Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Reference

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You can use Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) in your output speech response to control how Alexa generates the speech. For example, you can add pauses and other speech effects.

About SSML

When the your skill returns a response to a request, you provide text that the Alexa service converts to speech. Alexa automatically handles normal punctuation, such as pausing after a period, or speaking a sentence ending in a question mark as a question.

However, sometimes you might want additional control over how Alexa generates the speech from the text in your response. For example, you might want a longer pause within the speech, or you might want Alexa to read a string of digits as a standard telephone number. The Alexa Skills Kit provides this type of control with Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) support.

SSML is a markup language that provides a standard way to mark up text for the generation of synthetic speech. The Alexa Skills Kit supports a subset of the tags defined in the SSML specification. For the list of supported tags, see Supported SSML Tags.

Use SSML in your response

To use SSML, construct your output speech with the supported SSML tags. When you send a response from your service, you must indicate that the speech is in SSML rather than plain text. If you construct the JSON response directly, provide the marked-up text in the outputSpeech property and set the type to SSML instead of PlainText. Use the ssml property instead of text for the marked-up text:

You can use SSML with both the normal output speech response and any re-prompt included in the response.

If you use the Alexa Skills Kit SDK for Node.js or Alexa Skills Kit SDK for Java, the SDK wraps the SSML in the <speak> tag automatically.

The following example shows the SSML within <speak> tags.

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In the JSON output for the SSML, either escape quotation marks within the output, or use an appropriate mix of single and double quotation marks. The following example wraps the response in double quotation marks and uses single quotation marks for attributes.

If you use Alexa Presentation Language (APL) for audio, you can use the Speech component to render SSML. Set the content property to the SSML text, enclosed with <speak> tags. Set the contentType property to SSML.

The following example shows an APL for audio document. The first Speech component renders plain text. The second Speech component renders SSML.

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For more about APL for audio, see APL for Audio Reference.

Supported SSML tags

The Alexa Skills Kit supports the following SSML tags, listed in alphabetic order.

• <amazon:domain>
• <amazon:effect>
• <amazon:emotion>
• <audio>
• <break>
• <emphasis>
• <lang>
• <p>
• <phoneme>
• <prosody>
• <s>
• <say-as>
• <speak>
• <sub>
• <voice>
• <w>

Note that the Alexa service strips out any unsupported SSML tags included in the text you provide.

Apply multiple SSML tags to the same speech

You can combine most supported tags with each other to apply multiple effects on the speech. For instance, this example uses both the <say-as> and <amazon:emotion> tags. This tells Alexa to speak the entire string in an "excited" voice, and speak the provided number as individual digits:

Incompatible tags

You can't combine all tags. The following tags can't be applied to the same speech:

• <amazon:domain>
  • You must combine <amazon:domain name="conversational"> with the <voice> tag and the Matthew or Joanna voice. The conversational style doesn't work with other voices, and it doesn't work on its own without <voice>.
  • You can combine <amazon:domain name="news"> with the <voice> tag and the Matthew, Joanna, and Lupe voices. The news style doesn't work with other voices.
  • You can't combine <amazon:domain name="long-form">, <amazon:domain name="music">, or <amazon:domain name="fun"> with <voice>.
• <amazon:emotion>

• speechcons

  Speechcons use the <say-as> tag with interpret-as set to interjection, for example: <say-as interpret-as="interjection">wow</say-as>.

  You can combine <say-as> with other tags when you use other values for the interpret-as attribute. For example, you could combine <amazon:emotion> or <emphasis> with <say-as interpret-as="ordinal">1</say-as>.

