbytes.
|
|
* Can be used as a front-end to [MBROLA diphone voices](mbrola.html).
|
|
eSpeak NG converts text to phonemes with pitch and length information.
|
|
* Can translate text into phoneme codes, so it could be adapted as a
|
|
front end for another speech synthesis engine.
|
|
* Potential for other languages. Several are included in varying stages
|
|
of progress. Help from native speakers for these or other languages is
|
|
welcome.
|
|
* Written in C.
|
|
|
|
The eSpeak speech synthesizer supports over 70 languages, however in many cases
|
|
these are initial drafts and need more work to improve them. Assistance from
|
|
native speakers is welcome for these, or other new languages. Please contact me
|
|
if you want to help.
|
|
|
|
## History
|
|
|
|
The program was originally known as __speak__ and originally written
|
|
for Acorn/RISC\_OS computers starting in 1995 by Jonathan Duddington. This was
|
|
enhanced and re-written in 2007 as __eSpeak__, including a relaxation of the
|
|
original memory and processing power constraints, and with support for additional
|
|
languages.
|
|
|
|
In 2010, Reece H. Dunn started maintaining a version of eSpeak on GitHub that
|
|
was designed to make it easier to build eSpeak on POSIX systems, porting the
|
|
build system to autotools in 2012. In late 2015, this project was officially
|
|
forked to a new eSpeak NG project. The new eSpeak NG project is a significant
|
|
departure from the eSpeak project, with the intention of cleaning up the
|
|
existing codebase, adding new features and adding and improving to the
|
|
supported languages.
|
|
>>>>>>> upstream/master
|