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.
