Re: questions on pronunciation and dictionary manager
- From: "Adrian Spratt" <Adrian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 12:30:08 -0500
Michael,
Dave's suggestions are, as always, excellent. A few additional notes, which
I won't number because they don't parallel yours.
First, pronunciation is affected by the interaction between JAWS and your
selected synthesizer. I use Dectalk Express, and when I experimented with
your l-y-v-e spelling, JAWS said the one-syllable word with a long i.
Second, I find that typing a consonant twice sometimes persuades JAWS to
change syllable emphasis. Take the word "garage." In America, this word is
pronounced the French way, with emphasis on the second syllable. In the UK,
the emphasis is on the first. I use JAWS's American English, so my JAWS
dictionary speaks the American version. I can get the first syllable
emphasized by typing g-g-a-r-a-g-e. (This creates a new pronunciation
defect, but it's probably fixable.)
Third, I can sometimes improve pronunciation by separating two or more
syllables of a word into two or more words. This is rarely ideal because it
results in the slightest gap between syllables, but it can get the right
syllable emphasis and so be worth the compromise. Dave's suggestion of
writing a letter in uppercase achieves a similar result and, when it does,
it's better. Take the place name Doncaster. My American English JAWS
dictionary pronounces it correctly, with emphasis on the first syllable. But
for experiment's sake, I just now capitalized the "c." Now JAWS emphasizes
the second syllable.
Again, my experiments have been made with the Dectalk Express synthesizer.
You may or may not get the same results with the synth you're using.
Regarding your second message on pauses after periods, I'm surprised you
don't already notice them. FS recently added pauses after semicolons and (I
believe) colons that work with Eloquence. Sadly for me, they don't work with
Dectalk Express. However, I hear pauses with both synths after periods,
commas and question marks. AS you suggest, they are essential to reading
comprehension.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Carlson" <dgcarlson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 12:01 PM
Subject: Re: questions on pronunciation and dictionary manager
1. Yes, the default dictionary takes precedence over others.
2. Try using a capital letter inserted to get some emphasis on syllables.
3. You can try using dipthongs, like au ae ai oe and even doubling vowels to
change the vowel sounds.
4. Yes, some words do change due to context. Don't know if that can be
changed. Try changing the word "lives" in your default to some other
pronounciation and see if it holds for all examples.
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Arnowitt" <foodsong@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 08:34
Subject: questions on pronunciation and dictionary manager
Here are a few questions I have about the dictionary manager:
1. I notice my e-mail program (Eudora) makes more pronunciation mistakes
than my word processing program (Word 2007). That is, a word is
mispronounced in an e-mail, but if I type it in Word it is pronounced
correctly. What is the setup with Jaws, does each program have separate
pronouncing rules? Or does this mean Eudora is using the default dictionary
but MS Word has its own dictionary which might be a little better? Can I
somehow get Eudora to use the same dictionary as Word is using? When I make
a pronunciation change I do it in the default.jcf but don't bother to also
do it in the jcf for Word as well - I think this is right as when I make a
change in the default it seems to affect both e-mail and word.
2. How do you change which syllable is accented? I haven't had much luck in
trying to have Jaws accent any particular syllable (especially one that is
not the first syllable), it seems to make them all equal or accents slightly
the first syllable no matter what I try.
3. What would you write in the replacement box for a new pronunciation for a
particular word if: a. You would like an o to be a short o as in hot but
Jaws is pronouncing it as a long o as in show? b. You want an e to be a
short e as in bet but Jaws is pronouncing it as a long e as in tree? c. You
want an i to be a long i as in hive, but Jaws is pronouncing it as a short i
as in give. As an example of the last one, how would you get Jaws to
pronounce a long i for the word live as in the phrase "performing live"? If
I write into the edit field l e y e v e it turns it into three syllables.
Finally - not really a question, but does Jaws really pronounce the same
word differently depending on context? Try reading the following line by
line:
lives lives in London he lives in London
On both Word and Eudora, the first and third lines the i in the word "lives"
is reading for me as a short i, but the second line it's pronounced as a
long i.
I guess if this is really happening it brings to mind a thought - can you
instruct Jaws to pronounce a word a certain way only if it is preceded by
another word, for example by putting a two word phrase in quotes, or ...?
TIA,
Michael
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