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Aspekte van 'n grafeem-na-foneemomsetter vir Afrikaans: ervaring in die African Speech
Abstract
Aspects of a grapheme-to-phoneme converter for
Afrikaans: experience in the African Speech Technology project. The main purpose of this article is
to describe the contribution of the phonetician/phonologist as team member in
the DACST funded project of the consortium African Speech Technology: Promoting
the development of the official languages of South Africa through language and
speech technology applications. The focus is on the development of a
grapheme-to-phoneme converter within PATANA (PATtern ANAlysis), AST's enabling
technological tool. A description of the most important constructs is followed
by the different steps towards the final product. Three rule-based modules are
necessary for a proper functioning of an Afrikaans grapheme-to-phoneme
converter: syllable boundaries insertion rules, stress placement rules, and
rules translating graphemes to (deterministic) phonemes. The development
thereof will be covered, as well as other, secondary sections of PATANA for
Afrikaans, such as building a lexicon. Special reference is made to the way in
which the phonetic annotations were done, as well as to some problematic
aspects thereof. Finally, the relative value of the sources developed in this
project will be evaluated, by concentrating on the cooperation between linguist
and engineer. A brief focus on the benefits as well as negative factors of this
collaboration concludes the article.
Southern African Linguistics and
Applied Language Studies 2003, 21(4): 251–265
Afrikaans: experience in the African Speech Technology project. The main purpose of this article is
to describe the contribution of the phonetician/phonologist as team member in
the DACST funded project of the consortium African Speech Technology: Promoting
the development of the official languages of South Africa through language and
speech technology applications. The focus is on the development of a
grapheme-to-phoneme converter within PATANA (PATtern ANAlysis), AST's enabling
technological tool. A description of the most important constructs is followed
by the different steps towards the final product. Three rule-based modules are
necessary for a proper functioning of an Afrikaans grapheme-to-phoneme
converter: syllable boundaries insertion rules, stress placement rules, and
rules translating graphemes to (deterministic) phonemes. The development
thereof will be covered, as well as other, secondary sections of PATANA for
Afrikaans, such as building a lexicon. Special reference is made to the way in
which the phonetic annotations were done, as well as to some problematic
aspects thereof. Finally, the relative value of the sources developed in this
project will be evaluated, by concentrating on the cooperation between linguist
and engineer. A brief focus on the benefits as well as negative factors of this
collaboration concludes the article.
Southern African Linguistics and
Applied Language Studies 2003, 21(4): 251–265
