•Embedded Speech Commands

To gain more precise control over DeskBots speech, you can use PlainTalk's embedded speech commands. Of most interest are the input mode change commands "[[inpt PHON]]" and "[[inpt TEXT]]". These commands will allow you to make DeskBots speak a phrase or part of a phrase phonetically.

Be aware that including DeskBots tags between these commands will, at best, result in unpredictable results.

Phonemes

In the following table, each phonemic letter is followed by an example word in which the letters that make the corresponding phonemic sound are surrounded by angle brackets (“< >”).

%   Silence        D   <th>em
@   Breath         f   <f>in
AE  b<a>t          g   <g>ain
EY  b<ai>t         h   <h>at
AO  c<au>ght       J   <j>oy
AX  <a>bout        k   <k>in
IY  b<ee>t         l   <l>imb
EH  b<e>t          m   <m>at
IH  b<i>t          n   <n>at
AY  b<i>te         N   ta<ng>
IX  ros<e>s        p   <p>in
AA  h<o>t          r   <r>an
UW  b<oo>t         s   <s>in
UH  b<oo>k         S   <sh>in
UX  b<u>d          t   <t>in
OW  b<oa>t         T   <th>in
AW  b<ou>t         v   <v>an
OY  b<oy>          w   <w>et
b   <b>in          y   <y>et
C   <ch>in         z   <z>oo
d   <d>in          Z   plea<s>ure

Prosodic Controls

Type           Symbol           Description of effect
Lexical stress                       Marks stress within a word
 Primary stress     1
  Secondary stress  2
  Example: _AEnt2IHsIXp1EYSAXn (“anticipation”)

Syllable breaks                      Marks syllable breaks within a word
  Syllable mark     = (equal)
  Example: _AEn=t2IH=sIX=p1EY=SAXn (“anticipation”)

Word Prominence                      Marks the beginning of a word (required)
  Unstressed        ~ (asciitilde)   Used for words with minimal information content
  Normal stress     _ (underscore)   Used for information-bearing words
  Emphatic stress   + (plus)         special emphasis for a word

Prosodic                             Placed before the affected phoneme
  Pitch rise        / (slash)        pitch will rise on the following phoneme
  Pitch fall        \ (backslash)    pitch will fall on the following phoneme
  Lengthen phoneme  > (greater)      lengthen the duration of the following phoneme
  Shorten phoneme   < (less)         shorten the duration of the following phoneme

There are some others related to punctuation, but you get the idea.

The prosodic control symbols (/, \, <, and >) may be concatenated to provide more exaggerated, cumulative effects. The specific nature of the effect is dependent on which voice you are using to speak the phrase.

Example of Usage

<Zoom> [[inpt PHON]] _HEY TAEr  [[inpt TEXT]] <User>.