.TH espeak 1 "13 Nov 2016" "SunOS 5.12" "User Commands"
.SH "NAME"
espeak \- a compact open source software speech synthesizer
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.PP
\fBespeak\fR [\fB\fIoption\&.\&.\&.\fR\fR] [\fB\fIwords\fR\fR]
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
\fBespeak\fR is a compact open source software speech synthesizer\&.
It can run as a command line program to speak text from a file or from
\fBstdin\fR\&.
.PP
Main features of \fBespeak\fR:
.IP \(bu 2
Includes different voices, whose characteristics can be altered\&.
.IP \(bu 2
Can produce speech output as a WAV file\&.
.IP \(bu 2
Supports SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language - not complete)
.IP \(bu 2
Supports HTML\&.
.IP \(bu 2
Is compact in size\&.
.IP \(bu 2
Can translate text to phoneme codes, so it could be adapted as a front end
for another speech synthesis engine\&.
.IP \(bu 2
Is written in C++\&.
.fi
.SH "OPTIONS"
.PP
The following options are supported:
.TP 24
.B -a \fIinteger\fR
Amplitude as an \fIinteger\fR in the
range from 0 to 200, default is 100\&.
.TP 24
.B -b
Input text is 8-bit encoded\&.
.TP 24
.B -f \fItext_file\fR
Speak text from \fItext_file\fR\&.
.TP 24
.B -g \fIinteger\fR
Specify the word gap, or the pause between words, as an
\fIinteger\fR\&.   Units of 10mS at the default speed\&.
.TP 24
.B -k \fIinteger\fR
Indicate how to speak capital letters as an
\fIinteger\fR\&.  The argument can have the following
values: 1=sound, 2=the word "capitals", higher values=a pitch increase (try
-\fBk\fR 20)\&.
.TP 24
.B -l \fIinteger\fR
Line length as an \fIinteger\fR\&. If not
zero (which is the default), consider lines less than this length as
end-of-clause\&.
.TP 24
.B -m
Interpret SSML markup, and ignore other < > tags\&.
.TP 24
.B -p \fIinteger\fR
Pitch adjustment as an \fIinteger\fR in
the range from 0 to 99, default is 50\&.
.TP 24
.B -q
Quiet, do not produce any speech (may be useful with
-\fBx\fR)\&.
.TP 24
.B -s \fIinteger\fR
Speed as an \fIinteger\fR meaning
words per minute\&.  Values can be from 80 to 370, default is 170\&.
.TP 24
.B -v \fIvoice_file\fR
Use specified \fIvoice_file\fR\&.
.TP 24
.B -w \fIfilename\fR
Write output to the specified
\fIfilename\fR, in WAV format,
rather than speaking it directly\&.
.TP 24
.B -x
Write phoneme mnemonics to \fBstdout\fR\&.
.TP 24
.B -X
Write phonemes mnemonics and translation trace to
\fBstdout\fR\&.
.TP 24
.B -z
No final sentence pause at the end of the text\&.
.TP 24
.B --compile=\fIvoice_name\fR
Compile the pronunciation rules and dictionary in the
current directory\&. The \fIvoice_name\fR value is optional
and specifies which language to use\&.
.TP 24
.B --punct="\fIcharacters\fR"
Speak the names of punctuation
\fIcharacters\fR while speaking\&.  If the
\fIcharacters\fR value is omitted, all punctuation is
spoken\&.
.TP 24
.B --split=\fIminutes\fR
Starts a new WAV file every \fIminutes\fR\&.  Used with -\fBw\fR\&.
.TP 24
.B --stdin
Read text input from \fBstdin\fR instead of a
file\&.
.TP 24
.B --stdout
Write speech output to \fBstdout\fR\&.
.TP 24
.B --voices=\fIlanguage\fR
List the available voices for the specified
\fIlanguage\fR\&.  If \fIlanguage\fR is
omitted, then list all voices\&.
.SH "FILES"
.PP
The following files are used by espeak:
.TP 26
.B /usr/lib/64/libespeak\&.so
Library for espeak speech synthesis
.TP 26
.B /usr/share/espeak-data
Directory of voice language and data files
.SH "NOTES"
.PP
espeak was written by Jonathan Duddington\&.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP
\fBorca\fR(1),
\fBlibespeak\fR(3),
\fBattributes\fR(7)