W3C Invites Implementations of Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) Version 1.0; updates SSML 1.1 draft

The Voice Browser Working Group has published the Candidate Recommendation of Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) Version 1.0. Implementation feedback is welcome through 11 April 2008; please see the PLS 1.0 Implementation Report Plan for more information. PLS provides the basis for describing pronunciation information for use in speech recognition and speech synthesis, for use in tuning applications, e.g. for proper names that have irregular pronunciations. The Working Group has also updated Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.1. Changes from the previous draft include addition of new "type" attribute with value of "ruby", change of references to "pronunciation alphabet" to be "pronunciation scheme", and modified attribute's names of audio element. Visit the Voice Browser home page.