SPECIFYING INTONATION FROM CONTEXT FOR SPEECH SYNTHESIS

This paper presents a theory and a computational implementation for ge nerating prosodically appropriate synthetic speech in response to data base queries. Proper distinctions of contrast and emphasis are express ed in an intonation contour that is synthesized by rule under the cont rol of a grammar, a discourse model and a knowledge base. The theory i s based on Combinatory Categorial Grammar, a formalism which easily in tegrates the notions of syntactic constituency, semantics, prosodic ph rasing and information structure. Results from our current implementat ion demonstrate the system's ability to generate a variety of intonati onal possibilities for a given sentence depending on the discourse con text.