The purpose of this course is

To allow understanding of the basic parts of speech synthesis
To understand the relative complexity of implementing solutions to the problems
To become familiar with the Festival architecture and know what it can and can't do
As a firm believer in learning by doing this course tries to touch on every aspect of speech synthesis from a practical view. General discussion of problems are dicussed, with some presentation of potential theoretical solutions. Where appropriate, substatial exercises are given which will hopefully lead to greater understanding of the actual problems.

In addition to discussion, exercises will be given with hints about how to do them in Festival. The exercises may take some time and are sometimes open ended with no obviously right solution. This reflects the synthesis field.