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Swahili MFA dictionary v2.0.0#

  • Maintainer: Montreal Forced Aligner

  • Language: Swahili

  • Dialect: N/A

  • Phone set: MFA

  • Number of words: 34,373

  • Phones: b d dʒ f h i iː j k l m n p s t tʃ u uː v w x z ð ŋ ɑ ɑː ɓ ɔ ɔː ɗ ɛ ɛː ɠ ɡ ɣ ɱ ɲ ɾ ʃ ʄ θ

  • License: CC BY 4.0

  • Compatible MFA version: v2.0.0

  • Citation:

@techreport{mfa_swahili_mfa_dictionary_2022,
	author={McAuliffe, Michael and Sonderegger, Morgan},
	title={Swahili MFA dictionary v2.0.0},
	address={\url{https://mfa-models.readthedocs.io/pronunciation dictionary/Swahili/Swahili MFA dictionary v2_0_0.html}},
	year={2022},
	month={Mar},
}

G2P models

Acoustic models
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Installation#

Install from the MFA command line:

mfa model download dictionary swahili_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.

Intended use#

This dictionary is intended for forced alignment of Swahili transcripts.

This dictionary uses the MFA phone set for Swahili, and was used in training the Swahili 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:
12,949
Examples:
* thoma:
[t ɔ m ɑ]
* mwazo:
[m w ɑ z ɔ]
* mtito:
[m t i t ɔ]
* roma:
[ɾ ɔ m ɑ]
Occurrences:
213
Examples:
* mfuko:
[ɱ f u k ɔ]
* mvumi:
[ɱ v u m i]
* mfike:
[ɱ f i k ɛ]
* mfu:
[ɱ f u]
Occurrences:
14,525
Examples:
* fini:
[f i n i]
* nati:
[n ɑ t i]
* keino:
[k ɛ i n ɔ]
* ndovi:
[n d ɔ v i]
Occurrences:
1,477
Examples:
* penye:
[p ɛ ɲ ɛ]
* nyla:
[ɲ l ɑ]
* nyayo:
[ɲ ɑ j ɔ]
* nyaya:
[ɲ ɑ j ɑ]
Occurrences:
3,695
Examples:
* nguo:
[ŋ ɡ u ɔ]
* bunge:
[b u ŋ ɡ ɛ]
* bingu:
[b i ŋ ɡ u]
* ngazi:
[ŋ ɡ ɑ z i]

Stop Plain
Occurrences:
4,340
Examples:
* penye:
[p ɛ ɲ ɛ]
* fupi:
[f u p i]
* haipo:
[h ɑ i p ɔ]
* picha:
[p i tʃ ɑ]
Occurrences:
2,435
Examples:
* boas:
[b ɔ ɑ s]
* jambo:
[dʒ ɑ m b ɔ]
* bega:
[b ɛ ɠ ɑ]
* baya:
[b ɑ j ɑ]
Occurrences:
10,702
Examples:
* utatu:
[u t ɑ t u]
* thoma:
[t ɔ m ɑ]
* mtito:
[m t i t ɔ]
* fito:
[f i t ɔ]
Occurrences:
2,643
Examples:
* world:
[w ɔ ɾ l d]
* ndovi:
[n d ɔ v i]
* pinde:
[p i n d ɛ]
* dodie:
[d ɔ ɗ i ɛ]
Occurrences:
18,104
Examples:
* wako:
[w ɑ k ɔ]
* kede:
[k ɛ ɗ ɛ]
* keino:
[k ɛ i n ɔ]
* ice:
[i k ɛ]
Occurrences:
3,927
Examples:
* nguo:
[ŋ ɡ u ɔ]
* gairo:
[ɡ ɑ i ɾ ɔ]
* games:
[ɡ ɑ m ɛ s]
* gion:
[ɡ i ɔ n]

Implosive
Occurrences:
2,675
Examples:
* aruba:
[ɑ ɾ u ɓ ɑ]
* abed:
[ɑ ɓ ɛ d]
* klabu:
[k l ɑ ɓ u]
* taabu:
[t ɑː ɓ u]
Occurrences:
1,731
Examples:
* rudi:
[ɾ u ɗ i]
* video:
[v i ɗ ɛ ɔ]
* kede:
[k ɛ ɗ ɛ]
* leeds:
[l ɛː ɗ s]
Occurrences:
1,774
Examples:
* wigo:
[w i ɠ ɔ]
* bega:
[b ɛ ɠ ɑ]
* magma:
[m ɑ ɠ m ɑ]
* mpige:
[m p i ɠ ɛ]

Affricate
Occurrences:
1,998
Examples:
* picha:
[p i tʃ ɑ]
* rich:
[ɾ i tʃ]
* chapa:
[tʃ ɑ p ɑ]
* tupac:
[t u p ɑ tʃ]
Occurrences:
3,450
Examples:
* jela:
[dʒ ɛ l ɑ]
* jaluo:
[dʒ ɑ l u ɔ]
* mrija:
[m ɾ i dʒ ɑ]
* jambo:
[dʒ ɑ m b ɔ]

