SYNTEX - A microprocessor based system for automatic conversion of German text to speech

SYNTEX has been developed for real time conversion of unrestricted German text to speech. Main part of the system is a word parser used to decompose compounds, to mark affixes, and to detect accented syllables in foreign words. The results of this parsing are used by a set of letter-to-sound rules working on morphs and by algorithm for computation of word intonation. The intonation algorithm treats German words as well as foreign adaptions. It assigns main and rhythmical stress and converts it to a fundamental frequency contour. SYNTEX is supported by a text preprocessor treating upper and lower case letters, numbers and punctuation. Routines for the conversion of phonemes and intonation contour to synthesizer parameters are written for a Votrax VS6-G2 so far, but can easily be adapted to other synthesizers.