27. In a data processing system having a digital processor, an apparatus for translating incoming text to phoneme data, the apparatus comprising: a source of incoming text; a letter-to-sound processor executable by the digital processor and coupled to receive incoming text from the source, the letter-to-sound processor including a rule engine and a plurality of rule sets, each rule set including rules encoding translation of portions of incoming text to corresponding portions of phoneme data for representing the incoming text; an input device for obtaining the incoming text; in response to the letter-to-sound processor receiving the incoming text, the rule engine comparing portions of the incoming text to the rules in each of the plurality of rule sets, for different portions of the incoming text the rule engine comparing to different rule sets depending on location of the portion in the incoming text, and upon the rule engine determining a match between a rule and a subject portion of the incoming text, the rule engine producing a corresponding portion of the phoneme data according to the rule that was matched, such that the letter-to-sound processor combines the portions of the phoneme data and on output, provides the phoneme data representing the incoming text.
27. In a data processing system having a digital processor, an apparatus for translating incoming text to phoneme data, the apparatus comprising: a source of incoming text; a letter-to-sound processor executable by the digital processor and coupled to receive incoming text from the source, the letter-to-sound processor including a rule engine and a plurality of rule sets, each rule set including rules encoding translation of portions of incoming text to corresponding portions of phoneme data for representing the incoming text; an input device for obtaining the incoming text; in response to the letter-to-sound processor receiving the incoming text, the rule engine comparing portions of the incoming text to the rules in each of the plurality of rule sets, for different portions of the incoming text the rule engine comparing to different rule sets depending on location of the portion in the incoming text, and upon the rule engine determining a match between a rule and a subject portion of the incoming text, the rule engine producing a corresponding portion of the phoneme data according to the rule that was matched, such that the letter-to-sound processor combines the portions of the phoneme data and on output, provides the phoneme data representing the incoming text. 28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein: the plurality of rule sets includes a suffix rule set, a prefix rule set, and an infix rule set; the rule engine first comparing ending portions of the incoming text to rules of the suffix rule set to produce ending portions of the phoneme data and a first remainder portion of the incoming text; the rule engine comparing the first remainder portion of the incoming text with rules of the prefix rule set to produce beginning portions of the phoneme data and a second remainder portion of the incoming text; and the rule engine further comparing the second remainder portion of the incoming text to rules of the infix rule set to produce intermediate portions of the phoneme data.