[Bug 948884] [NEW] mbrola is unable to pronounce the French word "les"

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echo le train       | espeak -v mb-fr1  # mbrola voice: OK
echo le train       | espeak -v mb-fr4  # mbrola voice: OK

echo les traines | espeak -v mb-fr1  # mbrola voice: BAD
echo les traines | espeak -v mb-fr4  # mbrola voice: BAD

Error from mbrola (which espeak calls) is:

    mbrola: Warning: l-e- unkown, replaced with _-_

This is rather annoying as "les" is rather a useful article in French!


Work arounds:

1) Use the espeak voice.

echo le train       | espeak -v fr            # espeak voice: OK
echo les traines | espeak -v fr            # espeak voice: OK

Works, but sounds rather robotic.

2) An approximation of the correct pronunciation can be generated by
converting "les" to "lay" or "lai":

echo "les traines" | sed 's/\<les\>/lai/g' | espeak -v mb-fr1 # OK-ish
echo "les traines" | sed 's/\<les\>/lai/g' | espeak -v mb-fr4 # OK-ish

This gives a passable result, atleast to a naïve ear such as mine ;-)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: mbrola 3.01h-6
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-18.28-generic-pae 3.2.9
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-18-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 1.94-0ubuntu2
Architecture: i386
Date: Wed Mar  7 11:13:03 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=fr_CA.UTF8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: mbrola
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-01-12 (54 days ago)

** Affects: espeak (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Confirmed


** Tags: apport-bug i386 precise
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mbrola is unable to pronounce the French word "les"
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/948884
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