PLS, a New Standard for Pronunciation Lexicons

The accurate specification of the correct pronunciation is critical to the success of many speech applications, especially when targeted on multilingual, mobile and search applications. For example, the pronunciation of proper names and place names can create barriers to communication. The Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) is today a W3C Recommendation, a full-fledged standard, designed to make simple and interoperable the specification of pronunciation information for both ASR and TTS engines. The presentation will demonstrate how the effective use of PLS enables the efficient development and deployment of speech applications.