This book investigates the fundamental role of expressive content in human speech and the technical challenges of simulating these qualities in synthetic computer-generated dialogue. Katherine Morton and Mark Tatham draw upon their expertise in linguistics and speech science to analyze how emotional and expressive nuances transform raw information into natural communication. The authors argue that for human-computer interaction to reach its full potential, machines must move beyond the mechanical delivery of data to incorporate the expressive markers that listeners naturally expect.

Experts in speech technology and linguistics recognize this work as a foundational text for understanding the intersection of human communication and synthetic speech synthesis. Readers frequently note the technical density of the prose, which serves as a rigorous guide for researchers aiming to improve the naturalness of computer-generated voices.