By name: say-ukrainian description: Non-Ukrainian voices speak Ukrainian via macOS say command. Load when voicing Ukrainian text through foreign TTS voices for counterfactual narration or ostranення effect.
Say Ukrainian
Foreign voices speak Ukrainian. Not translations -- refractions. Utterance length matches shared context. Every event gets voiced.
Voices
Only Enhanced/Premium. Rate 130-160 WPM.
| Category | Voices |
|---|---|
| Cold | Alice (Enhanced), Emma (Enhanced), Federica (Enhanced), Paola (Enhanced) |
| Neutral | Ava (Premium), Samantha (Enhanced), Allison (Enhanced) |
| Warm | Nathan (Enhanced), Evan (Enhanced), Nicky (Enhanced), Noelle (Enhanced) |
Forbidden
- Lesya (uk-UA) -- collapses counterfactual
- Milena (ru-RU) -- political charge
- Compact/super-compact voices
- Novelty voices, Daniel (en-GB)
Transliteration
Feed Cyrillic first. Only fall back to Latin when the voice produces silence or reads letter names.
Single-letter patch: Standalone single Cyrillic letters trigger "cyrillic letter X" announcements in non-Ukrainian voices. Pipe all text through scripts/patch-singles.sh before TTS.
echo "rich iz vershkiv i zirok" | scripts/patch-singles.sh
Cyrillic support (tested):
- Cyrillic works (with patch-singles): Ava (Premium), Nathan (Enhanced), Samantha (Enhanced)
- Cyrillic silent -- full Latin transliteration: Alice (Enhanced), Federica (Enhanced), Emma (Enhanced), Paola (Enhanced)
Full Latin transliteration table (only for silent voices):
| Cyrillic | Latin | Cyrillic | Latin | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| i, y | ee | ch | ch | |
| u | oo | sh | sh | |
| e | eh | shch | shch | |
| h | h | zh | zh | |
| ya | yah | soft sign | y or omit | |
| yu | yoo | ye | yeh |
Examples
| # | Spoken | Source line | Voice |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Rozplyushchuyesh ochi -- lyshe halyavyna z olenyamy" | you open your eyes only a clearing with deer in it | Alice |
| 2 | "Dozvol meni zrobyty rich iz vershkiv i zirok" | let me make a thing of cream and stars | Ava |
| 3 | "Chorne nebo pokolote dribnymy vohnykamy" | a black sky prickled with small lights | Nathan |
| 4 | "Derevyani zaly nache truny" | the wooden halls like caskets | Federica |
| 5 | "U tebe ochi yak likhtarni" | you get eyes like flashlights | Samantha |