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English (Nigeria) MFA dictionary v2.2.1#

  • Maintainer: Montreal Forced Aligner

  • Language: English

  • Dialect: Nigerian English

  • Phone set: MFA

  • Number of words: 56,326

  • Phones: a aj aw aː b bʲ c cʰ cʷ d dʒ dʲ d̪ e f fʲ h i iː j k kp kʰ kʷ l m mʲ n o p pʰ pʲ pʷ s t tʃ tʰ tʲ tʷ t̪ u uː v vʲ w z ç ð ŋ ɔ ɔj ɛ ɛː ɜ ɜː ɟ ɟʷ ɡ ɡb ɡʷ ɫ ɱ ɲ ɹ ʃ ʊ ʎ ʔ θ

  • License: CC BY 4.0

  • Compatible MFA version: v2.1.0

  • Citation:

@techreport{mfa_english_nigeria_mfa_dictionary_2023,
	author={McAuliffe, Michael and Sonderegger, Morgan},
	title={English (Nigeria) MFA dictionary v2.2.1},
	address={\url{https://mfa-models.readthedocs.io/pronunciation dictionary/English/English (Nigeria) MFA dictionary v2_2_1.html}},
	year={2023},
	month={May},
}

G2P models
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Installation#

Install from the MFA command line:

mfa model download dictionary english_nigeria_mfa

Or download from the release page.

The dictionary available from the release page and command line installation has pronunciation and silence probabilities estimated as part acoustic model training (see Silence probability format and training pronunciation probabilities for more information. If you would like to use the version of this dictionary without probabilities, please see the [plain dictionary](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MontrealCorpusTools/mfa-models/main/dictionary/english/mfa/English (Nigeria) MFA dictionary v2_2_1.dict).

Intended use#

This dictionary is intended for forced alignment of English transcripts.

This dictionary uses the MFA phone set for English, and was used in training the English MFA acoustic model. Pronunciations can be added on top of the dictionary, as long as no additional phones are introduced.

Performance Factors#

When trying to get better alignment accuracy, adding pronunciations is generally helpful, especially for different styles and dialects. The most impactful improvements will generally be seen when adding reduced variants that involve deleting segments/syllables common in spontaneous speech. Alignment must include all phones specified in the pronunciation of a word, and each phone has a minimum duration (by default 10ms). If a speaker pronounces a multisyllabic word with just a single syllable, it can be hard for MFA to fit all the segments in, so it will lead to alignment errors on adjacent words as well.

Ethical considerations#

Deploying any Speech-to-Text model into any production setting has ethical implications. You should consider these implications before use.

Demographic Bias#

You should assume every machine learning model has demographic bias unless proven otherwise. For pronunciation dictionaries, it is often the case that transcription accuracy and lexicon coverage for the prestige variety modeled in this dictionary compared to other variants. If you are using this dictionary in production, you should acknowledge this as a potential issue.

IPA Charts#

Consonants#

Obstruent symbols to the left of are unvoiced and those to the right are voiced.

Manner

Labial

Labiodental

Dental

Alveolar

Alveopalatal

Palatal

Velar

Glottal

Nasal
Occurrences:
11,448
Examples:
* modem:
[m o d ɛ m]
* foism:
[f o i z a m]
* mayst:
[m e s t]
* mega:
[m ɛ ɡ a]
Occurrences:
2,704
Examples:
* mere:
[mʲ i a]
* semi:
[s ɛ mʲ i]
* mixin:
[mʲ i k s i n]
* mealy:
[mʲ iː ʎ i]
Occurrences:
24
Examples:
Occurrences:
23,067
Examples:
* neddy:
[n ɛ dʲ i]
* jawan:
[dʒ a w a n]
* bench:
[b ɛ n tʃ]
* mane:
[m e n]
Occurrences:
4,914
Examples:
* gnu:
[ɲ uː]
* panic:
[pʰ a ɲ i k]
* ionic:
[aj ɔ ɲ i k]
* nipa:
[ɲ iː pʰ a]
Occurrences:
4,934
Examples:
* skunk:
[s k ɔ ŋ k]
* ungot:
[ɔ ŋ ɡ ɔ t]
* ging:
[ɟ i ŋ ɡ]
* axing:
[a k s i ŋ ɡ]

