If the installer is using kernel 2.6.34 then speakup probably wouldn't start but it is probably an older version any way. You can do alt-f1 or maybe its alt-f2 to start busybox and press enter. You could mount a memory stick and copy dmesg and look to see what's there on another machine. Or you could boot with grml and if you get software speech you could use debootstrap. Makes me tired just thinking of all the work that would be!
