HIERtalker: a default hierarchy of high order neural networks that learns to read English aloud

A learning algorithm based on a default hierarchy of high-order neural networks has been developed that is able to generalize as well as handle exceptions. It learns the 'building blocks' or clusters of symbols in a stream that appear repeatedly and that convey certain messages. The default hierarchy prevents a combinatoric generation of rules. A simulator of such hierarchy, HIERtalker, has been applied to the conversion of English words to phonemes. Accuracy is 99% for trained words and ranges from 76% to 96% for sets of new words.<<ETX>>