README.md

metadata

language:
  - kmr
pretty_name: Northern Kurdish
tags:
  - Kurdish
  - Badini
license: cc0-1.0
task_categories:
  - automatic-speech-recognition

Northern Kurdish (Arabic Script) ASR Dataset

Dataset Description

Northern Kurdish is the most widely spoken variant of the Kurdish language and is used across all parts of Kurdistan. Although it is mainly written today in the Latin script, it was historically written in the Arabic script. The Arabic script is still used for this dialect in Southern Kurdistan, particularly in the Duhok province of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Similarly, the primary writing system for all Kurdish dialects in Eastern Kurdistan (Iran) is the Arabic script.

To provide automatic speech recognition (ASR) resources for Northern Kurdish in the Arabic script, we transliterated the Northern Kurdish Common Voice 23 transcriptions from Latin to Arabic script and manually revised the transliterations to ensure consistency with standard Kurdish orthography in the Arabic alphabet.

This dataset can be used for the development of Northern Kurdish ASR systems in the Arabic script, addressing a critical gap in Kurdish speech technology resources.

Audio Source

The audio files are not redistributed in this repository.
They are available in Northern Kurdish Common Voice 23 and can be retrieved from:

https://datacollective.mozillafoundation.org/datasets?q=common+voice

Languages

• Code: kmr
• Name: Northern Kurdish

Tasks

• Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)

License

• cc0-1.0 for the provided transliterated transcriptions
• Audio files follow the Common Voice license (see Mozilla Common Voice)

Reference

If you use this dataset, please cite:

Reference

Mohammad Mohammadamini (2025).
Exploring the reusability of Northern Kurdish resources for Badini speech recognition.