== Support for explicit prosody specifications == MARY TTS support explicit prosody specification using 'prosody' element as described in [http://www.w3.org/TR/speech-synthesis11/#edef_prosody W3C Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) 1.1 recommendation]; and the different attributes in 'prosody' element like 'rate', 'pitch' and 'contour' are used as specifications to modify predicted phone durations and pitch contour before passing them to synthesizer. '''Note:''' The following examples will only work if the `INPUT_TYPE` is set to `RAWMARYXML`. HSMM voices are able to realize the specified prosody out of the box; for unit selection voices, at least MARY 4.3.0 is needed, and the checkbox "Apply prosody modification" must be activated in the [http://mary.dfki.de:59125 web interface]. Example: {{{

Welcome to the world of speech synthesis!

}}} === Adjusting Speech Rate === Example 1: {{{

I am now speaking twice as fast.

}}} Example 2: {{{

I am now speaking 30% more slowly.

}}} === Adjusting Pitch level === Example 1: {{{

I am now speaking with 3/4 pitch.

}}} Example 2: {{{

This is five semitones lower.

}}} === Shaping intonation contour === Example 1: {{{

I am talking with rising intonation.

}}} Example 2: {{{

I am talking with falling intonation.

}}}