diff --git a/config.json b/config.json
index 96b6576a..e525ec31 100644
--- a/config.json
+++ b/config.json
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
         "win_length": 1024,     // stft window length in ms.
         "hop_length": 256,      // stft window hop-lengh in ms.
         "preemphasis": 0.0,    // pre-emphasis to reduce spec noise and make it more structured. If 0.0, no -pre-emphasis.
+        "frame_length_ms": null,  // stft window length in ms.If null, 'win_length' is used.
+        "frame_shift_ms": null,   // stft window hop-lengh in ms. If null, 'hop_length' is used.
         "min_level_db": -100,   // normalization range
         "ref_level_db": 20,     // reference level db, theoretically 20db is the sound of air.
         "power": 1.5,           // value to sharpen wav signals after GL algorithm.
@@ -27,6 +29,18 @@
         "trim_db": 60          // threshold for timming silence. Set this according to your dataset.
     },
 
+    // VOCABULARY PARAMETERS
+    // if custom character set is not defined,
+    // default set in symbols.py is used
+    "characters":{
+        "pad": "_",
+        "eos": "~",
+        "bos": "^",
+        "characters": "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz!'(),-.:;? ",
+        "punctuations":"!'(),-.:;? ",
+        "phonemes":"iyɨʉɯuɪʏʊeøɘəɵɤoɛœɜɞʌɔæɐaɶɑɒᵻʘɓǀɗǃʄǂɠǁʛpbtdʈɖcɟkɡqɢʔɴŋɲɳnɱmʙrʀⱱɾɽɸβfvθðszʃʒʂʐçʝxɣχʁħʕhɦɬɮʋɹɻjɰlɭʎʟˈˌːˑʍwɥʜʢʡɕʑɺɧɚ˞ɫ"
+    },
+    
     // DISTRIBUTED TRAINING
     "distributed":{
         "backend": "nccl",
@@ -93,7 +107,7 @@
     "max_seq_len": 153,     // DATASET-RELATED: maximum text length
 
     // PATHS
-    "output_path": "/home/erogol/Models/",
+    "output_path": "/data4/rw/home/Trainings/",
  
     // PHONEMES
     "phoneme_cache_path": "mozilla_us_phonemes_3",  // phoneme computation is slow, therefore, it caches results in the given folder.
@@ -110,7 +124,7 @@
         [
             {
                 "name": "ljspeech",
-                "path": "/home/erogol/Data/LJSpeech-1.1/",
+                "path": "/root/LJSpeech-1.1/",
                 "meta_file_train": "metadata.csv",
                 "meta_file_val": null
             }
diff --git a/datasets/TTSDataset.py b/datasets/TTSDataset.py
index a45d77ff..d3a6f486 100644
--- a/datasets/TTSDataset.py
+++ b/datasets/TTSDataset.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ class MyDataset(Dataset):
                  text_cleaner,
                  ap,
                  meta_data,
+                 tp=None,
                  batch_group_size=0,
                  min_seq_len=0,
                  max_seq_len=float("inf"),
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ class MyDataset(Dataset):
         self.min_seq_len = min_seq_len
         self.max_seq_len = max_seq_len
         self.ap = ap
+        self.tp = tp
         self.use_phonemes = use_phonemes
         self.phoneme_cache_path = phoneme_cache_path
         self.phoneme_language = phoneme_language
@@ -75,13 +77,13 @@ class MyDataset(Dataset):
 
     def _generate_and_cache_phoneme_sequence(self, text, cache_path):
         """generate a phoneme sequence from text.
-
         since the usage is for subsequent caching, we never add bos and
         eos chars here. Instead we add those dynamically later; based on the
         config option."""
         phonemes = phoneme_to_sequence(text, [self.cleaners],
                                        language=self.phoneme_language,
-                                       enable_eos_bos=False)
+                                       enable_eos_bos=False,
+                                       tp=self.tp)
         phonemes = np.asarray(phonemes, dtype=np.int32)
         np.save(cache_path, phonemes)
         return phonemes
@@ -101,7 +103,7 @@ class MyDataset(Dataset):
             phonemes = self._generate_and_cache_phoneme_sequence(text,
                                                                  cache_path)
         if self.enable_eos_bos:
-            phonemes = pad_with_eos_bos(phonemes)
+            phonemes = pad_with_eos_bos(phonemes, tp=self.tp)
             phonemes = np.asarray(phonemes, dtype=np.int32)
         return phonemes
 
