# SSML tags supported by Amazon Connect


Amazon Connect supports the following SSML tags. 

**Tip**  
If you use an unsupported tag in your input text, it's automatically ignored when it's processed. 


| Tag | Use to... | 
| --- | --- | 
|  speak  |  All SSML-enhanced text must be enclosed within a pair of speak tags.  | 
|  break  |  Add a pause to your text. The maximum duration for a pause is 10 seconds.  | 
|  lang  |  Specify another language for specific words.  | 
|  mark  |  Put a custom tag within the text.  | 
|  p  |  Add a pause between paragraphs in your text.   | 
| phoneme | Make a phonetic pronunciation for specific text. | 
| prosody | Control the volume, rate, or pitch of your selected voice. | 
| s | Add a pause between lines or sentences in your text. | 
| say-as | Combine with the interpret-as attribute to tell Amazon Polly how to say certain characters, words, and numbers. | 
| sub | Combine with the alias attribute to substitute a different word (or pronunciation) for selected text such as an acronym or abbreviation. | 
| w | Customize the pronunciation of words by specifying the word’s part of speech or alternate meaning. | 
| amazon:effect name="whispered"  | Indicate that the input text should be spoken in a whispered voice rather than as normal speech. | 

If you use an unsupported tag in your input text it is automatically ignored when it is processed. 

To learn more about the SSML tags, see [Supported SSML Tags](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/polly/latest/dg/supportedtags.html) in the Amazon Polly Developer Guide.

## Neural and Conversational Speaking Styles


For the **Joanna** and **Matthew** neural voices, in American English (en-US), you can also specify a [Newscaster speaking style](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/polly/latest/dg/ntts-speakingstyles.html).