| --- |
| language: |
| - mul |
| license: cc-by-sa-4.0 |
| task_categories: |
| - text-classification |
| - token-classification |
| tags: |
| - linguistics |
| - historical-linguistics |
| - cognate-detection |
| - phylogenetics |
| - ancient-languages |
| - IPA |
| - phonetics |
| size_categories: |
| - 10M<n<100M |
| configs: |
| - config_name: cognate_pairs_inherited |
| data_files: |
| - split: train |
| path: data/training/cognate_pairs/cognate_pairs_inherited.parquet |
| - config_name: cognate_pairs_borrowing |
| data_files: |
| - split: train |
| path: data/training/cognate_pairs/cognate_pairs_borrowing.parquet |
| - config_name: cognate_pairs_similarity |
| data_files: |
| - split: train |
| path: data/training/cognate_pairs/cognate_pairs_similarity.parquet |
| - config_name: cognate_pairs_phono_filtered |
| data_files: |
| - split: train |
| path: data/training/cognate_pairs/cognate_pairs_phono_filtered.parquet |
| - config_name: linear_a_phonotactics_validation |
| data_files: |
| - split: train |
| path: data/training/cognate_pairs/linear_a_phonotactics_validation.parquet |
| - config_name: phylo_pairs |
| data_files: |
| - split: train |
| path: data/training/metadata/phylo_pairs.parquet |
| - config_name: languages |
| data_files: |
| - split: train |
| path: data/training/metadata/languages.parquet |
| --- |
| |
| # Ancient Scripts Decipherment Datasets |
|
|
| Collated datasets for the paper: |
|
|
| > **Deciphering Undersegmented Ancient Scripts Using Phonetic Prior** |
| > Jiaming Luo, Frederik Hartmann, Enrico Santus, Regina Barzilay, Yuan Cao |
| > *Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics*, 2021 |
| > [arXiv:2010.11054](https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.11054) |
|
|
| This repository gathers the training datasets used in the paper — both those hosted in the authors' GitHub repos and the external cited sources. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Repository Structure |
|
|
| ``` |
| data/ |
| ├── gothic/ # Gothic language data |
| │ ├── got.pretrained.pth # Pretrained phonological embeddings (PyTorch) |
| │ ├── segments.pkl # Phonetic segment data (Python pickle) |
| │ ├── gotica.txt # Gothic Bible plain text (Wulfila project) |
| │ └── gotica.xml.zip # Gothic Bible TEI XML (Wulfila project) |
| │ |
| ├── ugaritic/ # Ugaritic-Hebrew cognate data |
| │ ├── uga-heb.no_spe.cog # Full cognate pairs (TSV, ~7,353 tokens) |
| │ └── uga-heb.small.no_spe.cog # Small training subset (~10% of full) |
| │ |
| ├── iberian/ # Iberian inscription data |
| │ └── iberian.csv # Cleaned Hesperia epigraphy (3,466 chunks) |
| │ |
| ├── religious_terms/ # ** CURATED SUBSET: Religious vocabulary ** |
| │ ├── README.md # Methodology and category definitions |
| │ ├── ugaritic_hebrew_religious.tsv # ~170 Ug-Heb cognate pairs (deity, ritual, sacred) |
| │ ├── gothic_religious.tsv # ~65 Gothic Bible religious terms |
| │ └── iberian_religious.tsv # ~40 Iberian votive/religious elements |
| │ |
| ├── linear_b/ # Linear B (Mycenaean Greek) dataset |
| │ ├── README.md # Sources, methodology, limitations |
| │ ├── linear_b_signs.tsv # 211 signs (88 syllabograms + 123 ideograms) |
| │ ├── sign_to_ipa.json # 74 syllabogram → IPA mappings |
| │ └── linear_b_words.tsv # 2,484 words with IPA, glosses, sources |
| │ |
| ├── validation/ # Phylogenetic validation dataset (9 branches) |
| │ ├── README.md # Format, sources, concept list |
| │ ├── concepts.tsv # 40 shared concept IDs |
| │ ├── germanic.tsv # got, ang, non, goh (~160 entries) |
| │ ├── celtic.tsv # sga, cym, bre (~120 entries) |
| │ ├── balto_slavic.tsv # lit, chu, rus (~120 entries) |
| │ ├── indo_iranian.tsv # san, ave, fas (~120 entries) |
| │ ├── italic.tsv # lat, osc, xum (~120 entries) |
| │ ├── hellenic.tsv # grc, gmy (~80 entries) |
| │ ├── semitic.tsv # heb, arb, amh (~120 entries) |
| │ ├── turkic.tsv # otk, tur, aze (~120 entries) |
| │ └── uralic.tsv # fin, hun, est (~120 entries) |
| │ |
| └── cited_sources/ # External datasets cited in the paper |
| ├── genesis/ |
| │ ├── Hebrew.xml # Hebrew Bible (Christodouloupoulos & Steedman 2015) |
