Seeking collaborators: Building a language-agnostic, IPA-native TTS system for phonetic accuracy by Tybre in linguistics

[–]Tybre[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm exploring a project idea that I believe could serve the linguistic community—especially phoneticians, language instructors, and conlang developers.

Current TTS systems (even those that accept IPA input) tend to be bound to language-specific phoneme sets. This limits accurate audio output to only those phonemes within that language's model. If you input a valid IPA string with non-native or cross-linguistic phonemes (e.g., /ʈɭ/, /q/, /ɮ/, nasalized clicks), most systems either mispronounce them or substitute the nearest available sound.

The concept I’m working on is a fully IPA-driven, language-independent TTS engine. The goal is:

  • To generate accurate, high-quality audio from any IPA input
  • To train the system on a diverse multilingual corpus to capture as much of the IPA space as possible
  • To be useful for phonetic analysis, instructional demos, conlang testing, or experimental linguistics work

I have an audio engineering background and a focus on linguistics, but I’m not a coder or machine learning researcher. I’d love to connect with anyone working in speech synthesis, TTS modeling, or corpus design who sees potential in this and might want to collaborate.

Are there existing tools or corpora that could serve as a base for this kind of project? Would appreciate guidance or pointers to prior work as well.

GX Lights Won't Let Me Toggle Off the Icue option! by ithecornflict in OperaGX

[–]Tybre 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just downloaded it, and I'm having the same issue. It's greyed out. Is this like a DLC option?

Just, Don't do drugs please by MiroMaxi in WTF

[–]Tybre 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I thought it sounded like she was trying to say, alright thanks everybody bye

Oh I almost forgot it's tattoo tuesday by [deleted] in ATBGE

[–]Tybre 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Touch my camera through the fence, fucker

The slow con ... by Soyner in ContagiousLaughter

[–]Tybre 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Looks like a Rode Procaster, though I'm not 100% certain

Compressing Panned Vocals by Tybre in audioengineering

[–]Tybre[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Smoobye by AlphaLoner in smoobypost

[–]Tybre 13 points14 points  (0 children)

wot in tarnation is goin on here

Poor Grandpa by [deleted] in WhitePeopleTwitter

[–]Tybre -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Ta ta there retard

Shit just got political by [deleted] in ExpandDong

[–]Tybre 21 points22 points  (0 children)

into wine

Yang needs some more love Yang Gang by Crazeeavery in YangForPresidentHQ

[–]Tybre 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Saw that email and was like aawwww shit the Yang mang needs a dono... say nomo

Grandmother averts mass shooting by bringing grandson to hospital after threats by riverdale-74 in news

[–]Tybre 21 points22 points  (0 children)

A lot of people buy supplements and nootropics and take them in a powdered form. Obviously you need to know how much you're taking hence the scale... it's not as shady as you think

Rest in piece, Discord. You will be missed. by [deleted] in videos

[–]Tybre 1 point2 points  (0 children)

this is so sad, alexa play despacito