A method of transmitting speech signals with reduced bandwith requirements. With this invention an original speech signal is first converted to a textual representation, and a facsimile of the original speech is determined from the textual representation. Then a minimum error turn is derived from the difference between the original speech signal and the facsimile of the original speech signal. The minimum error turn is then compressed, and it is this compressed minimum error turn, along with the textual representation, that is transmitted on the communications medium. At the receiving end, the textual representation and the difference representation are split through a demultiplexer. The textual representation is then passed through a synthesizer while the difference representation is passed through a mapper. The synthesizer along with synthesis parameter storage converts the textual representation into a digital representation of speech, while the mapper modifies the received difference representation by applying sub or super sampling corrections.