31. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave for use with a computer system capable of converting text data into synthesized speech, the computer data signal comprising: program code which examines the text data to identify the homograph within the text data and to extract words surrounding the identified homograph in the text data; program code responsive to the identified homograph which identifies the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume; program code that uses the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume and obtains a set of rules, each rule based on a possible pair of parts of speech of the identified homograph and a word order and position of one of the surrounding words; program code which sequentially applies the rules in the obtained rule set until a rule is satisfied to determine a part of speech for the homograph in the text data; and program code which is responsive to the homograph and the determined part of speech usage for determining a preferred pronunciation for the identified homograph.
31. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave for use with a computer system capable of converting text data into synthesized speech, the computer data signal comprising: program code which examines the text data to identify the homograph within the text data and to extract words surrounding the identified homograph in the text data; program code responsive to the identified homograph which identifies the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume; program code that uses the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume and obtains a set of rules, each rule based on a possible pair of parts of speech of the identified homograph and a word order and position of one of the surrounding words; program code which sequentially applies the rules in the obtained rule set until a rule is satisfied to determine a part of speech for the homograph in the text data; and program code which is responsive to the homograph and the determined part of speech usage for determining a preferred pronunciation for the identified homograph. 35. The computer data signal of claim 31 wherein the program code which determines a preferred pronunciation for the identified homograph retrieves the preferred pronunciation from a phonetic table.