@@ -113,7 +115,7 @@ class MyDataset(Dataset):
             text = self._load_or_generate_phoneme_sequence(wav_file, text)
         else:
             text = np.asarray(
-                text_to_sequence(text, [self.cleaners]), dtype=np.int32)
+                text_to_sequence(text, [self.cleaners], tp=self.tp), dtype=np.int32)
 
         assert text.size > 0, self.items[idx][1]
         assert wav.size > 0, self.items[idx][1]
@@ -193,7 +195,7 @@ class MyDataset(Dataset):
             mel = [self.ap.melspectrogram(w).astype('float32') for w in wav]
             linear = [self.ap.spectrogram(w).astype('float32') for w in wav]
 
-            mel_lengths = [m.shape[1] for m in mel] 
+            mel_lengths = [m.shape[1] for m in mel]
 
             # compute 'stop token' targets
             stop_targets = [
diff --git a/notebooks/Benchmark-PWGAN.ipynb b/notebooks/Benchmark-PWGAN.ipynb
index f17f71f4..082ffa60 100644
--- a/notebooks/Benchmark-PWGAN.ipynb
+++ b/notebooks/Benchmark-PWGAN.ipynb
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "# LOAD TTS MODEL\n",
-    "from TTS.utils.text.symbols import symbols, phonemes\n",
+    "from TTS.utils.text.symbols import make_symbols, symbols, phonemes\n",
     "\n",
     "# multi speaker \n",
     "if CONFIG.use_speaker_embedding:\n",
@@ -145,6 +145,10 @@
     "    speakers = []\n",
     "    speaker_id = None\n",
     "\n",
+    "# if the vocabulary was passed, replace the default\n",
+    "if 'characters' in CONFIG.keys():\n",
+    "    symbols, phonemes = make_symbols(**CONFIG.characters)\n",
+    "\n",
     "# load the model\n",
     "num_chars = len(phonemes) if CONFIG.use_phonemes else len(symbols)\n",
     "model = setup_model(num_chars, len(speakers), CONFIG)\n",
diff --git a/notebooks/Benchmark.ipynb b/notebooks/Benchmark.ipynb
index 00ac7d16..7d3a45cf 100644
--- a/notebooks/Benchmark.ipynb
+++ b/notebooks/Benchmark.ipynb
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
     "from TTS.utils.text import text_to_sequence\n",
     "from TTS.utils.synthesis import synthesis\n",
     "from TTS.utils.visual import visualize\n",
-    "from TTS.utils.text.symbols import symbols, phonemes\n",
+    "from TTS.utils.text.symbols import make_symbols, symbols, phonemes\n",
     "\n",
     "import IPython\n",
     "from IPython.display import Audio\n",
@@ -149,6 +149,10 @@
     "    speakers = []\n",
     "    speaker_id = None\n",
     "\n",
+    "# if the vocabulary was passed, replace the default\n",
+    "if 'characters' in CONFIG.keys():\n",
+    "    symbols, phonemes = make_symbols(**CONFIG.characters)\n",
+    "\n",
     "# load the model\n",
     "num_chars = len(phonemes) if CONFIG.use_phonemes else len(symbols)\n",
     "model = setup_model(num_chars, len(speakers), CONFIG)\n",
diff --git a/notebooks/ExtractTTSpectrogram.ipynb b/notebooks/ExtractTTSpectrogram.ipynb
index 20038f78..b5a88611 100644
--- a/notebooks/ExtractTTSpectrogram.ipynb
+++ b/notebooks/ExtractTTSpectrogram.ipynb
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
     "from TTS.utils.audio import AudioProcessor\n",
     "from TTS.utils.visual import plot_spectrogram\n",
     "from TTS.utils.generic_utils import load_config, setup_model, sequence_mask\n",
-    "from TTS.utils.text.symbols import symbols, phonemes\n",
+    "from TTS.utils.text.symbols import make_symbols, symbols, phonemes\n",
     "\n",
     "%matplotlib inline\n",
     "\n",
@@ -94,6 +94,10 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
+   "# if the vocabulary was passed, replace the default\n",
+    "if 'characters' in C.keys():\n",
+    "    symbols, phonemes = make_symbols(**C.characters)\n",
+    "\n",
     "# load the model\n",
     "num_chars = len(phonemes) if C.use_phonemes else len(symbols)\n",
     "# TODO: multiple speaker\n",
@@ -116,7 +120,7 @@
     "preprocessor = importlib.import_module('TTS.datasets.preprocess')\n",
     "preprocessor = getattr(preprocessor, DATASET.lower())\n",
     "meta_data = preprocessor(DATA_PATH,METADATA_FILE)\n",
-    "dataset = MyDataset(checkpoint['r'], C.text_cleaner, ap, meta_data, use_phonemes=C.use_phonemes,  phoneme_cache_path=C.phoneme_cache_path, enable_eos_bos=C.enable_eos_bos_chars)\n",
+    "dataset = MyDataset(checkpoint['r'], C.text_cleaner, ap, meta_data,tp=C.characters if 'characters' in C.keys() else None, use_phonemes=C.use_phonemes,  phoneme_cache_path=C.phoneme_cache_path, enable_eos_bos=C.enable_eos_bos_chars)\n",
     "loader = DataLoader(dataset, batch_size=BATCH_SIZE, num_workers=4, collate_fn=dataset.collate_fn, shuffle=False, drop_last=False)"
    ]
   },
diff --git a/notebooks/TestAttention.ipynb b/notebooks/TestAttention.ipynb
index a1867d13..9d3e5e75 100644
--- a/notebooks/TestAttention.ipynb
+++ b/notebooks/TestAttention.ipynb
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "# LOAD TTS MODEL\n",
-    "from TTS.utils.text.symbols import symbols, phonemes\n",
+    "from TTS.utils.text.symbols import make_symbols, symbols, phonemes\n",
     "\n",
     "# multi speaker \n",
     "if CONFIG.use_speaker_embedding:\n",
@@ -110,6 +110,10 @@
     "    speakers = []\n",
     "    speaker_id = None\n",
     "\n",
+    "# if the vocabulary was passed, replace the default\n",
+    "if 'characters' in CONFIG.keys():\n",
+    "    symbols, phonemes = make_symbols(**CONFIG.characters)\n",
+    "\n",
     "# load the model\n",
     "num_chars = len(phonemes) if CONFIG.use_phonemes else len(symbols)\n",
     "model = setup_model(num_chars, len(speakers), CONFIG)\n",
diff --git a/server/synthesizer.py b/server/synthesizer.py
index afc083aa..e9205bf1 100644
--- a/server/synthesizer.py
+++ b/server/synthesizer.py
@@ -9,8 +9,11 @@ import yaml
 from TTS.utils.audio import AudioProcessor
 from TTS.utils.generic_utils import load_config, setup_model
 from TTS.utils.speakers import load_speaker_mapping
+# pylint: disable=unused-wildcard-import
+# pylint: disable=wildcard-import
 from TTS.utils.synthesis import *
-from TTS.utils.text import phonemes, symbols
+
+from TTS.utils.text import make_symbols, phonemes, symbols
 
