A PROGRAMMABLE COMPUTER SYNTHESIZED SPEECH MODULE FOR BILINGUAL EDUCATION.

THERE EXISTS TODAY, A PAUCITY OF COST EFFECTIVE METHODS IN BILINGUAL EDUCATION. AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH IS PROPOSED WHICH UTILIZES AN INTELLIGIBLE, COST EFFECTIVE COMPUTER SYNTHESIZED SPEECH MODULE POSSESSING: -PROGRAMMABILITY IN ENGLISH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND POSSIBLY OTHER LANGUAGES. -PHONETIC ACCURACY OF COMPUTER PRONOUNCED WORDS THROUGH A USER MAINTAINED EXCEPTION DICTIONARY. -LITTLE OR NO MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS. THE PROPOSED APPROACH WILL ESTABLISH BASIC TECHNOLOGY FOR PROVIDING A SYNTHETIC SPEECH CAPABILITY IN COMPUTER SOFTWARE FOR BILINGUAL EDUCATION. NOVCOM SYSTEMS HAS ALREADY DEVELOPED A STATE OF THE ART TEXT TO SPEECH (TTS) ALGORITHM FOR ENGLISH AND PROPOSES UNDER THIS CONTRACT TO ADDRESS THE FEASIBILITY OF EXTENDING THIS TECHNOLOGY TO OTHER LANGUAGES. TODAY, HISPANICS COMPRISE THE LARGEST NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING MINORITY GROUP IN THE UNITED STATES. IT IS THEREFORE STATISTICALLY MOST PRUDENT TO CONSIDER THE SPANISH LANGUAGE FOR A BILINGUAL EDUCATION APPROACH. NOVCOM WILL DESIGN A SET OF TTS TRANSLATION RULES FOR THE SPANISH LANGUAGE. FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONCEPT DEMONSTRATION, THE ENGLISH SPANISH SPEECH CAPABILITY WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO A PROTOTYPE TUTORIAL PROGRAM FEATURING COMPUTER SYNTHESIZED ENGLISH AND SPANISH SPEECH.