  We apply rule induction, classifier combination and meta-learning (stacked
classifiers) to the problem of bootstrapping high accuracy automatic annotation
of corpora with pronunciation information. The task we address in this paper
consists of generating phonemic representations reflecting the Flemish and
Dutch pronunciations of a word on the basis of its orthographic representation
(which in turn is based on the actual speech recordings). We compare several
possible approaches to achieve the text-to-pronunciation mapping task:
memory-based learning, transformation-based learning, rule induction, maximum
entropy modeling, combination of classifiers in stacked learning, and stacking
of meta-learners. We are interested both in optimal accuracy and in obtaining
insight into the linguistic regularities involved. As far as accuracy is
concerned, an already high accuracy level (93% for Celex and 86% for Fonilex at
word level) for single classifiers is boosted significantly with additional
error reductions of 31% and 38% respectively using combination of classifiers,
and a further 5% using combination of meta-learners, bringing overall word
level accuracy to 96% for the Dutch variant and 92% for the Flemish variant. We
also show that the application of machine learning methods indeed leads to
increased insight into the linguistic regularities determining the variation
between the two pronunciation variants studied.