 alphabets = r"([A-Za-z])"
 prefixes = r"(Mr|St|Mrs|Ms|Dr)[.]"
@@ -38,12 +41,20 @@ class Synthesizer(object):
                             self.config.pwgan_config, self.config.use_cuda)
 
     def load_tts(self, tts_checkpoint, tts_config, use_cuda):
+        # pylint: disable=global-statement
+        global symbols, phonemes
+
         print(" > Loading TTS model ...")
         print(" | > model config: ", tts_config)
         print(" | > checkpoint file: ", tts_checkpoint)
+
         self.tts_config = load_config(tts_config)
         self.use_phonemes = self.tts_config.use_phonemes
         self.ap = AudioProcessor(**self.tts_config.audio)
+
+        if 'characters' in self.tts_config.keys():
+            symbols, phonemes = make_symbols(**self.tts_config.characters)
+
         if self.use_phonemes:
             self.input_size = len(phonemes)
         else:
@@ -54,7 +65,7 @@ class Synthesizer(object):
             num_speakers = len(self.tts_speakers)
         else:
             num_speakers = 0
-        self.tts_model = setup_model(self.input_size, num_speakers=num_speakers, c=self.tts_config) 
+        self.tts_model = setup_model(self.input_size, num_speakers=num_speakers, c=self.tts_config)
         # load model state
         cp = torch.load(tts_checkpoint, map_location=torch.device('cpu'))
         # load the model
@@ -84,7 +95,7 @@ class Synthesizer(object):
             mulaw=self.wavernn_config.mulaw,
             pad=self.wavernn_config.pad,
             use_aux_net=self.wavernn_config.use_aux_net,
-            use_upsample_net = self.wavernn_config.use_upsample_net,
+            use_upsample_net=self.wavernn_config.use_upsample_net,
             upsample_factors=self.wavernn_config.upsample_factors,
             feat_dims=80,
             compute_dims=128,
diff --git a/synthesize.py b/synthesize.py
index bf85d7c9..1f1ce36f 100644
--- a/synthesize.py
+++ b/synthesize.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import string
 
 from TTS.utils.synthesis import synthesis
 from TTS.utils.generic_utils import load_config, setup_model
-from TTS.utils.text.symbols import symbols, phonemes
+from TTS.utils.text.symbols import make_symbols, symbols, phonemes
 from TTS.utils.audio import AudioProcessor
 
 
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ def tts(model,
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
 
+    global symbols, phonemes
+
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     parser.add_argument('text', type=str, help='Text to generate speech.')
     parser.add_argument('config_path',
@@ -105,6 +107,10 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     # load the audio processor
     ap = AudioProcessor(**C.audio)
 
