Swahili text-to-speech system

Abstract

Text-to-speech (TTS) applications have been applied in diverse areas all over the world. Considering the fact that Swahili pronunciation is not complicated, and the language spoken by about 45 – 100 million people as their first or second language,, we considered the feasibility, and developed a Swahili Text-to-Speech (TTS) system. This paper gives an account of the Swahili TTS system developed. It discusses the analysis, design, achievements, points out some fundamental issues encountered in its development, and suggestions for extensions to achieve a complete Swahili TTS system.