Background information

Common formats

The EBS package for each language contains the following common formats:

• D (date)
• T (time)
• N (numbers)
• N$ (currency)
• C (characters)

While common to all languages, these formats may be defined differently from language to language, as appropriate to the conventions of usage in each language. For example, T (time) is spoken as THMAM in some languages, but as TH24M in others, depending on the language specification (see "Variations on the common formats"). The definition reflects the most normal or customary manner of speaking the phrase in the language.

Variations on the common formats

The common EBS formats may be enhanced to include different ways to be spoken, depending on the language specification. The most frequently occurring variations on the common formats are listed below. However, some languages also contain other variations. (For information on inflections used in the formats, see "Inflections.")

• Date formats always start with D, and these modifiers may follow:
  • YY – year spoken with four digits
  • Y – year spoken with two digits
  • M – month spoken as a number (rather than as a word)
  • SP – month spoken as a word (rather than as a number)
  • D – day (number)
  • W – weekday (name)
  • f – falling inflection
• Time formats always start with T, and these modifiers may follow:
  • H – hour
  • 24 – 24-hour clock
  • M – minutes
  • AM – 12-hour clock (AM/PM)
  • f – falling inflection
• Number formats always start with N, and these modifiers may follow:
  • M – male form
  • F – female form
  • N – neutral form
  • m (or mmm) – medial inflection
  • f (or mmf) – falling inflection
  • r (or rmm)-- rising inflection
  • rmf – total inflection
• Decimal number formats always start with ND, and the number that follows indicates the number of decimal places after the decimal point.

  The input string is assumed not to have a decimal point in it. For example, if 12345678 is input with format ND4, the number 1234.5678 is spoken.

• Currency formats always start with N$, and these modifiers may follow:
  • Dx – where x indicates the number of decimal places
  • f – falling inflection
• Character formats always start with C, and these modifiers may follow:
  • m (or mmm) – medial inflection
  • f (or mmf) – falling inflection
  • r (or rmm) – total inflection
  • rmf – total inflection

Note:
When you select a variable Type in the Spoken As column in the IVR Designer Variables Manager, by default IVR Designer automatically assigns the variable a common format (D, C, T, N, or N$). You can either accept the default or change it to one of the variations available for that common format. For example, when you select the character Type, the character variable defaults to the C format. You can then select another character format, if one is available in the language you have selected. For US English, you could select Crmf, Crmm, Cmmf, or Cmmm. See the section on variables in Avaya IVR Designer Help, for more information on defaults for formats.

Inflections

Inflection is a change in voice intonation appropriate to the context in which a speech phrase occurs. For example, typically in natural speech, rising inflection occurs in questions, medial inflection (no inflection) occurs in the middle of words and phrases, and falling inflection occurs at the end of words and phrases. The EBS package includes formats for inflections.

The EBS format tables use the following terminology to describe inflections:

• Rising inflection – The first character or number is spoken with rising inflection and all other others with medial inflection.
• Falling inflection – The last character or number is spoken with falling inflection and all others with medial inflection.
• Total inflection – The first character or number is spoken with rising inflection, the last with falling inflection, and all others with medial inflection.

Note:
Unless otherwise specified, formats use medial inflection.

Grammatical gender

Words in some languages are spoken differently depending on whether they are grammatically male, female, or neutral. The EBS format tables use the terminology male form, female form, and neutral form to describe gender-specific formats.

Converting applications to other languages

An application containing EBS formats can have the formats converted to another language by changing the language option. However if the original application uses formats not available for the new language, then the converted application will not be identical. Therefore, advance planning is advisable for applications that may be converted to other languages. A recommended strategy is to create the original application using only the common formats available in all languages, create duplicate applications for the target languages, and adjust the formats on a per-application basis, if needed. (For more information, see "Common formats.")

Maximum values for numbers and currency

A variable defined as a number or as currency on the Avaya IR system has 4 bytes and can support a numeric value up to 2,147,483,647. To support larger numbers, for some languages the number and currency formats also accept inputs as characters. These character variables can handle values up to 15 digits (999,999,999,999,999) plus a decimal point and can be preceded by a minus sign (-) to indicate a negative number.

The following table distinguishes the languages that receive only number variable support from EBS for number and currency formats from the languages that also receive character variable support. 

Speaking phrase numbers and packed talkfile numbers

The NX format is a Avaya IR system feature used to speak:

• A phrase with a specified phrase tag number
• Packed talkfile numbers and phrase numbers

The NX format is included in the EBS tables for all supported languages.

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