+    # if the vocabulary was passed, replace the default
+    if 'characters' in C.keys():
+        symbols, phonemes = make_symbols(**C.characters)
+
     # load speakers
     if args.speakers_json != '':
         speakers = json.load(open(args.speakers_json, 'r'))
diff --git a/tests/test_config.json b/tests/test_config.json
index 0cd3d751..6d63e6ab 100644
--- a/tests/test_config.json
+++ b/tests/test_config.json
@@ -19,6 +19,16 @@
         "mel_fmax": 7600,        // maximum freq level for mel-spec. Tune for dataset!!
         "do_trim_silence": false
     },
+
+    "characters":{
+        "pad": "_",
+        "eos": "~",
+        "bos": "^",
+        "characters": "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz!'(),-.:;? ",
+        "punctuations":"!'(),-.:;? ",
+        "phonemes":"iyɨʉɯuɪʏʊeøɘəɵɤoɛœɜɞʌɔæɐaɶɑɒᵻʘɓǀɗǃʄǂɠǁʛpbtdʈɖcɟkɡqɢʔɴŋɲɳnɱmʙrʀⱱɾɽɸβfvθðszʃʒʂʐçʝxɣχʁħʕhɦɬɮʋɹɻjɰlɭʎʟˈˌːˑʍwɥʜʢʡɕʑɺɧɚ˞ɫ"
+    },
+
     "hidden_size": 128,
     "embedding_size": 256,
     "text_cleaner": "english_cleaners",
diff --git a/tests/test_demo_server.py b/tests/test_demo_server.py
index c343a6a4..a0837686 100644
--- a/tests/test_demo_server.py
+++ b/tests/test_demo_server.py
@@ -5,13 +5,19 @@ import torch as T
 
 from TTS.server.synthesizer import Synthesizer
 from TTS.tests import get_tests_input_path, get_tests_output_path
-from TTS.utils.text.symbols import phonemes, symbols
+from TTS.utils.text.symbols import make_symbols, phonemes, symbols
 from TTS.utils.generic_utils import load_config, save_checkpoint, setup_model
 
 
 class DemoServerTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    # pylint: disable=R0201
     def _create_random_model(self):
+        # pylint: disable=global-statement
+        global symbols, phonemes
         config = load_config(os.path.join(get_tests_output_path(), 'dummy_model_config.json'))
+        if 'characters' in config.keys():
+            symbols, phonemes = make_symbols(**config.characters)
+
         num_chars = len(phonemes) if config.use_phonemes else len(symbols)
         model = setup_model(num_chars, 0, config)
         output_path = os.path.join(get_tests_output_path())
diff --git a/tests/test_loader.py b/tests/test_loader.py
index 98e0bbce..f2bec24c 100644
--- a/tests/test_loader.py
+++ b/tests/test_loader.py
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ class TestTTSDataset(unittest.TestCase):
             r,
             c.text_cleaner,
             ap=self.ap,
-            meta_data=items, 
+            meta_data=items,
+            tp=c.characters if 'characters' in c.keys() else None,
             batch_group_size=bgs,
             min_seq_len=c.min_seq_len,
             max_seq_len=float("inf"),
diff --git a/tests/test_text_processing.py b/tests/test_text_processing.py
index aa17f694..6c0c7058 100644
--- a/tests/test_text_processing.py
+++ b/tests/test_text_processing.py
@@ -1,7 +1,14 @@
+import os
+# pylint: disable=unused-wildcard-import
+# pylint: disable=wildcard-import
+# pylint: disable=unused-import
 import unittest
-import torch as T
-
 from TTS.utils.text import *
+from TTS.tests import get_tests_path
+from TTS.utils.generic_utils import load_config
+
+TESTS_PATH = get_tests_path()
+conf = load_config(os.path.join(TESTS_PATH, 'test_config.json'))
 
 def test_phoneme_to_sequence():
     text = "Recent research at Harvard has shown meditating for as little as 8 weeks can actually increase, the grey matter in the parts of the brain responsible for emotional regulation and learning!"
@@ -9,67 +16,80 @@ def test_phoneme_to_sequence():
     lang = "en-us"
     sequence = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang)
     text_hat = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence)
+    sequence_with_params = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang, tp=conf.characters)
+    text_hat_with_params = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence, tp=conf.characters)
     gt = "ɹiːsənt ɹɪsɜːtʃ æt hɑːɹvɚd hɐz ʃoʊn mɛdᵻteɪɾɪŋ fɔːɹ æz lɪɾəl æz eɪt wiːks kæn æktʃuːəli ɪnkɹiːs, ðə ɡɹeɪ mæɾɚɹ ɪnðə pɑːɹts ʌvðə bɹeɪn ɹɪspɑːnsəbəl fɔːɹ ɪmoʊʃənəl ɹɛɡjuːleɪʃən ænd lɜːnɪŋ!"
-    assert text_hat == gt
+    assert text_hat == text_hat_with_params == gt 
 
