Components of Word Registration

To register a word, you need to specify its notation, reading, and class. The following explains each component.

Item	Description	Required	Example
Notation	The string obtained as a result of speech recognition when the word is spoken.	●	AmiVoice
Reading	Information representing how the word is pronounced. The method of describing the reading differs for each language. Please see supported languages.	●	あみぼいす
Class	A classification used to specify the category or type of the word. This classification allows the speech recognition system to distinguish words with the same pronunciation used in different contexts. Classes are defined for each engine, and API users cannot add classes.		固有名詞

Notation and Reading

To add a word, you need the "notation" and "reading" of the word. The "notation" is the string you want to output for the spoken audio, and the "reading" is how the word is pronounced. For Japanese, it is described in hiragana or katakana. For Chinese, it is described in pinyin, and for Korean, in hangul.

For example, if the word "パレオパラドキシア" is not recognized, register the notation and reading pair as follows. Separate the notation and reading with a space.

パレオパラドキシア ぱれおぱらどきしあ

info

Setting multiple readings for the same notation

You can set multiple readings for one notation.

For example, you can set the notation "AMI" for readings like "あみ" or "アドバンストメディア".

AMI あみ
AMI あどばんすとめでぃあ

Setting the same reading for multiple notations

You can set the same reading for multiple different notations. It won't cause an error, but which notation will be chosen is undefined. It is not recommended to set this intentionally.

For example, you can set notations like "AMI" and "AmiVoice" for the reading "あみ".

AMI あみ
AmiVoice あみ

Special characters for readings

There are symbols for describing readings. The following shows the special characters that can be used for each language.

Japanese

Character	Character name	Description
.	Half-width period	Symbol for syllable separation and suppression of long vowels
_	Half-width underscore	Symbol representing silence

tip

The AmiVoice Tech Blog explains how to use these special characters, particularly the half-width period for readings. For details, please see the following:

【For intermediate users】About automatic conversion of word readings in AmiVoice

Chinese and Korean

Character	Character name	Description
_	Half-width underscore	Symbol representing silence

Characters that cannot be registered

Strings containing the following characters cannot be registered for notation.

Character	Character name
|	Half-width pipe
	Half-width space
:	Half-width colon

Class

In AmiVoice API, a classification used to specify the category or type of a word is called a class. Classes allow the speech recognition system to distinguish words with the same pronunciation used in different contexts. Classes are defined for each speech recognition engine. For example, in the case of the "会話_汎用" engine (-a-general), the following classes are defined. For details, please see the list of class names for Japanese language models of the speech recognition engine.

• 固有名詞
• 名前
• 名前(名)
• 駅名
• 地名
• 会社名
• 部署名
• 役職名
• 記号
• 括弧開き
• 括弧閉じ
• 元号

note

• In the "会話_汎用" engine, the 名前 class represents surnames, and 名前(名) represents first names.
• If a non-existent class name is specified, it will be treated as if no class name was specified.

For example, if you specify a word as the "名前" class, that word will be more easily recognized in contexts where personal names are spoken. Conversely, it will be less likely to be recognized in contexts other than where personal names are spoken, which can reduce problems of incorrect recognition of words with the same pronunciation in different contexts. If there is a class that fits the word you are trying to register, please try to set the class whenever possible.

How to set a class

The class is specified following the "notation" and "reading". For example, if the station name "アソーク駅" is not recognized, and you want to specify the class name as 駅名, write it as follows after a space:

アソーク駅 あそーくえき 駅名

tip

Please also refer to Explanation of "Classes" selectable with AmiVoice API's word registration function (General-purpose engine) on the AmiVoice Tech Blog.