Stop
Occurrences:
6,279
Examples:
* rupel:
[ɹ uː p ɛ ɫ]
* pshaw:
[p ʃ ɔ]
* cap:
[kʰ a p]
* coupe:
[kʰ uː p]
Occurrences:
7,636
Examples:
* plumb:
[p l ɔ m b]
* bury:
[b ɛ ɹ i]
* biota:
[b aj o t a]
* nobly:
[n o b ʎ i]
Occurrences:
47
Examples:
Occurrences:
53
Examples:
Occurrences:
16,779
Examples:
* spilt:
[s pʲ i ɫ t]
* track:
[t ɹ a k]
* stoep:
[s t uː p]
* it's:
[i t s]
Occurrences:
12,982
Examples:
* mould:
[m o ɫ d]
* shide:
[ʃ aj d]
* homed:
[h o m d]
* defog:
[d ɛ f ɔ ɡ]
Occurrences:
2,530
Examples:
* skew:
[s c uː]
* likin:
[ʎ iː c i n]
* gskew:
[dʒ iː s c uː]
* skein:
[s c e n]
Occurrences:
1,046
Examples:
* ginn:
[ɟ i n]
* gleby:
[ɟ ʎ iː bʲ i]
* bigly:
[bʲ i ɟ ʎ i]
* glebe:
[ɟ ʎ iː b]
Occurrences:
10,202
Examples:
* pacts:
[pʰ a k s]
* close:
[k l o s]
* gleek:
[ɟ ʎ iː k]
* krait:
[k ɹ aj t]
Occurrences:
7,728
Examples:
* gaze:
[ɡ e z]
* hagar:
[ç e ɡ a]
* pego:
[pʰ iː ɡ o]
* sing:
[s i ŋ ɡ]
Occurrences:
136
Examples:
* but:
[b a ʔ]
* apart:
[a pʰ a ʔ]
* mate:
[m e ʔ]
* suit:
[s j uː ʔ]

Affricate
Occurrences:
2,396
Examples:
* chalk:
[tʃ ɔ k]
* belch:
[b ɛ ɫ tʃ]
* chow:
[tʃ aw]
* chock:
[tʃ ɔ k]
Occurrences:
3,827
Examples:
* sigil:
[s i dʒ i ɫ]
* junco:
[dʒ ɔ ŋ kʰ o]
* ajar:
[a dʒ a]
* zhu:
[dʒ uː]

Sibilant
Occurrences:
25,397
Examples:
* cyber:
[s aj b a]
* dulse:
[d ɔ ɫ s]
* dusts:
[d ɔ s t s]
* sfnal:
[ɛ s ɛ f n a ɫ]
Occurrences:
9,030
Examples:
* zis:
[z i s]
* bags:
[b a ɡ z]
* booms:
[b uː m z]
* abysm:
[a bʲ i z a m]
Occurrences:
5,490
Examples:
* shift:
[ʃ i f t]
* shrek:
[ʃ ɹ ɛ k]
* abash:
[a b a ʃ]
* apish:
[e pʲ i ʃ]

Fricative
Occurrences:
5,769
Examples:
* flary:
[f l ɛː ɹ i]
* frock:
[f ɹ ɔ k]
* farse:
[f a s]
* fussy:
[f ɔ s i]
Occurrences:
1,603
Examples:
* filly:
[fʲ i ʎ i]
* raphe:
[ɹ e fʲ i]
* taffy:
[tʰ a fʲ i]
* fib:
[fʲ i b]
Occurrences:
3,930
Examples:
* wives:
[w aj v z]
* arvo:
[a v o]
* vide:
[v aj d]
* vent:
[v ɛ n t]
Occurrences:
1,147
Examples:
* veep:
[vʲ iː p]
* via:
[vʲ i a]
* civic:
[s i vʲ i k]
* villa:
[vʲ i l a]
Occurrences:
1,811
Examples:
* ethic:
[ɛ θ i k]
* forth:
[f ɔ θ]
* thane:
[θ e n]
* meth:
[m ɛ θ]
Occurrences:
449
Examples:
* then:
[ð ɛ n]
* thus:
[ð ɔ s]
* adhan:
[a ð a n]
* dalet:
[d a ʎ i ð]
Occurrences:
695
Examples:
* heals:
[ç iː ɫ z]
* hinny:
[ç i ɲ i]
* humes:
[ç uː m z]
* hitt:
[ç i t]
Occurrences:
2,413
Examples:
* hurst:
[h aː s t]
* mhm:
[m h m]
* hyawa:
[h aj a w a]
* hum:
[h ɔ m]

