Phrases

The phrase is what the decoder attempts to match to speech.

A phrase can be in one or more of the following formats.

• One of more words.  
  Examples:
  "California"
  "how do I"

• BNF format.
  Example:
  "[that's] (right | correct)"  - that's right, that's correct , right or correct

• Raw phonemes (inclosed in curly braces {} )
  Example:
  "{Y EH S P L IY Z}"   - yes please

• Combination of above formats
  Example:
  "is that ( correct | {R AY T} )" - is that correct or is that right

The engine has an internal dictionary of approxiamately 120,000 words.  There is also a robust phonetic speller for words not found in the  dictionary.  The only valid punctuation marks are the apostrophe (') and the dash.  Dashes  should be used for multiple words that should be looked up in the internal dictionary as a single word, an example being new-orleans.  If the multiple words do not exist in the dictionary  the dashes will be replaced by spaces words will be looked up in the dictionary separately.  

BNF Refresher

BNF is an acronym for "Backus Naur Form".   We use only terminal symbols.  The pipe "|" is an OR operator and the square brackets "[ ]" surround optional words.  The parenthesis clarify order of operation and nesting. Here are some examples.

• ( (I would like to speak  | Please connect me ) with )  John Doe [please]
  translates to these variations:

• 1. I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH JOHN DOE PLEASE

  2. PLEASE CONNECT ME WITH JOHN DOE PLEASE

  3. I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH JOHN DOE

  4. PLEASE CONNECT ME WITH JOHN DOE

• I ( want | need ) [ to ( know | hear ) ] [ the ] directions [ to ]

1. 1. I WANT TO KNOW THE DIRECTIONS TO

   2. I NEED TO KNOW THE DIRECTIONS TO

   3. I WANT TO HEAR THE DIRECTIONS TO

   4. I NEED TO HEAR THE DIRECTIONS TO

   5. I WANT THE DIRECTIONS TO

   6. I NEED THE DIRECTIONS TO

   7. I WANT TO KNOW DIRECTIONS TO

   8. I NEED TO KNOW DIRECTIONS TO

   9. I WANT TO HEAR DIRECTIONS TO

   10. I NEED TO HEAR DIRECTIONS TO

   11. I WANT DIRECTIONS TO

   12. I NEED DIRECTIONS TO

   13. I WANT TO KNOW THE DIRECTIONS

   14. I NEED TO KNOW THE DIRECTIONS

   15. I WANT TO HEAR THE DIRECTIONS

   16. I NEED TO HEAR THE DIRECTIONS

   17. I WANT THE DIRECTIONS

   18. I NEED THE DIRECTIONS

   19. I WANT TO KNOW DIRECTIONS

   20. I NEED TO KNOW DIRECTIONS

   21. I WANT TO HEAR DIRECTIONS

   22. I NEED TO HEAR DIRECTIONS

   23. I WANT DIRECTIONS

   24. I NEED DIRECTIONS