[comp.sys.mac] phonetic code wanted

dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu (12/13/87)

Does anyone out there have code for turning text into phonetics?
Either code that takes a word and turns it into a string of specially
defined phonetics (ala Speechlab) or that makes a kind of hash code for
sound out of it (ala WriteNow's spelling checker) would be nice.

I say ``code'' rather than ``algorithm'', because I suspect a lot of
the work would be in developing letter combination->sound tables.

I'm looking for this because I'm developing an online phonebook, and
would like to be able to say ``sounds like'' when requesting a name.
(After that, I can add full charades support :-))

Mail me responses; I'll summarize.

----
Steve Dorner, U of Illinois Computing Services Office
Internet: dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu  UUCP: ihnp4!uiucuxc!dorner
IfUMust:  (217) 333-3339

swofford@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (12/14/87)

dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu(Steve Dorner) writes in comp.sys.mac

>Does anyone out there have code for turning text into phonetics?
>Either code that takes a word and turns it into a string of specially
>defined phonetics (ala Speechlab) or that makes a kind of hash code for
>sound out of it (ala WriteNow's spelling checker) would be nice.
>
>I say ``code'' rather than ``algorithm'', because I suspect a lot of
>the work would be in developing letter combination->sound tables.
>
>I'm looking for this because I'm developing an online phonebook, and
>would like to be able to say ``sounds like'' when requesting a name.
>(After that, I can add full charades support :-))
	If memory serves me correctly, and I unfortunately don't have the docs
with me now, there is a Macintalk routine which will automatically do that for
you.  All you do is pass a handle (or pointer) to some text and it returns a 
handle (or pointer) to the equivalent phonetic text.  This is how SpeechLab does
it, and I would assume any similiar program which uses MacinTalk since you can
then pass the phonetic text to Macintalk and have it spoken.
	I will try to look up the exact routine specs later and get back to you.

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