     # multiple punctuations
     text = "Be a voice, not an! echo?"
     sequence = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang)
     text_hat = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence)
+    sequence_with_params = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang, tp=conf.characters)
+    text_hat_with_params = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence, tp=conf.characters)
     gt = "biː ɐ vɔɪs, nɑːt ɐn! ɛkoʊ?"
     print(text_hat)
     print(len(sequence))
-    assert text_hat == gt
+    assert text_hat == text_hat_with_params == gt
 
     # not ending with punctuation
     text = "Be a voice, not an! echo"
     sequence = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang)
     text_hat = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence)
+    sequence_with_params = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang, tp=conf.characters)
+    text_hat_with_params = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence, tp=conf.characters)
     gt = "biː ɐ vɔɪs, nɑːt ɐn! ɛkoʊ"
     print(text_hat)
     print(len(sequence))
-    assert text_hat == gt
+    assert text_hat == text_hat_with_params == gt
 
     # original
     text = "Be a voice, not an echo!"
     sequence = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang)
     text_hat = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence)
+    sequence_with_params = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang, tp=conf.characters)
+    text_hat_with_params = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence, tp=conf.characters)
     gt = "biː ɐ vɔɪs, nɑːt ɐn ɛkoʊ!"
     print(text_hat)
     print(len(sequence))
-    assert text_hat == gt
+    assert text_hat == text_hat_with_params == gt
 
     # extra space after the sentence
     text = "Be a voice, not an! echo.  "
     sequence = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang)
     text_hat = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence)
+    sequence_with_params = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang, tp=conf.characters)
+    text_hat_with_params = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence, tp=conf.characters)
     gt = "biː ɐ vɔɪs, nɑːt ɐn! ɛkoʊ."
     print(text_hat)
     print(len(sequence))
-    assert text_hat == gt
+    assert text_hat == text_hat_with_params == gt
 
     # extra space after the sentence
     text = "Be a voice, not an! echo.  "
     sequence = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang, True)
     text_hat = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence)
+    sequence_with_params = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang, tp=conf.characters)
+    text_hat_with_params = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence, tp=conf.characters)
     gt = "^biː ɐ vɔɪs, nɑːt ɐn! ɛkoʊ.~"
     print(text_hat)
     print(len(sequence))
-    assert text_hat == gt
+    assert text_hat == text_hat_with_params == gt
 
     # padding char
     text = "_Be a _voice, not an! echo_"
     sequence = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang)
     text_hat = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence)
+    sequence_with_params = phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, lang, tp=conf.characters)
+    text_hat_with_params = sequence_to_phoneme(sequence, tp=conf.characters)
     gt = "biː ɐ vɔɪs, nɑːt ɐn! ɛkoʊ"
     print(text_hat)
     print(len(sequence))
-    assert text_hat == gt
-
+    assert text_hat == text_hat_with_params == gt
 
 def test_text2phone():
     text = "Recent research at Harvard has shown meditating for as little as 8 weeks can actually increase, the grey matter in the parts of the brain responsible for emotional regulation and learning!"
     gt = "ɹ|iː|s|ə|n|t| |ɹ|ɪ|s|ɜː|tʃ| |æ|t| |h|ɑːɹ|v|ɚ|d| |h|ɐ|z| |ʃ|oʊ|n| |m|ɛ|d|ᵻ|t|eɪ|ɾ|ɪ|ŋ| |f|ɔː|ɹ| |æ|z| |l|ɪ|ɾ|əl| |æ|z| |eɪ|t| |w|iː|k|s| |k|æ|n| |æ|k|tʃ|uː|əl|i| |ɪ|n|k|ɹ|iː|s|,| |ð|ə| |ɡ|ɹ|eɪ| |m|æ|ɾ|ɚ|ɹ| |ɪ|n|ð|ə| |p|ɑːɹ|t|s| |ʌ|v|ð|ə| |b|ɹ|eɪ|n| |ɹ|ɪ|s|p|ɑː|n|s|ə|b|əl| |f|ɔː|ɹ| |ɪ|m|oʊ|ʃ|ə|n|əl| |ɹ|ɛ|ɡ|j|uː|l|eɪ|ʃ|ə|n| |æ|n|d| |l|ɜː|n|ɪ|ŋ|!"
     lang = "en-us"
     ph = text2phone(text, lang)
-    assert gt == ph, f"\n{phonemes} \n vs \n{gt}"
+    assert gt == ph, f"\n{phonemes} \n vs \n{gt}"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/train.py b/train.py
index 9e7d2aed..b3a0589b 100644
--- a/train.py
+++ b/train.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ from TTS.utils.logger import Logger
 from TTS.utils.speakers import load_speaker_mapping, save_speaker_mapping, \
     get_speakers
 from TTS.utils.synthesis import synthesis
-from TTS.utils.text.symbols import phonemes, symbols
+from TTS.utils.text.symbols import make_symbols, phonemes, symbols
 from TTS.utils.visual import plot_alignment, plot_spectrogram
 from TTS.datasets.preprocess import load_meta_data
 from TTS.utils.radam import RAdam
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ def setup_loader(ap, r, is_val=False, verbose=False):
             c.text_cleaner,
             meta_data=meta_data_eval if is_val else meta_data_train,
             ap=ap,
+            tp=c.characters if 'characters' in c.keys() else None,
             batch_group_size=0 if is_val else c.batch_group_size *
             c.batch_size,
             min_seq_len=c.min_seq_len,
@@ -504,9 +505,12 @@ def evaluate(model, criterion, ap, global_step, epoch):
 
