got it to work!

[myrow at eskimo.com]

Just to let everybody know, adding the loadkeys utility which was in the
package kbd.tgz in Slackware 8.0 did the trick and I was able to compile
kernel 2.4.8 without a hitch.  So, if anybody is using Slackware 8.0 and
can't compile a kernel with Speakup, install this package!  Maybe the
documentation should mention that the loadkeys command must be present to
compile Speakup.  I didn't install it originally because I thought it was
only for non-English keyboards.  Hope this helps somebody.