Thread: Trying to figure out VPM and TTS

Having checked out the various voice editors, I understand that a language file (vpm file) can be considered as consisting various speech elements, where each element is equivalent (can be broken down to) a wav file.
What I don’t understand is where the link between these speech elements (the equivalent of the wav files) and the map street names (i.e. text) is. Surely it’s not in the vpm file (or is it?).
Does the text reside in the map file? Or does it reside elsewhere?
Besides, what makes a TTS *.vpm file use that text, while a non-TTS voice will not?
And last but not least: are TTS voice files compatible with any type of map? e.g. can an English or German or Spanish TTS voice work with a map of Moscow (Cyrillic letters), or of Tel Aviv (Hebrew letters), or China (Chinese characters) and still say the street names?