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. 32. The computer data signal of claim 31 wherein the program code which obtains the set of rules comprises program code which obtains an attribute table listing possible parts of speech for the identified homograph and a set of rules for each proposition pair of possible homograph parts of speech.