A feature common to all Celtic languages where initial consonants undergo ‘mutations’ (consonantal alternations, e.g. of stops and fricatives). Specific grammatical contexts trigger this process e.g. the formation of a question or a negative statement. Take, for example, the case of the verb ‘dún’ ( to close) in the present tense: ‘ Dún ann sí’ (statement: ‘she closes’); ‘ An ndún ann sí? ’ (question: ‘does she close?’); ‘Ní dhún ann sí ’ (negative statement ‘she does not close’). Verbal forms in Irish can have as many as 42 inflected forms.
Published in Chapter:
The Potential of Text-to-Speech Synthesis in Computer-Assisted Language Learning: A Minority Language Perspective
Neasa Ní Chiaráin (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland) and Ailbhe Ní Chasaide (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
Copyright: © 2020
|Pages: 21
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-1097-1.ch007
Abstract
This chapter describes the potential of text-to-speech synthesis (TTS) as a tool that can transform CALL platforms. Illustrating this point, a specific platform, An Scéalaí, is presented. By incorporating TTS, this platform facilitates the training of literacy skills, writing, and reading, with an emphasis at all times on the spoken language. The platform is described, as is the way in which it functions as a personalised tutor, prompting the learner towards self-correction. The prompts are delivered in both spoken/auditory form (using TTS voices) and in written form. The auditory feedback enables prooflistening, as well as spoken instructions pertaining to specific errors not picked up in the prooflistening process. The learner's progress is monitored throughout and records of the process are harvested for future research. The language in focus is Irish, and the linguistic complexities being targeted in the present implementation are explained, along with the relevant sociolinguistic context.