 # FIXME: move args definition/parsing inside of main?
 def main(args):  # pylint: disable=redefined-outer-name
-    global meta_data_train, meta_data_eval
+    # pylint: disable=global-variable-undefined
+    global meta_data_train, meta_data_eval, symbols, phonemes
     # Audio processor
     ap = AudioProcessor(**c.audio)
+    if 'characters' in c.keys():
+        symbols, phonemes = make_symbols(**c.characters)
 
     # DISTRUBUTED
     if num_gpus > 1:
diff --git a/utils/generic_utils.py b/utils/generic_utils.py
index d728eeb9..f6c38530 100644
--- a/utils/generic_utils.py
+++ b/utils/generic_utils.py
@@ -427,6 +427,15 @@ def check_config(c):
     _check_argument('power', c['audio'], restricted=True, val_type=float, min_val=1, max_val=5)
     _check_argument('griffin_lim_iters', c['audio'], restricted=True, val_type=int, min_val=10, max_val=1000)
 
+    # vocabulary parameters
+    _check_argument('characters', c, restricted=False, val_type=dict)
+    _check_argument('pad', c['characters'] if 'characters' in c.keys() else {}, restricted='characters' in c.keys(), val_type=str)
+    _check_argument('eos', c['characters'] if 'characters' in c.keys() else {}, restricted='characters' in c.keys(), val_type=str)
+    _check_argument('bos', c['characters'] if 'characters' in c.keys() else {}, restricted='characters' in c.keys(), val_type=str)
+    _check_argument('characters', c['characters'] if 'characters' in c.keys() else {}, restricted='characters' in c.keys(), val_type=str)
+    _check_argument('phonemes', c['characters'] if 'characters' in c.keys() else {}, restricted='characters' in c.keys(), val_type=str)
+    _check_argument('punctuations', c['characters'] if 'characters' in c.keys() else {}, restricted='characters' in c.keys(), val_type=str)
+
     # normalization parameters
     _check_argument('signal_norm', c['audio'], restricted=True, val_type=bool)
     _check_argument('symmetric_norm', c['audio'], restricted=True, val_type=bool)
diff --git a/utils/synthesis.py b/utils/synthesis.py
index 75778805..ffe9920a 100644
--- a/utils/synthesis.py
+++ b/utils/synthesis.py
@@ -9,10 +9,11 @@ def text_to_seqvec(text, CONFIG, use_cuda):
     if CONFIG.use_phonemes:
         seq = np.asarray(
             phoneme_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, CONFIG.phoneme_language,
-                                CONFIG.enable_eos_bos_chars),
+                                CONFIG.enable_eos_bos_chars,
+                                tp=CONFIG.characters if 'characters' in CONFIG.keys() else None),
             dtype=np.int32)
     else:
-        seq = np.asarray(text_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner), dtype=np.int32)
+        seq = np.asarray(text_to_sequence(text, text_cleaner, tp=CONFIG.characters if 'characters' in CONFIG.keys() else None), dtype=np.int32)
     # torch tensor
     chars_var = torch.from_numpy(seq).unsqueeze(0)
     if use_cuda:
diff --git a/utils/text/__init__.py b/utils/text/__init__.py
index 0fb47952..79069192 100644
--- a/utils/text/__init__.py
+++ b/utils/text/__init__.py
@@ -5,15 +5,15 @@ from packaging import version
 import phonemizer
 from phonemizer.phonemize import phonemize
 from TTS.utils.text import cleaners
-from TTS.utils.text.symbols import symbols, phonemes, _phoneme_punctuations, _bos, \
+from TTS.utils.text.symbols import make_symbols, symbols, phonemes, _phoneme_punctuations, _bos, \
     _eos
 
