Have anyone ever considered the possibility of using markdown to perform speech synthesis markups? Just a thought: There is already a speech synthesis markup language call SSML: http://www.w3.org/TR/speech-synthesis/ However I do wonder if there is a need to perhaps consider what a markdownish speech synthesis markup language may look like. I don't think you can exactly use markdown syntax to do speech synth. Take for example sarcasm, you can't exactly do it in pure text markup. So far what I can think of: * `...` :-- indicates pause in speech * `*` :-- can be used to ephasis words in speech * `\<switch>` :-- at end of the line indicates how entire sentence should be carried out * `You must reallly love to be a good guy /s` * `"scare quotes"` :-- Or maybe sarcasm is better done as scare quotes `"` around the sarcastic expression? * `:D` :-- emotion icons can perhaps be used to indicate previous statement should be carried out in a certain tone. e.g. ` This really doesn't make me feel good D: ` * `--> #id <--` :-- Allows the speaker to 'point' to a particular section in a page? What is your thoughts on this? If this can be included alongside or inline with a markdown page, it might have some useful applications, like say a modifiable automatic lecturer. ---- Here's a link to the current discussion page: http://www.reddit.com/r/LightWeightMarkup/comments/2k6hfk/speech_synthesis_markdown_language/