 |
ISCA Workshop on Multilingual Speech and Language Processing (MULTILING 2006)Center for Language and Speech Technology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa |
 |
|
ISCA Workshop on Multilingual Speech and Language Processing (MULTILING 2006)Center for Language and Speech Technology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa |
|
One of the most useful HLT systems for use with non-literate communities is Text-to-Speech, with typical applications in health, market and education information dissemination. However, current TTS development environments are far from being language independent: adaptation of an existing voice in one language to a voice in another is a common procedure. During development of a TTS prototype for Ibibio, a Nigerian Niger-Congo, Lower Cross language, in the Local Language Speech Technology Initiative, several levels of infrastructural and linguistic problems were identified. This contribution outlines these problems, concentrating mainly on requirements for African tone language TTS, and formulates solution strategies for both rule-driven and data-driven TTS development.
Bibliographic reference. Gibbon, Dafydd / Urua, Eno-Abasi / Ekpenyong, Moses (2006): "Problems and solutions in african tone language text-to-speech", In MULTILING-2006, paper 014.