# \<phoneme>

## \<phoneme> <a href="#phoneme" id="phoneme"></a>

The `<phoneme>` tag allows the user to specify pronunciations explicitly in the input text.

### Attributes

<table><thead><tr><th width="164.33333333333331">Name</th><th width="151">Data type<select><option value="424b128f288f4368b24853edc08cd5aa" label="String" color="blue"></option><option value="ac1a5981e0d8475496d58e51a607fac2" label="Integer" color="blue"></option><option value="458bf125a48e4bdcb3c431248b383399" label="Boolean" color="blue"></option></select></th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>ph</td><td><span data-option="424b128f288f4368b24853edc08cd5aa">String</span></td><td>The pronunciation of the enclosed text.</td></tr><tr><td>alphabet</td><td><span data-option="424b128f288f4368b24853edc08cd5aa">String</span></td><td>This value is disregarded except with Nuance RealSpeak, which requires the value “unipa”.</td></tr></tbody></table>

### Notes

For more information, see the Phoneme Set in [TTS Engine Characteristics](/dev/developer-reference/tts-engine-characteristics.md) of the Plum DEV Reference Manual. The phoneme set and transcriptions differ between AT\&T Natural Voices and Cepstral.

### Example

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="AT\&T Natural Voices" %}

```markup
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<vxml version="2.0">
  <form>
    <block>
      <prompt bargein="false">
        My name is
        <phoneme ph="b aa b 1">
          Bob
        </phoneme>
      </prompt>
    </block>
  </form>
</vxml>
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Nuance RealSpeak" %}

```markup
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<vxml version="2.0">
  <form>
    <block>
      <prompt bargein="false">
        My name is
        <phoneme alphabet="unipa" ph="b A b">
          Bob
        </phoneme>
      </prompt>
    </block>
  </form>
</vxml>
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Cepstral" %}

```markup
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<vxml version="2.0">
  <form>
    <block>
      <prompt bargein="false">
        My name is
        <phoneme ph="b aa1 b">
          Bob
        </phoneme>
      </prompt>
    </block>
  </form>
</vxml>
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

The output of the above script would be:

> Computer: My name is Bob.

### Child Tags

None

### Parent Tags

[\<audio>](/dev/voicexml/tags/audio-tag.md), [\<emphasis>](/dev/voicexml/tags/emphasis-tag.md), [\<enumerate>](/dev/voicexml/tags/enumerate-tag.md), [\<foreach>](/dev/voicexml/tags/foreach-tag.md), [\<paragraph>](/dev/voicexml/tags/paragraph-tag.md), [\<prompt>](/dev/voicexml/tags/prompt-tag.md), [\<prosody>](/dev/voicexml/tags/prosody-tag.md), [\<sentence>](/dev/voicexml/tags/sentence-tag.md), [\<speak>](/dev/voicexml/tags/speak-tag.md), [\<voice>](/dev/voicexml/tags/voice-tag.md)


---

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```
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