| │ └── Latin.xml # Latin Bible (same corpus) |
| ├── basque/ |
| │ ├── Basque-NT.xml # Basque New Testament (same corpus) |
| │ └── Trask_Etymological_Dictionary_Basque.pdf # Trask's Basque etymological dictionary |
| └── iberian_names/ |
| └── RodriguezRamos2014.pdf # Iberian onomastic index (personal names) |
| ``` |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Dataset Details |
|
|
| ### Gothic (`data/gothic/`) |
|
|
| | File | Source | Description | |
| |---|---|---| |
| | `got.pretrained.pth` | [DecipherUnsegmented](https://github.com/j-luo93/DecipherUnsegmented) | Pretrained phonological embeddings trained on Gothic IPA data | |
| | `segments.pkl` | [DecipherUnsegmented](https://github.com/j-luo93/DecipherUnsegmented) | Serialized phonetic segment inventory | |
| | `gotica.txt` | [Wulfila Project](https://www.wulfila.be/gothic/download/) | Plain text of the Gothic Bible (4th century CE translation by Bishop Wulfila) | |
| | `gotica.xml.zip` | [Wulfila Project](https://www.wulfila.be/gothic/download/) | TEI P5 XML encoding with linguistic annotations | |
|
|
| The Gothic Bible is the primary source of Gothic text. The paper uses unsegmented Gothic inscriptions from the 3rd-10th century AD period. |
|
|
| ### Ugaritic (`data/ugaritic/`) |
|
|
| | File | Source | Description | |
| |---|---|---| |
| | `uga-heb.no_spe.cog` | [NeuroDecipher](https://github.com/j-luo93/NeuroDecipher) | Full Ugaritic-Hebrew cognate pairs | |
| | `uga-heb.small.no_spe.cog` | [NeuroDecipher](https://github.com/j-luo93/NeuroDecipher) | ~10% training subset | |
|
|
| **Format:** Tab-separated values. Each row is a cognate pair. Column 1 = Ugaritic transliteration, Column 2 = Hebrew transliteration. `|` separates multiple cognates; `_` marks missing entries. Originally from Snyder et al. (2010), covering 7,353 segmented tokens from the 14th-12th century BC. |
|
|
| ### Iberian (`data/iberian/`) |
|
|
| | File | Source | Description | |
| |---|---|---| |
| | `iberian.csv` | [DecipherUnsegmented](https://github.com/j-luo93/DecipherUnsegmented) | Cleaned epigraphic inscriptions | |
|
|
| **Format:** CSV with columns `REF. HESPERIA` (inscription reference code) and `cleaned` (transcribed text). Contains 3,466 undersegmented character chunks from the 6th-1st century BC. Sourced from the [Hesperia database](http://hesperia.ucm.es/en/proyecto_hesperia.php) and cleaned via the authors' Jupyter notebook. |
|
|
| ### Linear B / Mycenaean Greek (`data/linear_b/`) |
| |
| | File | Source | Description | |
| |---|---|---| |
| | `linear_b_signs.tsv` | [Unicode UCD](https://www.unicode.org/Public/UCD/latest/) | 211 signs: 88 syllabograms + 123 ideograms with Bennett numbers and IPA | |
| | `sign_to_ipa.json` | Ventris & Chadwick (1973) | 74 syllabogram transliteration → IPA mappings | |
| | `linear_b_words.tsv` | Multiple (see below) | 2,478 words with IPA, glosses, and source attribution | |
| |
| **Format:** Tab-separated values. The word list contains columns: `Word` (transliteration), `IPA`, `SCA` (sound class), `Source`, `Concept_ID`, `Cognate_Set_ID`, `Gloss`, `Word_Type`, `IPA_Source`. Words come from three CC-BY-SA compatible sources: [jhnwnstd/shannon](https://github.com/jhnwnstd/shannon) Linear B Lexicon (MIT, 2,272 entries), [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Mycenaean_Greek_lemmas) Mycenaean Greek lemmas (CC-BY-SA, 170 entries with 46 expert IPA), and IE-CoR cognate pairs (42 entries). The sign inventory is from the Unicode Character Database. |
|
|
| ### Cited Sources (`data/cited_sources/`) |
| |
| These are external datasets referenced in the paper for known-language vocabularies and comparison: |
| |
| | File | Citation | Usage in Paper | |
| |---|---|---| |
| | `genesis/Hebrew.xml` | Christodouloupoulos & Steedman (2015) | Hebrew vocabulary for Ugaritic comparison | |
| | `genesis/Latin.xml` | Christodouloupoulos & Steedman (2015) | Latin vocabulary for cross-linguistic comparison | |
| | `basque/Basque-NT.xml` | Christodouloupoulos & Steedman (2015) | Basque vocabulary for Iberian comparison | |
