Re: Haha: Listen to Genesis in Kalaallisut

Hi!

Javier BF <uaxuctum@...> writes:
> >> I used a (German) text-to-speech system programmable in Sampa to
> >> compile an MP3 file of the Kalaallisut (West Greenlandic) version of
> >> the Genesis text (1. Mose 1).  If you want to laught, you should click
> >> this:
> >>
> >> http://www.theiling.de/kalaallisut/bible-1mose01.mp3
> >
> >More than a bit monotonous, but good.
>
> I loved that otherworldly echoing quality in the recording.
A problem of the synthesis. :-) Especially vowel-vowel combinations
not present in German seem to be articulated by two voices for a short
amount of time.  That is due to the sudden switch in the middle that
is not perceived as a switch but more as an echo.

> I think that, given the right predisposition,
...haha...

> listening to this recording could even induce a state of mystical
> trance; in a way, it reminded me of those repetitive, solemn chants
> of Tibetan monks.
Hehe! :-)  I like it, too.

I started to prepare the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, too.
That's even longer. :-)  (BTW: I found typos in the Kalaallisut
version...)

For some reason, one posting was dropped by my mailer.  I just wanted
to give a short explanation on the system used, because Mark asked.
I'll make it even shorter that in the lost posting.

The system was developed a few years ago at Saarland university and
DFKI (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence).  I was the
one to port an existing but unfinished Windows version to Unix
(aweful!).  The Windows versions is probably still available and is in
much better shape than my Unix version, because the latter is
unmaintained, messy, buggy, etc, while the Windows one was maintained
for some versions.  It is called Logox by GData.  It can be programmed
in (a variant of) Sampa, has prosody and can even sing. :-)

The Unix version was used for a while in a research system, but was
eventually replaced by a diphone sythesis (the original one is a
microsegment synthesis).

I intend to write a new version from scratch sometime in the remote
future which is suitable for me and my conlanging.  The old code I
have is copyrighted (one reason for starting from scratch), but no-one
would possibly want to look at the mess anyway (another reason for
starting from scratch)...

**Henrik