A System Framework for Integrated Synthesis of Mandarin, Min-Nan, and Hakka Speech

In this paper, a framework for integrated synthesis of Mandarin, Min-nan, and Hakka speech is proposed. To show its feasibility, an initial integrated system has been built as well. Through integration, a model only trained with Min-nan sentences is used to generate pitch-contours for all three languages, same rules are used to generate syllable duration and amplitude values, and the same program module implementing the method, TIPW, is used to synthesize the three languages’ speech waveforms. Also, in this system, each syllable of a language has just one recorded signal waveform, i.e. no chance of unit selection. Under such a restricted situation, the synthetic speech signals still have noticeable naturalness level and signal clarity.