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4.6 Lesson 5: change speech in one buffer ¶

Now change how one line is spoken without changing its text. This is a live buffer adjustment, not a draft preview. Closing the menu keeps it in effect; restoring it is a separate action. We will not save a default.

1. In the practice buffer, leave table reading if active. Show all content, then search from the beginning for Check (A+B), then C. and accept the match. Press C-a, then C-e l to hear the starting presentation.
2. Press C-e H s p without a prefix argument. Read the scope and current punctuation policy. It must name the current buffer, not global defaults. Record whether the original policy is automatic, an explicit level, or a named profile. If scope is global, use g to choose buffer scope before changing anything. Practise selecting an item with up/down and changing sections with left/right. Press C-c l to repeat the selected item, then M-f to hear its first word. C-a C-f reviews its first character. These review keys leave the same item selected and do not change punctuation. In a menu, C-e goes to the end of item review; the ordinary speech prefix returns after you close the menu. See menu navigation for the full controls.
3. Press ? a for Help on All, then q to return to the punctuation menu. Press a to apply All, followed by C-q to close the menus. Back in the document, C-e l lets you compare the same line with punctuation spoken.
4. Visit the notes buffer and read its line. This operation did not set its punctuation policy. Return to the practice buffer, reopen C-e H s p, choose n for None, close with C-q, and compare the same line again.
5. Restore the original policy. For an automatic policy, use r in that buffer’s punctuation menu. For an explicit level or named profile, use p and select the recorded choice instead. Close the menu and verify the line and the reported policy. Do not press uppercase S.

Punctuation pronunciation varies by engine and configuration, so judge the change by the treatment of the line’s punctuation rather than an exact sample transcript. The characters in the buffer never changed. Restoring Automatic returns control to the mode policy; it is not a synonym for choosing Some.

An explicit global change can affect both the default and the source buffer. Saving a default adds a persistence step and does not cancel stronger mode policies or buffer overrides. Those are different tasks from this temporary experiment; see Choose What Persists.

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