 # Mappings from symbol to numeric ID and vice versa:
-_SYMBOL_TO_ID = {s: i for i, s in enumerate(symbols)}
-_ID_TO_SYMBOL = {i: s for i, s in enumerate(symbols)}
+_symbol_to_id = {s: i for i, s in enumerate(symbols)}
+_id_to_symbol = {i: s for i, s in enumerate(symbols)}
 
-_PHONEMES_TO_ID = {s: i for i, s in enumerate(phonemes)}
-_ID_TO_PHONEMES = {i: s for i, s in enumerate(phonemes)}
+_phonemes_to_id = {s: i for i, s in enumerate(phonemes)}
+_id_to_phonemes = {i: s for i, s in enumerate(phonemes)}
 
 # Regular expression matching text enclosed in curly braces:
 _CURLY_RE = re.compile(r'(.*?)\{(.+?)\}(.*)')
@@ -57,11 +57,25 @@ def text2phone(text, language):
     return ph
 
 
-def pad_with_eos_bos(phoneme_sequence):
-    return [_PHONEMES_TO_ID[_bos]] + list(phoneme_sequence) + [_PHONEMES_TO_ID[_eos]]
+def pad_with_eos_bos(phoneme_sequence, tp=None):
+    # pylint: disable=global-statement
+    global _phonemes_to_id, _bos, _eos
+    if tp:
+        _bos = tp['bos']
+        _eos = tp['eos']
+        _, _phonemes = make_symbols(**tp)
+        _phonemes_to_id = {s: i for i, s in enumerate(_phonemes)}
+
+    return [_phonemes_to_id[_bos]] + list(phoneme_sequence) + [_phonemes_to_id[_eos]]
 
 
-def phoneme_to_sequence(text, cleaner_names, language, enable_eos_bos=False):
+def phoneme_to_sequence(text, cleaner_names, language, enable_eos_bos=False, tp=None):
+    # pylint: disable=global-statement
+    global _phonemes_to_id
+    if tp:
+        _, _phonemes = make_symbols(**tp)
+        _phonemes_to_id = {s: i for i, s in enumerate(_phonemes)}
+
     sequence = []
     text = text.replace(":", "")
     clean_text = _clean_text(text, cleaner_names)
@@ -73,21 +87,27 @@ def phoneme_to_sequence(text, cleaner_names, language, enable_eos_bos=False):
         sequence += _phoneme_to_sequence(phoneme)
     # Append EOS char
     if enable_eos_bos:
-        sequence = pad_with_eos_bos(sequence)
+        sequence = pad_with_eos_bos(sequence, tp=tp)
     return sequence
 
 
-def sequence_to_phoneme(sequence):
+def sequence_to_phoneme(sequence, tp=None):
+    # pylint: disable=global-statement
     '''Converts a sequence of IDs back to a string'''
+    global _id_to_phonemes
     result = ''
+    if tp:
+        _, _phonemes = make_symbols(**tp)
+        _id_to_phonemes = {i: s for i, s in enumerate(_phonemes)}
+
     for symbol_id in sequence:
-        if symbol_id in _ID_TO_PHONEMES:
-            s = _ID_TO_PHONEMES[symbol_id]
+        if symbol_id in _id_to_phonemes:
+            s = _id_to_phonemes[symbol_id]
             result += s
     return result.replace('}{', ' ')
 
 
-def text_to_sequence(text, cleaner_names):
+def text_to_sequence(text, cleaner_names, tp=None):
     '''Converts a string of text to a sequence of IDs corresponding to the symbols in the text.
 
       The text can optionally have ARPAbet sequences enclosed in curly braces embedded
@@ -100,6 +120,12 @@ def text_to_sequence(text, cleaner_names):
       Returns:
         List of integers corresponding to the symbols in the text
     '''
+    # pylint: disable=global-statement
+    global _symbol_to_id
+    if tp:
+        _symbols, _ = make_symbols(**tp)
+        _symbol_to_id = {s: i for i, s in enumerate(_symbols)}
+
     sequence = []
     # Check for curly braces and treat their contents as ARPAbet:
     while text:
@@ -114,12 +140,18 @@ def text_to_sequence(text, cleaner_names):
     return sequence
 
 
-def sequence_to_text(sequence):
+def sequence_to_text(sequence, tp=None):
     '''Converts a sequence of IDs back to a string'''
+    # pylint: disable=global-statement
+    global _id_to_symbol
+    if tp:
+        _symbols, _ = make_symbols(**tp)
+        _id_to_symbol = {i: s for i, s in enumerate(_symbols)}
+
     result = ''
     for symbol_id in sequence:
-        if symbol_id in _ID_TO_SYMBOL:
-            s = _ID_TO_SYMBOL[symbol_id]
+        if symbol_id in _id_to_symbol:
+            s = _id_to_symbol[symbol_id]
             # Enclose ARPAbet back in curly braces:
             if len(s) > 1 and s[0] == '@':
                 s = '{%s}' % s[1:]
@@ -137,11 +169,11 @@ def _clean_text(text, cleaner_names):
 
