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(a) Briefly describe morphology, using
the word “unable”. [2]
Morphology deals with the basic components
known as morphemes that make up words. [1] In the word “unable”,
the root word “able” is
modified by a prefix “un” that changes the meaning of the
root word. [1]
(b) Briefly describe how templates can be used in text-to-speech synthesis.
[2]
The phonemes or sounds in a language can
be stored in a database as
templates. [1] The synthesiser can then concatenate the templates
into
sentences and generated as sound. [1]
(c) Briefly describe two problems with using templates in text-to-speech
synthesis. [4]
Templates require a large amount of storage
space [1] because every
form of a word (e.g. plural, past tense etc)[1] would require a separate
template.
Templates comprises sound recorded as separately sampled words [1]
and would sound unnatural when concatenated. [1]
(d) In speech recognition, suggest a pair of words that may cause
problems when extracting phonemes to recognise words. For the words
you have given, briefly explain using examples how the problem can
be solved. [3]
An example would be “rice” and
“rise”. [1]
The correct word can be recognised when the entire sentence is taken
into context. [1] For example, “Rice is the staple food of many
Asian
cultures” and “The sun will rise in the East”. [1]
(e) Beside the problem described in the previous question, briefly
describe two
other practical problems that are encountered in speech recognition
and how
they can be overcome. [4]
Background noise can make speech recognition
difficult, as the system
has to differentiate between noise and speech [1]. One possible solution
is to install the system in an area where noise is minimal. [1]
Speech when spoken too fast also poses problems in speech recognition
[1]. One possible solution is to train the user so that he can be
aware of
the proper techniques to use with the system. [1]
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