Valdis Vitolins
5 years ago
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README.md
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| ---------- | |||
| The eSpeak NG (Next Generation) Text-to-Speech program is an open source speech | |||
| synthesizer that supports [107 languages and accents](docs/languages.md), | |||
| based on the eSpeak engine created by Jonathan Duddington. It supports spectral | |||
| and Klatt formant synthesis, and the ability to use MBROLA voices. | |||
| The eSpeak NG is a compact open source software text-to-speech synthesizer for | |||
| Linux, Windows, Android and other operating systems. It supports | |||
| [107 languages and accents](docs/languages.md). It is based on the eSpeak engine | |||
| created by Jonathan Duddington. | |||
| eSpeak NG uses a "formant synthesis" method. This allows many languages to be | |||
| provided in a small size. The speech is clear, and can be used at high speeds, | |||
| but is not as natural or smooth as larger synthesizers which are based on human | |||
| speech recordings. It also supports Klatt formant synthesis, and the ability | |||
| to use [MBROLA](https://github.com/numediart/MBROLA) [voices](https://github.com/numediart/MBROLA-voices). | |||
| eSpeak NG is available as: | |||
| * A command line program (Linux and Windows) to speak text from a file or | |||
| from stdin. | |||
| * A shared library version for use by other programs. (On Windows this is | |||
| a DLL). | |||
| * A SAPI5 version for Windows, so it can be used with screen-readers and | |||
| other programs that support the Windows SAPI5 interface. | |||
| * eSpeak NG has been ported to other platforms, including Solaris and Mac | |||
| OSX. | |||
| ## Features | |||
| * Includes different Voices, whose characteristics can be altered. | |||
| * Can produce speech output as a WAV file. | |||
| * SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language) is supported (not complete), | |||
| and also HTML. | |||
| * Compact size. The program and its data, including many languages, | |||
| totals about 1.4 Mbytes. | |||
| * Can be used as a front-end to [MBROLA diphone voices](mbrola.md). | |||
| eSpeak NG converts text to phonemes with pitch and length information. | |||
| * Can translate text into phoneme codes, so it could be adapted as a | |||
| front end for another speech synthesis engine. | |||
| * Potential for other languages. Several are included in varying stages | |||
| of progress. Help from native speakers for these or other languages is | |||
| welcome. | |||
| * Written in C. | |||
| See the [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md) for a description of the changes in the | |||
| various releases and with the eSpeak project. | |||
| various releases and with the eSpeak NG project. | |||
| The following platforms are supported: | |||
| @@ -390,7 +424,22 @@ the logic to build the dictionary, phoneme and intonation binary files into the | |||
| `libespeak-ng.so` file that is accessible from the `espeak-ng` command line and | |||
| C API. | |||
| ## Historical Versions | |||
| ## History | |||
| The program was originally known as __speak__ and originally written | |||
| for Acorn/RISC\_OS computers starting in 1995 by Jonathan Duddington. This was | |||
| enhanced and re-written in 2007 as __eSpeak__, including a relaxation of the | |||
| original memory and processing power constraints, and with support for additional | |||
| languages. | |||
| In 2010, Reece H. Dunn started maintaining a version of eSpeak on GitHub that | |||
| was designed to make it easier to build eSpeak on POSIX systems, porting the | |||
| build system to autotools in 2012. In late 2015, this project was officially | |||
| forked to a new __eSpeak NG__ project. The new eSpeak NG project is a significant | |||
| departure from the eSpeak project, with the intention of cleaning up the | |||
| existing codebase, adding new features, and adding to and improving the | |||
| supported languages. | |||
| The *historical* branch contains the available older releases of the original | |||
| eSpeak that are not contained in the subversion repository. | |||
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docs/README.md
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| # eSpeak NG: Speech Synthesizer | |||
| - [Features](#features) | |||
| - [History](#history) | |||
| - User Guide | |||
| - [espeak-ng Command Line](../src/espeak-ng.1.ronn) | |||
| - [speak-ng Command Line](../src/speak-ng.1.ronn) | |||
| @@ -27,59 +25,4 @@ | |||
| ---------- | |||
| eSpeak NG is a compact open source software speech synthesizer for English and | |||
| other languages, for Linux and Windows. | |||
| eSpeak NG uses a "formant synthesis" method. This allows many languages to be | |||
| provided in a small size. The speech is clear, and can be used at high speeds, | |||
| but is not as natural or smooth as larger synthesizers which are based on human | |||
| speech recordings. | |||
| eSpeak NG is available as: | |||
| * A command line program (Linux and Windows) to speak text from a file or | |||
| from stdin. | |||
| * A shared library version for use by other programs. (On Windows this is | |||
| a DLL). | |||
| * A SAPI5 version for Windows, so it can be used with screen-readers and | |||
| other programs that support the Windows SAPI5 interface. | |||
| * eSpeak NG has been ported to other platforms, including Solaris and Mac | |||
| OSX. | |||
| ## Features | |||
| * Includes different Voices, whose characteristics can be altered. | |||
| * Can produce speech output as a WAV file. | |||
| * SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language) is supported (not complete), | |||
| and also HTML. | |||
| * Compact size. The program and its data, including many languages, | |||
| totals about 1.4 Mbytes. | |||
| * Can be used as a front-end to [MBROLA diphone voices](mbrola.md). | |||
| eSpeak NG converts text to phonemes with pitch and length information. | |||
| * Can translate text into phoneme codes, so it could be adapted as a | |||
| front end for another speech synthesis engine. | |||
| * Potential for other languages. Several are included in varying stages | |||
| of progress. Help from native speakers for these or other languages is | |||
| welcome. | |||
| * Written in C. | |||
| The eSpeak speech synthesizer supports over 70 languages, however in many cases | |||
| these are initial drafts and need more work to improve them. Assistance from | |||
| native speakers is welcome for these, or other new languages. Please contact me | |||
| if you want to help. | |||
| ## History | |||
| The program was originally known as __speak__ and originally written | |||
| for Acorn/RISC\_OS computers starting in 1995 by Jonathan Duddington. This was | |||
| enhanced and re-written in 2007 as __eSpeak__, including a relaxation of the | |||
| original memory and processing power constraints, and with support for additional | |||
| languages. | |||
| In 2010, Reece H. Dunn started maintaining a version of eSpeak on GitHub that | |||
| was designed to make it easier to build eSpeak on POSIX systems, porting the | |||
| build system to autotools in 2012. In late 2015, this project was officially | |||
| forked to a new __eSpeak NG__ project. The new eSpeak NG project is a significant | |||
| departure from the eSpeak project, with the intention of cleaning up the | |||
| existing codebase, adding new features, and adding to and improving the | |||
| supported languages. | |||
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