|University of Colombo School of Computing - Langauge Technology Research Laboratory|
The Sinhala Text-to-Speech Project was a major deleverable of PAN Localization project, funded by the IDRC of Canada. This system is the result of two years of research by the Language Technology Research Laboratory (LTRL), University of Colombo School of Computing(UCSC), Sri Lanka.
The aim was to produce a free and open-source Sinhala Text-to-Speech synthesis engine of commercial quality. The system is based on the Festival speech synthesizer, developed at University of Edinburgh.
The resources are available under GNU General Public License.
The project outputs are classified according to the type of people who will need them, as follows:-
* End users: End users who simply wish to install and use a Sinhala speech synthesiser.
Resources for End Users
Download archived Festival Sinhala Voice: ucsc_sin_sdn_diphone.zip
Resources for Developers
A Rule Based Syllabification Algorithm for Sinhala (285 KB)
Sinhala Grapheme to Phoneme Conversion and Rules for Schwa Epenthesis (271 KB)
This work was made possible through the PAN Localization Project, (http://www.PANL10n.net) a grant from the International
The voice you hear on Sinhala Text-to-Speech Synthesizer is that of Mr. Sandun Sulakshana.
We would like to thank Mr. Sandun for providing us with such a lucid, male voice.
Developers of Sinhala Text-to-Speech Synthesis Voice 'Festival-si':
- Asanka Wasala, Viraj Welgama, Kumudu Gamage
- Asanka Wasala
Special Thanks to :
- Dr. Ruvan Weerasingh - Director, University of Colombo School of Computing(UCSC)/Team lead of PAN L10n Sri Lanka team
- We would like to thank Dr. Ruvan Weerasinghe for providing thought leadership and access to academic thinking at UCSC. In addition, over the years he has provided mentoring and coaching on the development of TTS.
We would like to thank him on behalf of conducting training workshop on "Phonetics and Phonology for TTS" and supporting throughout the project
For providing assitance for recording in the UCSC Studio.
- Rafia Bokhari (Team lead-Pakistan TTS team)
For assisting us to solve various technical issues.
- David Brown
For creating and sharing Festival.NET solution
Devlopers of the Festival-MSAPI bridge
- Dr. Briony Williams (University of Wales, Bangor)
For their invaluable help in developing Sinhala MSAPI solution as well as prosody aspects.
- Ambrose Choy (University of Wales, Bangor)
- Mr. Harsha Wijayawardhana, for being available whenever his technical assistance was sought.
- Mr. Harshula Jayasuriya, for helping us with solving various Linux and CVS related issues.
- Roger Wilson-Hinds (Thunder screenreader), Dipendra Manocha (SAFA screenreader), for helping to improve the functionality of Screen readers in Sinhala.
Sinhala Language scholars:
- Prof. J.B. Dissanayake
Developers of the Festival Speech Synthesis System:
- Alan W Black (Carnegie Mellon University)
And other colleagues of the Language Technology Research Laboratory, UCSC,
- Mr. Vincent Halahakone
For his valuble feedback:
- Prof. D.P.M.W. Weerakkody
© 2006-2010 by Language Technology Research Laboratory, University of Colombo School of Computing, Sri Lanka
Last Updated On: 1stFebruary 2010