Characterisation of rhythmic patterns for text-to-speech synthesis

Abstract This article proposes an alternative rhythmic unit to the syllable: the inter-perceptual-center group (IPCG). This group is delimited by events which can be detected using only acoustic correlates (Pompino-Marschall, 1989). The rhythmic patterns for French are described using this characterisation: we show that realisation of accents is gradual over the trailed accentual group and that this gradual lengthening is needed for perception. A model of repartition of the IPCG duration among its segmental constituents incorporating automatic generation of pauses (emergence and duration) according to speech rate is then described.

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