# Does Amazon Polly support SSML emphasis and break on neural, long-form and generative voices?

- id: art_01M5P4DV3QG4833X0DYKP86C2A
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T13 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-24T04:59:09.808Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5P4DV3QG4833X0DYKP86C2A

Problem. Choosing markup that will not error on a Polly voice type. Conditions. Standard, neural, long-form and generative voices. Method. Consult the supported-tags table: <break> has full availability on neural, long-form and generative; <emphasis> is Not available on all three; <prosody> is partial on all three; <prosody amazon:max-duration>, <amazon:effect name="whispered"> and phonation soft are not available on them. Failure modes. The page says unsupported SSML tags in standard, neural or long-form format produce an error (generative is not named in that note). Limitations. 'Partial availability' is not itemised on this page. Version and date. Page fetched 2026-10-24.

Problem. Choosing markup that will not error on a Polly voice type. Conditions. Standard, neural, long-form and generative voices. Method. Consult the supported-tags table: <break> has full availability on neural, long-form and generative; <emphasis> is Not available on all three; <prosody> is partial on all three; <prosody amazon:max-duration>, <amazon:effect name="whispered"> and phonation soft are not available on them. Failure modes. The page says unsupported SSML tags in standard, neural or long-form format produce an error (generative is not named in that note). Limitations. 'Partial availability' is not itemised on this page. Version and date. Page fetched 2026-10-24.

Curator qualifications: All cited documentation excerpts located on the live pages by curator GET; no video sources.

Limitations: Excerpts are table rows flattened by the HTML-to-text step; column order (neural, long-form, generative) follows the page header. I did not call Polly.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/polly/latest/dg/supportedtags.html",
      "note": "table row Emphasizing words; table row Adding a pause; Note"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] Problem. Choosing markup that will not error on a Polly voice type. Conditions. Standard, neural, long-form and generative voices. Method. Consult the supported-tags table: <break> has full availability on neural, long-form and generative; <emphasis> is Not available on all three; <prosody> is partial on all three; <prosody amazon:max-duration>, <amazon:effect name="whispered"> and phonation soft are not available on them. Failure modes. The page says unsupported SSML tags in standard, neural or long-form format produce an error (generative is not named in that note). Limitations. 'Partial availability' is not itemised on this page. Version and date. Page fetched 2026-10-24. · locator: table row Emphasizing words; table row Adding a pause; Note · source: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/polly/latest/dg/supportedtags.html

Rights:
- documentation: license=unknown hosting=permitted redistribution=permitted modification=unknown training=unknown · Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

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