Adding tts to apps?

[Thomas D. Ward]

Hello, list. I have been planning to create a couple of new applications
like a talking bible program complete with King James translation, Strongs
Concordence, and bible dictionaries.
The application itself wouldn't be hard to make, but I want to add the
option of having text to speech included in the application. Then, have it
use something like say or Viavoice Outloud as the synth.
What all is involved in creating a tts engine, and would it be better to do
in strait c or just go ahead and bring it up to cxx.
I've asked people at my training classes, and they really didn't know much
about text to speech technology.
So I was wondering these questions.

1. What is the best language to write tts engines in?
2. How  do you direct speech to the synth of your choice?
3. Where can I find really good commented source code that would explain how
tts engines work.
4. Can anyone share any other comments?

If anyone could help me that would be nice. Thanks.