SPEECH DATA ANALYSIS FOR DIPHONE CONSTRUCTION OF A MAORI ONLINE TEXT-TO-SPEECH SYNTHESIZER

摘要

One of the main types of speech processing technologies today is text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis. A well established speech synthesizer technique called 'diphone concatenation' uses a speakers processed speech examples to apply a more human-like response to the TTS synthesis system. This methodology has been used to construct many diphone databases for various languages, and was the basis for building the first Maori diphone database. The database was then tested using a number of TTS tools. Integrating the TTS system with an existing internet based English-Maori Word Translator has advantages for language learners. The goal to assist people to hear the proper pronunciation of translated Maori words is the prime motivation. Utilizing internet technology as the means to widely distribute the written and spoken language forms reflects the multi-disciplinary cross purpose nature of this research. Propagation of the Maori language via the internet can assist in it's long term survival through greater external exposure, awareness and usage. This paper brings together various theoretical contributions in publications and practical applications from research projects to help construct and test a working model for synthesizing Maori speech.