• <voice>
  • You can combine <voice> with the <amazon:domain> tag with the restrictions noted before.
  • You can't combine <voice> with any of the other tags listed here.
• <emphasis>
• <prosody> with the pitch attribute (for example, <prosody pitch="x-low">…</pitch>)

For example, the following examples don't work:

Invalid SSML: <voice> used within <amazon:emotion>

Invalid SSML: <amazon:emotion> used within <voice>

Incompatible voice used with conversational or news style

Invalid: Conversational style used without <voice> tag

You can use the incompatible tags in the same <speak> string, as long as they're not applied to the same text string. For example, the following combination is valid:

In this example, the first line is spoken in a disappointed voice, the second line is spoken in the Kendra voice, and the final line uses the disappointed voice again.

amazon:domain

Applies different speaking styles to the speech. The styles are curated text-to-speech voices that use different variations of intonation, emphasis, pausing, and other techniques to match the speech to the content. For example, the news style makes Alexa's voice sound like what you might expect to hear in a TV or radio newscast, and was built primarily for customers to listen to news articles and other news-based content.

The <amazon:domain> tag takes the following required parameters:

Attribute	Possible Values
name	The name of the speaking style to apply to the speech. Available styles: conversational – Style voices to sound more conversational and less formal, more like how people sound when they speak to friends and family. The conversational style is available in English (US), Italian (IT), and Japanese (JP) skills. You can also use this style with Amazon Polly voices. For Amazon Polly, conversational requires the <voice> tag and the Matthew or Joanna voices. long-form – Style the speech for long-form content such as podcasts, articles, and blogs. The long-form style can't be used with the <voice> tag. The long-form style is available in English (US) skills. music – Style the speech for talking about music, video, or other multi-media content. The music style can't be used with the <voice> tag. The music style is available in English (US), English (CA), English (UK), and German (DE) skills. news – Style the speech similar to what you hear when listening to the news on the radio or television. The news style can be combined with the <voice> tag and the Matthew, Joanna, and Lupe voices. The news style is available in English (US) and English (AU) skills. fun – Style the speech to sound more friendly and animated in greetings, animation or children stories. The fun style is available in Japanese (JP) skills.

Examples

news

music

long-form

fun

news combined with voice

This example uses two different voices in the same response.

conversational combined with voice

The <amazon:domain name="conversational"> works with the <voice> tag and the Matthew and Joanna voices. You can't use conversational without the <voice> tag.

You can combine <amazon:domain> with all other tags, except for those listed in incompatible tags.

Best practices for the amazon:domain tag

These recommendations can help you build a better experience with the <amazon:domain> tag:

• Use the default Alexa voice without the <amazon:domain> tag in the intro to your skill. This sets a "baseline," so that the specialized speaking styled responses later have more impact.
• Don't overdo the use of the speaking styles, as this might create a poor or unpleasant user experience. For example, don't switch between different speaking styles frequently.
• Test how your responses sound with a device or the simulator in the developer console and verify that speaking style is appropriate for the response.

amazon:effect

Applies Amazon-specific effects to the speech.

Attribute	Possible values
name	The name of the effect to apply to the speech. Accepted values: whispered: Applies a whispering effect to the speech.

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amazon:emotion

The <amazon:emotion> tag causes Alexa to express emotion when speaking. The emotion effects are useful for stories, games, news updates and other narrative content. For instance, in a game, you might use the "excited" emotion for correct answers and the "disappointed" emotion for incorrect answers.

The <amazon:emotion> tag takes the following required parameters:

Attribute	Possible values
name	The name of the emotion to apply to the speech. Accepted values: excited disappointed
intensity	The intensity or strength of the emotion to express. Accepted values: low medium high

Examples

Examples of amazon:emotion combined with other SSML tags

You can combine <amazon:emotion> with all other tags, except for those listed in incompatible tags.

For example, this adds a three-second pause in the middle of speech with the "excited" emotion:

This example uses <prosody> to increase the volume of the "disappointed" speech.

