NN NN LL 222222 NN N NN LL 22 22 NN N NN LL 22 NN N NN LL 22 NN N NN LL 22 NN N NN LL 22 NN N NN LL 22 NN N NN LL 22 NN NN LLLLLLLLL 2222222222 release 0.5 - Jun 98 -------------------------------------------------------------- NL2 - Dutch male voice for the MBROLA speech synthesizer Created by Arthur Dirksen and Ludmila Menert Fluency Speech Technology, Utrecht/NL December 1996 - October 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE INFORMATION For release 0.3 of this database, the following changes were made: - new recordings of bad diphones - segmentation errors fixed - new diphones added: [r] now combines with all consonants, so it is possible to generate a "rolling r" in words such as "arts" (doctor), "arm" (arm), "klaar" (ready); previously these words could only be synthesized using the "off-glide r" transcribed as [R]. -------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents -------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 Description of the NL2 diphone database 2.0 Distribution 3.0 Installation and tests 4.0 Announcement 5.0 Acknowledgements -------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 Description of the NL2 diphone database -------------------------------------------------------------- NL2 is a diphone database for Dutch, consisting of 2321 diphones, male voice. The following phoneme symbols are assumed in our diphone sets. With a few exceptions this set uses the SAMPA notation for Dutch. OBSTRUENTS AND NASALS --------------------- stop: fricative: nasal: ------------------------------------------------------ labial: p, b f, v m alveolar: t, d s, z n palatal: tj, dj S, Z nj velar: k, g x, G N glottal: _ (silence) h ------------------------------------------------------ Notes: - no distinction is made between glottal stop and silence - Dutch /h/ is a voiced glottal fricative Examples: pad [pAt] bad [bAt] tak [tAk] dak [dAk] potje [pOtj@] djintan [djIntAn] kat [kAt] zakdoek [zAGduk] fiets [fits] vat [vAt] sap [sAp] zat [zAt] sjaal [SaL] plantage [plAntaZ@] lach [lAx] regen [reG@(n)] huis [h9ys] mat [mAt] nat [nAt] anjer [Anj@r] lang [lAN] LIQUIDS AND GLIDES ------------------ onset: coda: ----------------------------- liguid: l, r L, R, r glide: w, j W, J ----------------------------- Notes: - the symbols in the right column are coda-allophones of those in the left column. - the coda-allophones must be preceded by a vowel; the onset-allophones must be followed by a vowel; for example, there is no l-t diphone, instead L-t must be used. - the allophone [W] can only follow the long vowels /i/, /e/ en /y/. - the allophone [J] can only follow the long vowels /u/, /o/ and /a/, and the short vowels /O/ and /A/. - with release 0.3, the allophone [r] can also be used in coda. Examples: al [AL] alle [Al@] al lang [ALlAN] haar [haR] harig [har@x] haar rug [haRrYx] sneeuw [sneW] sneeuwen [snew@] sneeuwwit [sneWwIt] aai [aJ] aaien [aj@] aai Jan [aJjAn] SHORT VOWELS ------------ front: back: [-round] [+round] [-round] [+round] ---------------------------------------------------------------- high: I Y mid: E @ O low: A ---------------------------------------------------------------- Examples: bid [bIt] put [pYt] bos [bOs] bed [bEt] rede [red@] bak [bAk] LONG VOWELS ------------ front: back: [-round] [+round] [-round] [+round] ---------------------------------------------------------------- high: i y u mid: e 2 o low: a ---------------------------------------------------------------- Examples: bied [bit] buut [byt] boek [buk] beet [bet] beuk [b2k] boot [bot] baat [bat] DIPHTHONGS ---------- front: back: [-round] [+round] [-round] [+round] ---------------------------------------------------------------- mid: Ei 9y Au ---------------------------------------------------------------- Examples: bijt [bEit] buit [b9yt] bout [bAut] COLORED VOWELS (before /r/) --------------------------- front: back: [-round] [+round] [-round] [+round] ---------------------------------------------------------------- mid: I: Y: O: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: - these symbols are allophones of the long mid vowels /e/, /2/ and /o/ before /r/, and they must be followed by either [R] or [r] - the phoneme symbols /e/, /2/ and /o/ cannot be followed by [R], but they can be followed by [r]. Examples: beer /ber/ -> [bI:R] beren /be-r@n/ -> [bI:r@n] deur /d2r/ -> [dY:R] deuren /d2-r@n/ -> [dY:r@n] boor /bor/ -> [bO:R] boren /bo-r@n/ -> [bO:r@n] meerook /me-rok/ -> [me-rok] meer ook /mer ok/ -> [mI:Rok] meer rook /mer rok/ -> [mI:Rrok] ---------------------------------- NASALIZED VOWELS (in French loans) ---------------------------------- front: back: [-round] [+round] [-round] [+round] ---------------------------------------------------------------- E~ Y~ A~ O~ ---------------------------------------------------------------- Examples: mannequin [mAn@kE~] parfum [pARfY~] chanson [SA~sO~] ----------------- FRENCH VOWEL [Oe] ----------------- Diphones for [Oe] were included so the following French loans could be synthesized: freule [frOel@] oeuvre [Oevr@] manoeuvre [manOevr@] boeuf [bOef] hors d'oeuvre [OrdOevr@] Do not use [Oe] in any other context! General remarks: 1. Geminate consonants are not included. They must be approximated by lengthening of single consonants. Geminate vowels, however, are included. 2. In previous releases, the silence phoneme would sometimes contain bits of a preceding vowel, rather annoying if the silence had a duration of over 200ms. We have fixed this: it is now safe to use a single silence phoneme for a pause. -------------------------------------------------------------- 2.0 Distribution -------------------------------------------------------------- This distribution of NL2.zip contains the following files : NL2 - Dutch male voice NL2.txt - this file and a number of example .PHO files : phone.pho - home phone number of one of the authors singing.pho - singing synthesis of the word "nee" (no) morgen.pho - "Goedemorgen!" (Good morning!) middag.pho - "Goeiemiddag!" (Good afternoon!) avond.pho - "Goeienavond!" (Good evening!) maar.pho - "Ja, dat ia nou wel erg leuk allemaal, maar wat moet je ermee?" (casual) beetje.pho - "'t Is een beetje vreemd, maar wel lekker" (creaky) sta_op.pho - "Sta je nou g.v.d. nog 's een keer op?" (angry) The file phone.pho is an example of complete synthesis by rule (input: the digit string "030-28 997 28"). All the other examples are copy synthesis. The last three examples are experiments in voice quality control and speaking style, with rather mixed results. The utterance in sta_op.pho sounds "angry" when you turn up the volume! -------------------------------------------------------------- 3.0 Installation and Tests -------------------------------------------------------------- If you have not copied the MBROLA software yet, please consult the MBROLA project homepage and get it. Copy NL2.zip into the mbrola directory and unzip it : unzip NL2.zip (or pkunzip on PC/DOS) Try mbrola NL2 phone.pho phone.wav to create a sound file for a phone number. In this example the audio file follows the RIFF Wave format. But depending on the extension phone.au, phone.aif, or phone.raw other file formats can be obtained. Listen to it with your favorite sound editor, and try the other command files (*.pho) to have a better idea of the quality of speech that can be synthesized with MBROLA and the NL2 database. On Unix systems you can pipe the audio ouput to the sound player as on a HP : mbrola NL2 phone.pho - | splayer -srate 16000 -l16 Also refer to the readme.txt file provided with the mbrola software for using it. -------------------------------------------------------------- 4.0 Announcement -------------------------------------------------------------- We are developing a speech synthesis system for Dutch, called Fluent Dutch. This system, which runs on top of MBROLA and the NL2 database, included rules for duration and pitch control, as well as preprocessing for numerical input. For more information and demos, consult the Fluent Dutch home page at: http://www-uilots.let.ruu.nl/~Arthur.Dirksen/fluent/fluent.htm -------------------------------------------------------------- 5.0 Acknowledgments -------------------------------------------------------------- The NL2 database was developed in collaboration with the Research Institute for Language and Speech/OTS, University of Utrecht. We would like to thank Vincent Pagel for his efforts in converting our diphone database to the MBROLA format. -------------------------------------------------------------- October 1, 1997 Arthur Dirksen Ludmila Menert For more information contact: dirksen@let.ruu.nl or write to: Fluency Speech Technology Berkelstraat 137 NL-3522 EM Utrecht, Netherlands --------------------------------------------------------------