 
 def _symbols_to_sequence(syms):
-    return [_SYMBOL_TO_ID[s] for s in syms if _should_keep_symbol(s)]
+    return [_symbol_to_id[s] for s in syms if _should_keep_symbol(s)]
 
 
 def _phoneme_to_sequence(phons):
-    return [_PHONEMES_TO_ID[s] for s in list(phons) if _should_keep_phoneme(s)]
+    return [_phonemes_to_id[s] for s in list(phons) if _should_keep_phoneme(s)]
 
 
 def _arpabet_to_sequence(text):
@@ -149,8 +181,8 @@ def _arpabet_to_sequence(text):
 
 
 def _should_keep_symbol(s):
-    return s in _SYMBOL_TO_ID and s not in ['~', '^', '_']
+    return s in _symbol_to_id and s not in ['~', '^', '_']
 
 
 def _should_keep_phoneme(p):
-    return p in _PHONEMES_TO_ID and p not in ['~', '^', '_']
+    return p in _phonemes_to_id and p not in ['~', '^', '_']
diff --git a/utils/text/symbols.py b/utils/text/symbols.py
index ee6fd2cf..544277c5 100644
--- a/utils/text/symbols.py
+++ b/utils/text/symbols.py
@@ -5,6 +5,18 @@ Defines the set of symbols used in text input to the model.
 The default is a set of ASCII characters that works well for English or text that has been run
 through Unidecode. For other data, you can modify _characters. See TRAINING_DATA.md for details.
 '''
+def make_symbols(characters, phonemes, punctuations='!\'(),-.:;? ', pad='_', eos='~', bos='^'):# pylint: disable=redefined-outer-name
+    ''' Function to create symbols and phonemes '''
+    _phonemes_sorted = sorted(list(phonemes))
+
+    # Prepend "@" to ARPAbet symbols to ensure uniqueness (some are the same as uppercase letters):
+    _arpabet = ['@' + s for s in _phonemes_sorted]
+
+    # Export all symbols:
+    _symbols = [pad, eos, bos] + list(characters) + _arpabet
+    _phonemes = [pad, eos, bos] + list(_phonemes_sorted) + list(punctuations)
+
+    return _symbols, _phonemes
 
 _pad = '_'
 _eos = '~'
@@ -20,14 +32,9 @@ _pulmonic_consonants = 'pbtdʈɖcɟkɡqɢʔɴŋɲɳnɱmʙrʀⱱɾɽɸβfvθðsz
 _suprasegmentals = 'ˈˌːˑ'
 _other_symbols = 'ʍwɥʜʢʡɕʑɺɧ'
 _diacrilics = 'ɚ˞ɫ'
-_phonemes = sorted(list(_vowels + _non_pulmonic_consonants + _pulmonic_consonants + _suprasegmentals + _other_symbols + _diacrilics))
+_phonemes = _vowels + _non_pulmonic_consonants + _pulmonic_consonants + _suprasegmentals + _other_symbols + _diacrilics
 
-# Prepend "@" to ARPAbet symbols to ensure uniqueness (some are the same as uppercase letters):
-_arpabet = ['@' + s for s in _phonemes]
-
-# Export all symbols:
-symbols = [_pad, _eos, _bos] + list(_characters) + _arpabet
-phonemes = [_pad, _eos, _bos] + list(_phonemes) + list(_punctuations)
+symbols, phonemes = make_symbols(_characters, _phonemes, _punctuations, _pad, _eos, _bos)
 
 # Generate ALIEN language
 # from random import shuffle
diff --git a/utils/visual.py b/utils/visual.py
index ab513666..1cb9ac5d 100644
--- a/utils/visual.py
+++ b/utils/visual.py
@@ -54,9 +54,10 @@ def visualize(alignment, spectrogram_postnet, stop_tokens, text, hop_length, CON
     plt.xlabel("Decoder timestamp", fontsize=label_fontsize)
     plt.ylabel("Encoder timestamp", fontsize=label_fontsize)
     if CONFIG.use_phonemes:
-        seq = phoneme_to_sequence(text, [CONFIG.text_cleaner], CONFIG.phoneme_language, CONFIG.enable_eos_bos_chars)
-        text = sequence_to_phoneme(seq)
+        seq = phoneme_to_sequence(text, [CONFIG.text_cleaner], CONFIG.phoneme_language, CONFIG.enable_eos_bos_chars, tp=CONFIG.characters if 'characters' in CONFIG.keys() else None)
+        text = sequence_to_phoneme(seq, tp=CONFIG.characters if 'characters' in CONFIG.keys() else None)
         print(text)
+
     plt.yticks(range(len(text)), list(text))
     plt.colorbar()