Best practices for the <amazon:emotion> tag

These recommendations can help you build a better experience with the <amazon:emotion> tag:

• Use the default Alexa voice without the <amazon:emotion> tag in the intro to your skill. This sets a "baseline," so that the emotional responses later can have more impact.
• Don't overuse emotional responses, as this might create a poor or unpleasant experience. Consider these guidelines:
  • Don't switch between excited and disappointed frequently.
  • Don't use the emotions in every response.
• Try the medium intensity initially, and then adjust the intensity as needed. Using medium in most instances gives you more options for adjusting the intensity up or down depending on the situation.
• Test how your responses sound with a device or the simulator in the developer console and make sure that the voice is appropriate for the response.

audio

The <audio> tag lets you provide the URL for an MP3 file that the Alexa service can play. Use the <audio> tag to embed short, pre-recorded audio within your response. For example, you could include sound effects alongside your text-to-speech responses, or provide a response that uses a voice associated with your brand.

Attribute

Possible values

src

Specifies the URL for the MP3 file. Note the following requirements and limitations: The MP3 must be hosted at an Internet-accessible HTTPS endpoint. HTTPS is required, and the domain hosting the MP3 file must present a valid, trusted SSL certificate. You can't use self-signed certificates. The MP3 must not contain any customer-specific or other sensitive information. The MP3 must be a valid MP3 file (MPEG version 2). For your speech response, the audio file can't be longer than 240 seconds. The combined total time for all audio files in the outputSpeech property of the response can't be more than 240 seconds. The combined total time for all audio files in the reprompt property of the response can't be more than 90 seconds. The bit rate must be 48 kbps. Note that this bit rate gives a good result when used with spoken content, but is generally not a high enough quality for music. The sample rate must be 22050 Hz, 24000 Hz, or 16000 Hz. Use converter software to convert your MP3 files to the required codec version (MPEG version 2) and bit rate (48 kbps).

Include the <audio> tag within your text-to-speech response within the <speak> tag. Alexa plays the MP3 at the specified point within the text to speech. For example:

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When Alexa renders this response, it sounds like this:

Alexa: Welcome to Ride Hailer.
(the specified amzn_sfx_car_accelerate_01.mp3 audio file plays)
Alexa: You can order a ride, or request a fare estimate. Which do you want?

A single response sent by your service can include multiple <audio> tags according to the following limits:

• No more than five audio files can be used in a single response.
• The combined total time for all audio files in the outputSpeech property of the response can't be more than 240 seconds.
• The combined total time for all audio files in the reprompt property of the response can't be more than 90 seconds.

Converting audio files to an Alexa-friendly format

You can use converter software to convert your MP3 files to the required codec version (MPEG version 2) and bit rate (48 kbps). One option is a command-line tool, FFmpeg.

This sample command converts the provided <input-file> to an MP3 file that works with the <audio> tag. This version uses 16000 as the sample rate:

You might get better quality by increasing the sample rate to 24000 like this:

See the documentation for FFmpeg for details about command line options.

Another option is Audacity:

1. Open the file to convert.
2. Set the Project Rate in the lower-left corner to 16000.
3. Click File > Export Audio and change the Save as type to MP3 Files.
4. Click Options, set the Quality to 48 kbps and the Bit Rate Mode to Constant.

This requires the Lame library, which can be found at: http://lame.buanzo.org/#lamewindl.

Hosting the audio files for your skill

The MP3 files you use to provide audio must be hosted on an endpoint that uses HTTPS. The endpoint must provide an SSL certificate signed by an Amazon-approved certificate authority. Many content hosting services provide this. For example, you could host your files at a service such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) (an Amazon Web Services offering).

You aren't required to authenticate the requests for the audio files. Therefore, you must not include any customer-specific or sensitive information in these audio files. For example, building a custom MP3 file in response to a user's request, and including sensitive information within the audio, isn't allowed.

For optimal performance, we recommend that you host your MP3 files for SSML responses in close proximity to where your skill is hosted. For example, if the Lambda function for your skill is hosted in the US West (Oregon) region, you will get better performance if you upload your MP3s to a US West (Oregon) S3 bucket.

HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) of audio files

Alexa supports SSML <audio> tags that point toward HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) streams, provided that the audio data conforms to the listed specifications. Due to the streaming approach that Alexa uses, there is no benefit to using HLS streams instead of statically served MP3 files. Furthermore, unlike with statically served MP3 files, an SSML response that contains an HLS stream that violates the 240-second duration limit fails silently. This silent failure means that the playback stops before the limit is hit, no error message is generated on the customer device, and the skill doesn't receive an error request. If your skill uses SSML responses that contain HLS streams, make sure that you take particular care to test the audio returned in its responses.

break

Represents a pause in the speech. Set the length of the pause with the strength or time attributes.

Attribute	Possible Values
strength	The strength or length to pause. Accepted values: none: Don't output a pause. Use this to remove a pause that would normally occur, such as after a period. x-weak: Don't output a pause. Equivalent to none. weak: Treat adjacent words as if separated by a single comma. Equivalent to medium. medium: Treat adjacent words as if separated by a single comma. strong: Make a sentence break. Equivalent to using the <s> tag. x-strong: Make a paragraph break. Equivalent to using the <p> tag.
time	Duration of the pause; up to 10 seconds (10s) or 10000 milliseconds (10000ms). Include the unit with the time (s or ms).

The default is medium. This is used if you don't specify any attributes, or if you provide any unsupported attribute values.

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emphasis

Emphasize the tagged words or phrases. Emphasis changes rate and volume of the speech. More emphasis is spoken louder and slower. Less emphasis is quieter and faster.

Attribute	Possible values
level	Level of emphasis to apply. Accepted values: strong: Increase the volume and slow down the speaking rate so the speech is louder and slower. moderate: Increase the volume and slow down the speaking rate, but not as much as when set to strong. This is used as a default when level isn't provided. reduced: Decrease the volume and speed up the speaking rate. The speech is softer and faster.

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You can combine <emphasis> with all other tags, except for those listed in incompatible tags.

lang

Use <lang> to specify the language model and rules to speak the tagged content as if it were written in the language specified by the xml:lang attribute. Words and phrases in other languages usually sound better when enclosed with the <lang> tag. This is useful for short phrases in other languages, such as the names of restaurants or shops.

The following example shows the SSML to pronounce "Paris" using the language code fr-FR, which refers to the French language as spoken in France.

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Alexa adapts the pronunciation to use the sounds available in the original language of the skill, so it might not sound exactly like a native speaker. To achieve a more natural voice than what you get with the <lang> tag alone, use the <lang> tag and the <voice> tag together. With the <voice>, you can select a voice customized for a specific language. Make sure that the language of the tagged text matches the <lang> attribute, and that the <voice> is specific to the language of the text.

For example, consider the French phrase "J'adore chanter" in an English (US) skill. The following examples show how Alexa speaks this phrase without the <lang> tag, with the <lang> tag alone, and with both <lang> and <voice>.

Without any tags, Alexa speaks the phrase with English-like pronunciation.

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With the <lang xml:lang='fr-FR'> tag, Alexa uses French pronunciation with sounds available in English for a "French-like" pronunciation. A perfect French pronunciation would include an uvular trill (/R/) in the word "adore." The French-like English pronunciation achieved with the <lang> tag uses the corresponding /r/ sound instead.

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For a better French pronunciation, use the <voice> tag with a French voice. The following example uses the Celine voice.

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Supported locales for the xml:lang attribute

The <lang> tag supports the following locales:

• de-DE
• en-AU
• en-CA
• en-GB
• en-IN
• en-US
• es-ES
• es-MX
• es-US
• fr-CA
• fr-FR
• hi-IN
• it-IT
• ja-JP
• pt-BR

p

Represents a paragraph. This tag provides extra-strong breaks before and after the tag. This is equivalent to specifying a pause with <break strength="x-strong"/>.

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phoneme

Provides a phonemic/phonetic pronunciation for the contained text. For example, people might pronounce words like "pecan" differently.