Approximant
Occurrences:
2,574
Examples:
* warm:
[w ɔ m]
* weber:
[w ɛ b a]
* waspi:
[w ɔ s pʲ i]
* sweat:
[s w ɛ t]
Occurrences:
19,074
Examples:
* brink:
[b ɹ i ŋ k]
* read:
[ɹ iː d]
* idris:
[i d ɹ i s]
* rangy:
[ɹ e n dʒ i]
Occurrences:
1,210
Examples:
* yexes:
[j ɛ k s ɛ z]
* uley:
[j uː ʎ i]
* units:
[j uː ɲ i t s]
* ukie:
[j uː cʰ i]

Lateral
Occurrences:
9,222
Examples:
* julep:
[dʒ uː l ɛ p]
* lapel:
[l a pʰ ɛ ɫ]
* loss:
[l ɔ s]
* isolo:
[i s o l o]
Occurrences:
7,424
Examples:
* sold:
[s o ɫ d]
* dial:
[d aj a ɫ]
* gilt:
[ɟ i ɫ t]
* mils:
[mʲ i ɫ z]
Occurrences:
5,852
Examples:
* dimly:
[dʲ i m ʎ i]
* melee:
[m ɛ ʎ i]
* plea:
[p ʎ iː]
* leans:
[ʎ iː n z]

Vowels#

Vowel symbols to the left of are unrounded and those to the right are rounded.

Front

Near-Front

Central

Near-Back

Back

Close
Occurrences:
40,495
Examples:
* myths:
[mʲ i θ s]
* warly:
[w ɔ ʎ i]
* krym:
[c ɹ i m]
* qubit:
[cʰ uː bʲ i t]
Occurrences:
6,252
Examples:
* chi:
[tʃ iː]
* lea:
[ʎ iː]
* thede:
[θ iː d]
* weed:
[w iː d]
Occurrences:
4,060
Examples:
* aaron:
[a u n]
* lion:
[l aj u n]
* jotun:
[j o t u n]
* kunes:
[cʰ u n z]
Occurrences:
4,741
Examples:
* hew:
[ç uː]
* udo:
[uː d o]
* undo:
[ɔ n d uː]
* fufu:
[f uː f uː]
Occurrences:
3,808
Examples:
* gold:
[ɡ ɔ ʊ ɫ d]
* book:
[b ʊ k]
* umaru:
[ʊ m a ɹ uː]
* lured:
[ʎ ʊ a d]

Close-Mid
Occurrences:
7,827
Examples:
* haig:
[ç e ɡ]
* kane:
[cʰ e n]
* clave:
[k l e v]
* blake:
[b l e k]
Occurrences:
7,119
Examples:
* clio:
[c ʎ iː o]
* oakum:
[o k u m]
* moro:
[m ɔ ɹ o]
* kola:
[kʰ o l a]

Open-Mid
Occurrences:
21,185
Examples:
* recce:
[ɹ ɛ cʰ i]
* rebec:
[ɹ ɛ b ɛ k]
* sid:
[ɛ s aj dʲ iː]
* faq:
[ɛ f e cʰ uː]
Occurrences:
761
Examples:
* erie:
[ɛː ɹ i]
* kerr:
[cʰ ɛː]
* glary:
[ɡ l ɛː ɹ i]
* laird:
[l ɛː d]
Occurrences:
136
Examples:
* viera:
[vʲ iː ɜ ɹ a]
* durst:
[d ɜ s t]
* circe:
[s ɜ s i]
* wyrd:
[w ɜ d]
Occurrences:
3
Examples:
Occurrences:
24,034
Examples:
* hucks:
[h ɔ k s]
* fox:
[f ɔ k s]
* orfen:
[ɔ f ɛ n]
* gourd:
[ɡ ɔ d]

Open
Occurrences:
35,590
Examples:
* myna:
[m aj n a]
* sat:
[s a]
* clans:
[k l a n z]
* pusta:
[pʰ ʊ s t a]
Occurrences:
2,167
Examples:
* serf:
[s aː f]
* merch:
[m aː tʃ]
* quirk:
[kʷ aː k]
* birth:
[b aː ð]

Diphthongs#

  • aj

  • aw

  • ɔj

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