Analysis for synthesis of arabic pharyngealized sound

Our interest in extracting relevant acoustic parameters and formulating phonological rules for a project oriented towards realization of text‐to‐speech synthesis by rule system for the Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) language. The present work includes the parametrization of the MSA pharyngealized consonants /Ṡ/, /sṠ/, /ḍ/, /ðṠ/ according a Klatt serial/parallel formant synthesizer. Emphasis is made on the phonological level to define an adequate vowel system for the MSA by adding the pharyngealized vowels and to establish a set of rules dealing with the propagation of the pharyngealization feature. Evaluation of the synthesis strategy attests that the transition rules are independent of the presence of the pharyngealization. Synthetic speech generated from the developed synthesis‐by‐rule program is validated by Moroccan native informants. [Work partially supported by UNESCO.]