| @@ -1,20 +1,18 @@ | |||
| # English | |||
| - [Short Vowels](#short-vowels) | |||
| - [Long Vowels](#long-vowels) | |||
| - [Rhotic Vowels](#rhotic-vowels) | |||
| - [Reduced Vowels](#reduced-vowels) | |||
| - [Diphthongs](#diphthongs) | |||
| - [Split Vowels](#split-vowels) | |||
| - [Vowels](#vowels) | |||
| - [Short Vowels](#short-vowels) | |||
| - [Long Vowels](#long-vowels) | |||
| - [Rhotic Vowels](#rhotic-vowels) | |||
| - [Reduced Vowels](#reduced-vowels) | |||
| - [Diphthongs](#diphthongs) | |||
| - [Split Vowels](#split-vowels) | |||
| - [References](#references) | |||
| ---------- | |||
| The English language support uses a vowel system based on John Wells' Lexical | |||
| Sets<sup>\[<a href="#ref1">1</a>\]</sup>. These were created by Wells in 1982 | |||
| by comparing the Received Pronunciation British (RP) and General American | |||
| (GenAm) accents in use at that time. The following accents are supported by | |||
| eSpeak NG and are referenced in this document: | |||
| The following English accents are supported by eSpeak NG and are referenced in | |||
| this document: | |||
| | BCP47 | Abbreviation | Accent Name | | |||
| |----------------|--------------|------------------------| | |||
| @@ -27,11 +25,18 @@ eSpeak NG and are referenced in this document: | |||
| | en-US | GenAm | General American | | |||
| The BCP47 name is the standard language identifier for the accent, used as the | |||
| espeak language name. The Abbreviation is used in the lexical set tables below | |||
| for the IPA transcriptions of that accent, and the BCP47 names are used for the | |||
| eSpeak NG phoneme names. | |||
| espeak language name. The Abbreviation is used in the tables below for the IPA | |||
| transcriptions of that accent, and the BCP47 names are used for the eSpeak NG | |||
| phoneme names. | |||
| ## Vowels | |||
| The English language support uses a vowel system based on John Wells' Lexical | |||
| Sets<sup>\[<a href="#ref1">1</a>\]</sup>. These were created by Wells in 1982 | |||
| by comparing the Received Pronunciation British (RP) and General American | |||
| (GenAm) accents in use at that time. | |||
| ## Short Vowels | |||
| ### Short Vowels | |||
| | Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm | | |||
| |-------------|-------|-------|-------| | |||
| @@ -42,7 +47,7 @@ eSpeak NG phoneme names. | |||
| | STRUT | `V` | ʌ | ʌ | | |||
| | FOOT | `U` | ʊ | ʊ | | |||
| ## Long Vowels | |||
| ### Long Vowels | |||
| | Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm | | |||
| |-------------|-------|-------|-------| | |||
| @@ -51,7 +56,7 @@ eSpeak NG phoneme names. | |||
| | THOUGHT | `O:` | ɔː | ɔ | | |||
| | GOOSE | `u:` | uː | u | | |||
| ## Rhotic Vowels | |||
| ### Rhotic Vowels | |||
| These are vowels that are followed by an `r` that is not part of the next syllable | |||
| when considering the root form of the word containing that vowel. | |||
| @@ -77,7 +82,7 @@ Additionally, espeak-ng has the following phonemes for different accents: | |||
| | TERM | `3:` | `3:` | ɜː | ɛɾ | | |||
| | BIRD | `3:` | `IR` | ɜː | ɪɾ | | |||
| ## Reduced Vowels | |||
| ### Reduced Vowels | |||
| These are unstressed vowels that differ from the vowels in the main lexical sets. | |||
| @@ -106,7 +111,7 @@ The RABBIT lexical set is used for unstressed KIT vowels. Some American accents | |||
| have merged this with the COMMA lexical set, such that `rabbit` and `abbot` | |||
| rhyme. | |||
| ## Diphthongs | |||
| ### Diphthongs | |||
| | Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm | | |||
| |-------------|-------|-------|-------| | |||
| @@ -116,7 +121,7 @@ rhyme. | |||
| | GOAT | `oU` | əʊ̯ | oʊ̯ | | |||
| | MOUTH | `aU` | aʊ̯ | aʊ̯ | | |||
| ## Split Vowels | |||
| ### Split Vowels | |||
| These are lexical sets defined by John Wells that are merged with other lexical | |||
| sets in both RP and GenAm, so have split from one of those lexical sets and | |||