Text-to-speech synthesizer having formant-rule and speech-parameter synthesis modes

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A text-to-speech synthesizer comprises an analyzer that decomposes a sequence of input characters into phoneme components and classifies them as a first group of phoneme components or a second group if they are to be synthesized by a speech parameter or by a formant rule respectively. Speech parameters derived from natural human speech are stored in first memory locations corresponding to the phoneme components of the first group and the stored speech parameters are recalled from the first memory in response to each of the phoneme components of the first group. formant rules capable of generating formant transition patterns are stored in second memory locations corresponding to the phoneme …