LING 270 Language, Technology and Society Unit 7

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LING 270Language, Technology and SocietyUnit 7

• Richard Sproat
• URL http//catarina.ai.uiuc.edu/L270/

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Swifts Spoof
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History of Speech Machines

• 1665 Isaac Newton discovers that you can
  simulate a progression of vowel sounds by pouring
  water (or beer) into a flaggon.
• 1773 Ch. G. Kratzenstein, Professor of
  Physiology at Copenhagen, produces vowel sounds
  using resonance tubes connected to organ pipes.
• 1791 von Kempelen writes Mechanismus der
  menschlichen Sprache nebst Beschreibung einer
  sprechenden Maschine

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von Kempelens chess automaton
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Helmonts theory of Hebrew letters
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Bells Visible Speech
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Bells Visible Speech
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Bells Visible Speech
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Sound spectrogram (Potter et al. Visible Speech)
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Kratzensteins Vowel Synthesizers
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First vowel synthesizer
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First speaking machine
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Wheatstones speaking machine
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Fabers speech organ
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/b/ and /d/ sounds
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von Kempelens Machine

• bellows for lungs and counterweight for
  inhalation
• a wind box operated with levers using the right
  hand
• mouth made of rubber and a nose with two
  nostrils (which had to be covered unless a nasal
  sound was desired)
• closing the opening of the mouth tightly allowed
  one to produce unvoiced sounds
• small auxiliary bellows produced additional puff
  of air for release of unvoiced sounds
• resonance properties of the mouth varied with
  left hand covering the opening
• vocal chords simulated with an ivory reed

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von Kempelens Machine
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Further History

• Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) produces another
  mechanical device
• "...I contrived a wooden mouth with lips
  of soft leather, and with a vale back part of it
  for nostrils, both which could be quickly opened
  or closed by the pressure of the fingers, the
  vocality was given by a silk ribbon about an inch
  long and a quarter of an inch wide stretched
  between two bits of smooth wood a little
  hollowed so that when a gentle current of air
  from bellows was blown on the edge of the ribbon,
  it gave an agreeable tone, as it vibrated between
  the wooden sides, much like a human voice. This
  head pronounced the p, b, m, and the vowel a,
  with so great nicety as to deceive all who heard
  it unseen, when it pronounced the words mama,
  papa, map, pam and had a most plaintive tone,
  when the lips were gradually closed. My other
  occupations prevented me from proceeding in the
  further construction of this machine which might
  have required but 13 movements, as shown in the
  above analysis, unless some variety of musical
  note was to be added to the vocality produced in
  the larynx all of which movements might
  communicate with the keys of a harpsichord or
  forte piano, and perform the song as well as the
  accompaniment or which if built in a gigantic
  form, might speak so loud as to command an army
  or instruct a crowd." Erasmus Darwin (TEMPLE OF
  NATURE, pp. 119-120)

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The 20th Century

• The first electronic speech synthesizer was Homer
  Dudleys Voder (1939)

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(No Transcript)
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The Voder
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Telegraphy
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Telegraphy
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Morse Code
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Design principles
1 e . 388511 e 3 i .. 299652 t 3 t -
267679 h 5 a .- 261160 a 5 n -.
229419 o 5 s ... 212631 n 7 d -..
183061 i 7 h .... 179480 s 7 m --
160095 r 7 r .-. 149707 d 7 u ..-
122561 l 9 b -... 78772 u 9 f ..-.
78663 f 9 g --. 75696 m 9 k -.-
61626 w 9 l .-.. 55410 y 9 v ...-
51982 g 9 w .-- 51570 c 11 c -.-.
45959 b 11 o --- 40792 p 11 p .--.
28613 v 11 x -..- 21121 k 11 z --..
8396 j 13 j .--- 2893 z 13 q --.-
1390 x 13 y -.-- 905 q
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Chinese telegraph codes
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Typewriter
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Japanese typewriter