Sibilant
Occurrences:
5,444
Examples:
* siasa:
[s i ɑ s ɑ]
* boas:
[b ɔ ɑ s]
* ofisi:
[ɔ f i s i]
* sisi:
[s i s i]
Occurrences:
6,430
Examples:
* mwazo:
[m w ɑ z ɔ]
* izizi:
[i z i z i]
* kiza:
[k i z ɑ]
* zana:
[z ɑ n ɑ]
Occurrences:
4,258
Examples:
* flash:
[f l ɑ ʃ]
* asha:
[ɑ ʃ ɑ]
* shahi:
[ʃ ɑ h i]
* ishi:
[i ʃ i]

Fricative
Occurrences:
3,364
Examples:
* ofisi:
[ɔ f i s i]
* fini:
[f i n i]
* fito:
[f i t ɔ]
* flash:
[f l ɑ ʃ]
Occurrences:
2,189
Examples:
* video:
[v i ɗ ɛ ɔ]
* ndovi:
[n d ɔ v i]
* mvumi:
[ɱ v u m i]
* rave:
[ɾ ɑ v ɛ]
Occurrences:
314
Examples:
* south:
[s ɑ u θ]
* uthai:
[u θ ɑ i]
* smith:
[s m i θ]
* nithi:
[n i θ i]
Occurrences:
574
Examples:
* harod:
[h ɑ ɾ ɔ ð]
* faud:
[f ɑ u ð ɑ]
* badhi:
[b ɑ ð i]
* adrid:
[ɑ ɗ ɾ i ð ɑ]
Occurrences:
4,836
Examples:
* haipo:
[h ɑ i p ɔ]
* huwa:
[h u w ɑ]
* johan:
[dʒ ɔ h ɑ n]
* hamid:
[h ɑ m i d]

Approximant
Occurrences:
13,210
Examples:
* mwazo:
[m w ɑ z ɔ]
* wako:
[w ɑ k ɔ]
* waoo:
[w ɑ ɔː]
* world:
[w ɔ ɾ l d]
Occurrences:
3,913
Examples:
* yetu:
[j ɛ t u]
* taya:
[t ɑ j ɑ]
* kuya:
[k u j ɑ]
* baya:
[b ɑ j ɑ]

Tap
Occurrences:
5,273
Examples:
* aruba:
[ɑ ɾ u ɓ ɑ]
* rudi:
[ɾ u ɗ i]
* roma:
[ɾ ɔ m ɑ]
* mari:
[m ɑ ɾ i]

Lateral
Occurrences:
13,852
Examples:
* jela:
[dʒ ɛ l ɑ]
* jaluo:
[dʒ ɑ l u ɔ]
* flash:
[f l ɑ ʃ]
* world:
[w ɔ ɾ l d]

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:
43,427
Examples:
* siasa:
[s i ɑ s ɑ]
* ofisi:
[ɔ f i s i]
* sisi:
[s i s i]
* fini:
[f i n i]
Occurrences:
518
Examples:
* nabii:
[n ɑ ɓ iː]
* vii:
[v iː]
* manii:
[m ɑ n iː]
* viini:
[v iː n i]
Occurrences:
21,693
Examples:
* utatu:
[u t ɑ t u]
* aruba:
[ɑ ɾ u ɓ ɑ]
* south:
[s ɑ u θ]
* rudi:
[ɾ u ɗ i]
Occurrences:
289
Examples:
* huuza:
[h uː z ɑ]
* kuuma:
[k uː m ɑ]
* vikuu:
[v i k uː]
* mguu:
[m ɡ uː]

Close-Mid

Open-Mid
Occurrences:
15,669
Examples:
* jela:
[dʒ ɛ l ɑ]
* penye:
[p ɛ ɲ ɛ]
* video:
[v i ɗ ɛ ɔ]
* kede:
[k ɛ ɗ ɛ]
Occurrences:
171
Examples:
* leeds:
[l ɛː ɗ s]
* meena:
[m ɛː n ɑ]
* wazee:
[w ɑ z ɛː]
* njee:
[n dʒ ɛː]
Occurrences:
12,317
Examples:
* boas:
[b ɔ ɑ s]
* ofisi:
[ɔ f i s i]
* thoma:
[t ɔ m ɑ]
* mwazo:
[m w ɑ z ɔ]
Occurrences:
212
Examples:
* waoo:
[w ɑ ɔː]
* vioo:
[v i ɔː]
* mloo:
[m l ɔː]
* noor:
[n ɔː ɾ]

Open
Occurrences:
62,585
Examples:
* siasa:
[s i ɑ s ɑ]
* boas:
[b ɔ ɑ s]
* utatu:
[u t ɑ t u]
* thoma:
[t ɔ m ɑ]
Occurrences:
1,226
Examples:
* naa:
[n ɑː]
* taabu:
[t ɑː ɓ u]
* maasi:
[m ɑː s i]
* kupaa:
[k u p ɑː]
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