Intonation component of a text-to-speech system for Hindi

Abstract

In this paper, we describe some features of the fundamental frequency (F₀) contours of speech in Hindi and propose an approach to represent and activate this intonation knowledge for an unrestricted text-to-speech system for Hindi. As in most languages, the declarative sentences in Hindi show a declining pattern of F₀ contour, whereas interrogative sentences show a rising F₀ contour. The backdrop declining or rising pattern is characterized by local falls and rises which are determined by the phonological pattern of the constituent words. In complex declarative sentences the F₀ contour resets at major syntactic boundaries. Experiments to obtain the inherent F₀ of segments are described. The intonation knowledge derived from analysis of speech is coded in a production system format. Intelligibility and naturalness of the synthesized speech improved significantly after incorporation of the intonation rules.