Attribute	Possible values
alphabet	Set to the phonetic alphabet to use. Accepted values: ipa: The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). x-sampa: The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet (X-SAMPA).
ph	The phonetic pronunciation to speak. Use the symbols provided in supported symbols to define the pronunciation. The symbols are locale-specific.

When you use , Alexa uses the pronunciation provided in the `ph` attribute instead of the text contained within the tag. However, you should still provide human-readable text within the tags. In the following example, the word "pecan" shown within the tags is never spoken. Instead, Alexa speaks the text provided in the `ph` attribute:

Additional examples of writing words with a phonetic alphabet:

Word	IPA	X-SAMPA
bottle	ˈbɑ.təl	"bA.t@l
frozen	ˈfɹoʊ.zən	"fr\oU.z@n
blossom	ˈblɑ.səm	"blA.s@m

Supported symbols

The following tables list the supported symbols for use with the <phoneme> tag. The symbols are specific to the skill's language.

• Arabic (SA)
• English (AU)
• English (CA)
• English (IN)
• English (UK)
• English (US)
• French (CA)
• French (FR)
• German (DE)
• Hindi (IN)
• Italian (IT)
• Japanese (JP)
• Portuguese (BR)

prosody

Modifies the volume, pitch, and rate of the tagged speech.

Attribute	Possible values
rate	Modify the rate of the speech. Accepted values: x-slow, slow, medium, fast, x-fast: Set the rate to a predefined value. n%: specify a percentage to increase or decrease the speed of the speech: 100% indicates no change from the normal rate. Percentages greater than 100% increase the rate. Percentages below 100% decrease the rate. The minimum value you can provide is 20%.
pitch	Raise or lower the tone (pitch) of the speech. Accepted values: x-low, low, medium, high, x-high: Set the pitch to a predefined value. +n%: Increase the pitch by the specified percentage. For example: +10%, +5%. The maximum value allowed is +50%. A value higher than +50% is rendered as +50%. -n%: Decrease the pitch by the specified percentage. For example: -10%, -20%. The smallest value allowed is -33.3%. A value lower than -33.3% is rendered as -33.3%. Note: When you modify the speech with the pitch tag, Alexa uses a legacy text-to-speech system, which might change the speech sound quality.
volume	Change the volume for the speech. Accepted values: silent, x-soft, soft, medium, loud, x-loud: Set volume to a predefined value for current voice. +ndB: Increase volume relative to the current volume level. For example, +0dB means no change of volume. +6dB is approximately twice the current amplitude. The maximum positive value is about +4.08dB. -ndB: Decrease the volume relative to the current volume level. For example, -6dB means approximately half the current amplitude.

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You can combine <prosody> with all other tags when you set the rate and/or volume attributes. When you use the pitch attribute, you can't combine <prosody> with the tags shown in incompatible tags.

s

Represents a sentence. This tag provides strong breaks before and after the tag.

This is equivalent to:

• Ending a sentence with a period (.).
• Specifying a pause with <break strength="strong"/>.

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say-as

Describes how the text should be interpreted. This lets you provide additional context to the text and eliminate any ambiguity on how Alexa renders the text. Indicate how Alexa should interpret the text with the interpret-as attribute.