| | `basque/Trask_Etymological_Dictionary_Basque.pdf` | Trask (2008) | Basque etymological data | |
| | `iberian_names/RodriguezRamos2014.pdf` | Rodriguez Ramos (2014) | Iberian personal name lists with Latin correspondences | |
|
|
| The Bible texts are from the [Massively Parallel Bible Corpus](https://github.com/christos-c/bible-corpus) (CC0 licensed). |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Additional Data Sources (Not Included) |
|
|
| The following sources were cited in the paper but are not machine-readable or freely downloadable: |
|
|
| - **Wiktionary descendant trees** for Proto-Germanic, Old Norse, and Old English vocabularies — extracted by the authors from Wiktionary's structured data |
| - **Original Hesperia epigraphy** (`hesperia_epigraphy.csv`) — referenced in the DecipherUnsegmented README but not present in the repository |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Cognate Detection Pipeline |
|
|
| The `cognate_pipeline/` directory contains a full Python package for cross-linguistic cognate detection, built on the datasets in this repository. It provides: |
|
|
| - **Ingestion** of CSV/TSV/COG, CLDF, Wiktionary JSONL, and generic JSON sources |
| - **Phonetic normalisation** with transcription type tracking (IPA, transliteration, orthographic) |
| - **SCA sound class encoding** (List 2012) for phonological comparison |
| - **Family-aware cognate candidate generation** (tags `cognate_inherited` vs `similarity_only`) |
| - **Weighted Levenshtein scoring** with SCA-class-aware substitution costs |
| - **Clustering** via connected components or UPGMA |
| - **PostgreSQL/PostGIS database** with 8 normalised tables and Alembic migrations |
| - **Export** to CLDF Wordlist and JSON-LD formats |
| - **Full provenance tracking** through every pipeline stage |
|
|
| Supports 36 languages across 9 phylogenetic branches (Germanic, Celtic, Balto-Slavic, Indo-Iranian, Italic, Hellenic, Semitic, Turkic, Uralic) plus isolates, with Glottocode resolution and IPA transcriptions. |
|
|
| See `data/validation/README.md` for the phylogenetic validation dataset. |
|
|
| See [`cognate_pipeline/README.md`](cognate_pipeline/README.md) for installation and usage. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Original Repositories |
|
|
| - [j-luo93/DecipherUnsegmented](https://github.com/j-luo93/DecipherUnsegmented) — main code for the paper |
| - [j-luo93/NeuroDecipher](https://github.com/j-luo93/NeuroDecipher) — predecessor (Ugaritic/Linear B decipherment) |
| - [j-luo93/xib](https://github.com/j-luo93/xib) — earlier Iberian codebase |
|
|
| ## Programmatic Access |
|
|
| ### Via HuggingFace `datasets` |
|
|
| ```python |
| from datasets import load_dataset |
| |
| # Load cognate pairs (Parquet, fast) |
| ds = load_dataset("Nacryos/ancient-scripts-datasets", "cognate_pairs_inherited") |
| |
| # Available configs: cognate_pairs_inherited, cognate_pairs_borrowing, |
| # cognate_pairs_similarity, phylo_pairs, languages |
| ``` |
|
|
| ### Via Python SDK |
|
|
| For typed access with phylogenetic filtering, IPA parsing, and validation sets: |
|
|
| ```bash |
| pip install git+https://github.com/Project-Phaistos/ancient-scripts-datasets-NEW.git |
| ``` |
|
|
| ```python |
| from ancient_scripts_data import AncientScriptsDataset |
| |
| ds = AncientScriptsDataset() # auto-downloads from HF |
| pairs = ds.cognate_pairs("inherited", phylo_filter="close_sister", limit=1000) |
| lex = ds.lexicon("lat") |
| rel = ds.phylo_relation("lat", "spa") # near_ancestral |
| ``` |
|
|
| See the [SDK documentation](https://github.com/Project-Phaistos/ancient-scripts-datasets-NEW) for full API reference. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Paper Citation |
|
|
| ```bibtex |
| @article{luo2021deciphering, |
| title={Deciphering Undersegmented Ancient Scripts Using Phonetic Prior}, |
| author={Luo, Jiaming and Hartmann, Frederik and Santus, Enrico and Barzilay, Regina and Cao, Yuan}, |
| journal={Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics}, |
| volume={9}, |
| pages={69--81}, |
| year={2021}, |
| doi={10.1162/tacl_a_00354} |
| } |
| ``` |
|
|
