W3C Releases Pronunciation Guidance

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recently published the Candidate Recommendation of Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) Version 1.0. The PLS candidate recommendation document is located at http:www.w3.org/TR/pronunciation-lexicon/.

The Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) defines the syntax for specifying pronunciation lexicons to be used by automatic speech recognition and speech synthesis engines in voice browser applications. The language is intended to be easy to use by developers while supporting the accurate specification of pronunciation information for international use. It allows one or more pronunciations for a word or phrase to be specified using a standard pronunciation alphabet or, if necessary, vendor-specific alphabets.

Pronunciations are grouped together into a PLS document which can be referenced from other markup languages, such as the Speech Recognition Grammar Specification [SRGS] and the Speech Synthesis Markup Language [SSML].  

Pronunciation lexicons are not only useful for voice browsers; they have also proven effective mechanisms to support accessibility for persons with disabilities, and provide greater usability for all users. They have been effectively used in screen readers and by agents supporting multimodal interfaces.