The Phonetic Alphabet of the Chechen Language as a Basis of a Speech-Synthesis System

Abstract

This paper describes the principles for developing the AZBAT phonetic alphabet, which was created by analogy with the DARPAbet phonetic alphabet of the English language and is oriented to creating the speech corpus and system for synthesis of Chechen speech. The experience of developers of other phonetic alphabets and databases was used; account was also taken of the features of pronunciation and graphics, rules of compatibility, and variability of phonemes, which had been described in the works of well-known Chechen philologists. The classification of vowels and consonant phonemes is given, according to which each phoneme has the attributes that are necessary to implement the program code. The designed system for synthesis of Chechen speech is assigned a basic set of acoustic phonetic elements that consists of diphones and allophones. This set will be complied with to build an acoustic phonetic database that is the basis of a system for automatic synthesis of Chechen speech.