Attribute	Possible values
interpret-as	Specify how to interpret the text. Accepted values: characters, spell-out: Spell out each letter. cardinal, number: Interpret the value as a cardinal number. ordinal: Interpret the value as an ordinal number. digits: Spell each digit separately . fraction: Interpret the value as a fraction. This works for both common fractions (such as 3/20) and mixed fractions (such as 1+1/2). unit: Interpret a value as a measurement. The value should be either a number or fraction followed by a unit (with no space in between) or just a unit. date: Interpret the value as a date. Specify the format with the format attribute. time: Interpret a value such as 1'21" as duration in minutes and seconds. telephone: Interpret a value as a 7-digit or 10-digit telephone number. This can also handle extensions (for example, 2025551212x345). address: Interpret a value as part of street address. interjection: Interpret the value as an interjection. Alexa speaks the text in a more expressive voice. For optimal results, only use the supported interjections and surround each speechcon with a pause. For example: <say-as interpret-as="interjection">Wow.</say-as>. Speechcons are supported for the languages listed below. expletive: "Bleep" out the content inside the tag.
format	Applies when interpret-as is set to date. Set to one of the following to indicate format of the date: mdy dmy ymd md dm ym my d m y Alternatively, if you provide the date in YYYYMMDD format, the format attribute is ignored. Include question marks (?) for portions of the date to leave out. For instance, Alexa speaks <say-as interpret-as="date">????0922</say-as> as "September twenty-second." For an example, see Example: Provide a date without the year.

Alexa attempts to interpret the provided text correctly based on the formatting even without this tag. For example, if your output speech includes "202-555-1212", Alexa interprets the number as a phone number and speaks each individual digit, with a brief pause for each dash. The <say-as interpret-as="telephone"> tag isn't necessary. However, if you provided the text "2025551212", but you wanted Alexa to speak it as a phone number, you must use <say-as interpret-as="telephone">.

Example: Telephone number

The following example shows the telephone attribute for interpret-as.

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Example: Spell out words and numbers

The following example shows how to use interpret-as to spell out words and numbers. Note that Alexa interprets the number 12345 as a cardinal number automatically.

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Example: Use an interjection (speechcon)

The following example shows the difference between normal speech and a speechcon.

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Example: Provide a date without the year

The following example shows how Alexa interprets a date with question marks (?).

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Supported speechcons

Speechcons are language specific. See the following pages for the available speechcons for each skill language:

• English (AU)
• English (CA)
• English (IN)
• English (UK)
• English (US)
• French (CA)
• French (FR)
• German (DE)
• Hindi (IN)
• Italian (IT)
• Japanese (JP)
• Portuguese (BR)
• Spanish (ES)
• Spanish (MX)
• Spanish (US)

speak

The root element of an SSML document. When using SSML with the Alexa Skills Kit, surround the text to be spoken with the <speak> tag.

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sub

Pronounce the specified word or phrase as a different word or phrase. Specify the pronunciation to substitute with the alias attribute.

Attribute	Possible values
alias	The word or phrase to speak in place of the tagged text.

The following example replaces the abbreviated chemical elements with the full words.

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voice

Speak the text with the specified Amazon Polly voice. Each listed voice has its own individual character. See Best Practices for Using Amazon Polly Voices for advice on how to use different voices in your skill to create a good user experience.

You can combine <voice> with all other tags, except for those listed in incompatible tags.

Attribute

Possible values

name

The name of a supported Amazon Polly voice. Voice are specific to locale. To speak content in the same language as your skill, choose a voice supported for the locale of your skill. To speak content in a different language, combine the <voice> tag with the <lang> tag. For example, in an English (US) skill, use an en-US voice for English content. For French content, you can use an fr-FR voice, but combine the <voice> tag with <lang> to speak the content properly in French. For the list of supported voices for each locale, see Supported Amazon Polly voices.

Supported Amazon Polly voices

This table lists the Amazon Polly voices supported by Alexa. Voice names don't contain accented characters. Use a voice supported for the skill locale or use the voice with the <lang> tag.

To comply with Alexa skill policies, don't expose the Amazon-assigned name of an Amazon Polly voice to users.

