README.md

---
language:
  - sw
  - luo
  - bxk
  - lri
  - rag
license: cc-by-4.0
task_categories:
  - automatic-speech-recognition
tags:
  - swahili
  - kiswahili
  - dholuo
  - lubukusu
  - lumarachi
  - lulogooli
  - kenyan-languages
  - low-resource-languages
  - african-languages
  - speech-corpus
  - spontaneous-speech
pretty_name: KenCorpus Audio
size_categories:
  - n<1K
---

# KenCorpus Audio: A Kenyan Multilingual Spontaneous Speech Corpus

## Dataset Description

**KenCorpus Audio** is a multilingual spontaneous speech corpus for Kenyan languages. The recordings capture natural, unscripted speech from native speakers in their communities across diverse topics including culture, agriculture, commerce, health, and daily life.

Three languages were selected: **Kiswahili**, **Luhya** (dialects: Lumarachi, Logooli, Lubukusu), and **Dholuo**.

## Dataset Statistics

| Language | Files | Duration |
|----------|-------|----------|
| Dholuo | 512 | 99h 3m 8s |
| Lubukusu | 354 | 30h 11m |
| Swahili | 104 | 19h 10m 57s |
| Lumarachi | 138 | 15h 37m 46s |
| Logooli | 44 | 12h 26m 55s |
| **Total** | **1,152** | **176h 29m 46s** |

## Data Fields

| Column | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| audio | Audio | Embedded audio waveform (decoded on load) |
| language | string | Language (Swahili, Dholuo, Lubukusu, Lumarachi, Logooli, Luhya_Bukusu, etc.) |
| genre | string | Genre (Culture, Agriculture, Commerce, Health, etc.) |
| source | string | Data source (Community, etc.) |
| title | string | Topic/title of the recording |
| story_id | string | Unique identifier matching the KenCorpus metadata |
| duration_seconds | int | Duration in seconds (from metadata) |

### Example Record

```python
{
    'audio': {'path': '0001_swa.aac', 'array': array([...]), 'sampling_rate': 44100},
    'language': 'Swahili',
    'genre': 'Culture',
    'source': 'Community',
    'title': 'Masharti ya ndoa',
    'story_id': '1',
    'duration_seconds': 1303
}
```

---

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

# Load the dataset
dataset = load_dataset("Kencorpus/KenCorpus_audio")

# Access a sample
sample = dataset['train'][0]
print(sample['language'])
print(sample['title'])
print(sample['audio']['sampling_rate'])
print(sample['audio']['array'][:10])

# Filter by language
dholuo = dataset['train'].filter(lambda x: x['language'] == 'Dholuo')
print(f"Dholuo recordings: {len(dholuo)}")
```

---

## Genres

Culture, Agriculture, Commerce, Health, Religion, News, Song, Story, and more.

---

## Data Collection

Spontaneous speech recordings were collected from native speakers in their respective language communities. Recordings capture natural, unscripted conversations and narratives.

## Dataset Curators

**Kiswahili:** Rose Felynix, Khalid Kitito, Dr. Benard Okal
**Dholuo:** Jotham Ondu Ajiki, Dr. Jackline Okello, Jonathan Muga, Mercy Lavinca Oduoll
**Luhya (Logooli):** Salano Odari, Dr. Phillip Lumwamu
**Luhya (Bukusu):** Mactilda Nekesa Makana, Mulwale Martin
**Luhya (Marachi):** Yonah Weunda

---

## Citation

```bibtex
@article{wanjawa2022kencorpus,
  title={Kencorpus: A Kenyan Language Corpus of Swahili, Dholuo and Luhya for Natural Language Processing Tasks},
  author={Wanjawa, Barack W. and Wanzare, Lilian D. and Indede, Florence and McOnyango, Owen and Ombui, Edward and Muchemi, Lawrence},
  journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.12081},
  year={2022}
}
```

---

## Links

- **Research Paper**: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.12081
- **Dataverse**: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/KLCKL5

## License

**CC-BY-4.0**

## Acknowledgments

Part of the **Kencorpus** project for low-resource Kenyan language NLP resources.