gender voice variants

[John Cowan]

Michael Everson scripsit:

> A voice tag applied to a run of text tells a computer "Read this text
> aloud in a woman's voice". A voice tag does not change the content of
> any text being read out: The voice will read text from the New York
> Times, or a Help dialogue box equally. A voice tag selects a voice only.

I didn't previously grasp the distinction between voice and speaker.
I propose "voxmale" and "voxfeml" for this, as "voicmale" looks too much
like a misspelling.

> An audience tag will tell a process "Choose a set of localized strings
> which address me as a male or as a female".

I propose "targmale" and "targfeml" for this.

> Some other tag whose name I can't think of will tell a process "Choose
> a set of localized strings which make it look as though you are talking
> to me as if you were a man or a woman".

I propose "spkrmale" and "spkrfeml" for this.

> A manners tag will tell a process "Use a set of localized strings
> which use a formal or informal register".

I propose "formal" and "informal" for this, with finer levels of formality
left to language-specific tags for Hungarian, Javanese, or whatever.

> Aye? Nay? 

I think this constitutes a coherent proposal.  Aye.

Note that all these tags serve equally well to tag the result or to
specify what the result should be.  So a spoken recording by a man may be
tagged "voxmale".  Likewise, a spoken recording by a man who is quoting
the words of a woman would be "voxmale-spkrfeml".

-- 
A few times, I did some exuberant stomping about,       John Cowan
like a hippo auditioning for Riverdance, though         cowan at ccil.org
I stopped when I thought I heard something at           http://ccil.org/~cowan
the far side of the room falling over in rhythm
with my feet.  --Joseph Zitt