Locale	Supported voices
English, American (en-US)	Ivy, Joanna, Joey, Justin, Kendra, Kimberly, Matthew, Salli
English, Australian (en-AU)	Nicole, Russell
English, British (en-GB)	Amy, Brian, Emma
English, Indian (en-IN)	Aditi, Raveena
English, Welsh (en-GB-WLS)	Geraint
French, Canadian (fr-CA)	Chantal
French, France (fr-FR)	Celine, Lea, Mathieu
German (de-DE)	Hans, Marlene, Vicki
Hindi (hi-IN)	Aditi
Italian (it-IT)	Carla, Giorgio, Bianca
Japanese (ja-JP)	Mizuki, Takumi
Portuguese, Brazilian (pt-BR)	Vitoria, Camila, Ricardo
Spanish, American (es-US)	Penelope, Lupe, Miguel
Spanish, Castilian (es-ES)	Conchita, Enrique, Lucia
Spanish, Mexican (es-MX)	Mia

Example: Standard Alexa voice and a specified Amazon Polly voice

In this example, assume this sample is from an en-US skill, and because Kendra is an en-US voice, no <lang> tag is required. If this sample was from a skill that doesn't have an en-US locale, then the <lang> tag should be added and set to en-US.

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Example: Different voices in a dialog

The following example provides a dialog between an en-US voice and an en-GB voice, such as might occur if a story with two different characters were being read. The standard Alexa voice, which varies by locale, speaks the first and last sentence.

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Example: French content in an English skill

In the following example, assume the locale of this skill is for an English-speaking region. Because Celine is an fr-FR voice, and you want this content spoken in French, set the <lang> tag to fr-FR.

Tips for using Amazon Polly voices

Although all Amazon Polly voices use approximately the same volume, users might perceive some voices as louder or quieter than Alexa voices. Use the prosody tag to modify the volume, rate, and pitch of the voice you have chosen. Use other SSML tags to modify the spoken output.

You can enhance your skills with responses that include one or more Amazon Polly voices, as well as the default Alexa voice, and you can choose specific voices for specific responses. Refer to User Experience Guidelines for the Use of Amazon Polly Voices in Your Skills for guidance on using Amazon Polly voices in your skills.

There is no charge for Alexa developers to use Amazon Polly voices.

The locale of a skill refers to a combination of region and language, and all of the Amazon Polly voices are tagged with a locale. For example, the en-AU locale refers to the English language in Australia, whereas en-IN refers to the English language in India. You select the locale of your skill when you first create it.

To achieve the best results, if the voice you select is for a different locale than that specified by your skill, use the <lang> tag to specify the language. See more about the lang tag.

Be mindful of the user experience if you combine voices from different locales in your skill responses.

Node.js sample code for voice

If building a Node.js skill, this switchVoice function can wrap speech output with <voice> tags to get a specific voice. If you use the Alexa Skills Kit SDK for Node.js, the SDK automatically wraps speech output in the <speak> tag.

Here is some sample speech output from a skill using multiple voices with the switchVoice function.

If you want all of the skill responses to be in a particular voice, make sure that all speech outputs from the skill are specified as SSML and are wrapped with the appropriate <voice> tag.

w

Similar to <say-as>, the <w> tag customizes the pronunciation of words by specifying the word's part of speech.

Attribute

Possible values

role

Specify the part of speech for the word. Accepted values: amazon:VB: Interpret the word as a verb (present simple). amazon:VBD: Interpret the word as a past participle. amazon:NN: Interpret the word as a noun. amazon:SENSE_1: Use the non-default sense of the word. For example, the noun "bass" is pronounced differently depending on meaning. The "default" meaning is the lowest part of the musical range. The alternate sense, which is still a noun, is a freshwater fish. Specifying <speak><w role="amazon:SENSE_1">bass</w>"</speak> renders the non-default pronunciation (freshwater fish).

The following example shows the amazon:VB and amazon:VBD values for role.

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The follow example shows the amazon:SENSE_1 value for role.

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Note that these tags previously used the ivona namespace in the attribute names. The tags are backwards compatible, so existing SSML written with the ivona namespace continues to work.

Related topics

• Alexa Skills Kit Sound Library
• Best Practices for Amazon Polly Voices
• Speechcons

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Last updated: Nov 28, 2023