README.md

---
language: kab
license: cc0-1.0
size_categories:
  - 10K<n<100K
task_categories:
  - text-to-speech
  - text-to-audio
tags:
  - kabyle
  - taqbaylit
  - berber
  - tamazight
  - g2p
  - grapheme-to-phoneme
  - ipa
  - phonemization
  - tts
  - low-resource
configs:
  - config_name: default
    data_files:
      - split: train
        path: kab_g2p_train.tsv
---

# Kabyle G2P Training Data

[![Dataset](https://img.shields.io/badge/HuggingFace-Dataset-yellow)](https://huggingface.co/datasets/boffire/kabyle-g2p-training-data)
[![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-CC0-blue.svg)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
[![Language](https://img.shields.io/badge/Language-Kabyle-green)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabyle_language)

Phonetically-annotated Kabyle (Taqbaylit) text corpus for training Grapheme-to-Phoneme (G2P) models. Generated using the [orthography2ipa](https://github.com/athmanemokraoui/orthography2ipa) rule-based phonemizer for Kabyle.

---

## Dataset Overview

| Property | Value |
|----------|-------|
| **Language** | Kabyle (kab) — Afro-Asiatic, Berber |
| **Total pairs** | 59,462 |
| **Source** | [boffire/kabyle-piper-22khz](https://huggingface.co/datasets/boffire/kabyle-piper-22khz) |
| **Phonemizer** | [orthography2ipa](https://github.com/athmanemokraoui/orthography2ipa) (dev branch) |
| **IPA standard** | Narrow transcription with Kabyle-specific allophony |
| **License** | CC0 (inherited from source) |

---

## Files

| File | Format | Description |
|------|--------|-------------|
| `kab_g2p_train.tsv` | TSV (tab-separated) | `graphemes\tphonemes` |
| `kab_g2p_train.jsonl` | JSONL | `{"graphemes": "...", "phonemes": "..."}` |
| `kab_g2p_train.txt` | Plain text | `graphemes|phonemes` (pipe-delimited) |

---

## Phonological Features

The phoneme annotations reflect the following Kabyle-specific rules:

### Consonants
| Grapheme | Phoneme | Notes |
|----------|---------|-------|
| `ɣ` | `ʁ` | Voiced uvular fricative |
| `ɛ` | `ʕ` | Voiced pharyngeal fricative |
| `ḍ` | `ðˤ` | Emphatic interdental |
| `ṭ` | `tˤ` | Emphatic dental |
| `ṣ` | `sˤ` | Emphatic alveolar |
| `ẓ` | `zˤ` | Emphatic alveolar |
| `ṛ` | `rˤ` | Emphatic alveolar trill |
| `k` | `ç` | Spirantized to palatal fricative (blocked after homorganic nasals, /l/, /n/) |
| `g` | `ʝ` | Spirantized to palatal fricative |
| `b` | `β` | Spirantized (blocked after /m/) |
| `d` | `ð` | Spirantized (blocked after /n/, /l/) |
| `t` | `θ` | Spirantized (blocked after /n/, /m/, /l/ word-finally) |
| `x` | `χ` | Voiceless uvular fricative |
| `ɣɣ` | `qː` | Morphological alternation: geminate → stop |
| `xx` | `χː` | Geminate uvular fricative |
| `ww` | `wː` | Geminate labial-velar |
| `yy` | `jː` | Geminate palatal approximant |
| `tt` | `t͡s` | Geminate dental → affricate |

### Vowels
| Grapheme | Default | Backing / Allophony |
|----------|---------|---------------------|
| `a` | `æ` | `ɑ` near emphatics/uvulars |
| `i` | `i` | `ɪ` in closed syllables |
| `u` | `u` | `ʊ` in closed syllables |
| `e` | `ə` | Schwa (unstressed) |

### Gemination
All geminate consonants are transcribed with `ː` (e.g., `qq` → `qː`, `ll` → `lː`, `mm` → `mː`).

### Word Boundaries
The phoneme strings use **spaces** between phonemes. Words are separated by **spaces** (not `|` pipes, unlike VoxCommunis format).

---

## Sample Pairs

| Graphemes | Phonemes |
|-----------|----------|
| Yeqqim d igellil kra yedder. | `jəqːim ð iʝəlːil çræ jədːər` |
| Bḍan. | `βðˤæn` |
| Iɛedda lawan n wuẓu. | `iʕədːæ læwæn n wuzˤu` |
| Sami ikemmel awal. | `sæmi içəmːəl æwæl` |
| Tella tin i yeẓṛan kra? | `θəlːæ θin i jəzˤrˤɑn çræ` |
| Ikad sani leḥḥuɣ. | `içæð sæni ləħːuʁ` |
| Yella ḥedd i izemren ad y-iɛiwen? | `jəlːæ ħədː i izəmrən æð j iʕiwən` |
| Bezzaf meẓẓiyet, ulamek ara tezweǧ. | `βəzːæf məzˤːijəθ ulæməç æræ θəzwəd͡ʒ` |
| Teɛṛeḍ. | `θəʕrˤəðˤ` |
| Ur tɛawen ara. | `ur θʕæwən æræ` |

---

## Usage

### Loading with HuggingFace datasets
```python
from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("boffire/kabyle-g2p-training-data", data_files="kab_g2p_train.tsv")
# or
# ds = load_dataset("boffire/kabyle-g2p-training-data", data_files="kab_g2p_train.jsonl")
```

### Loading as plain text
```python
# TSV
with open("kab_g2p_train.tsv", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    for line in f:
        graphemes, phonemes = line.strip().split("\t")

# JSONL
import json
with open("kab_g2p_train.jsonl", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    for line in f:
        obj = json.loads(line)
        graphemes = obj["graphemes"]
        phonemes = obj["phonemes"]
```

### Training a ByT5 G2P model
```python
from transformers import ByT5Tokenizer, T5ForConditionalGeneration

# Prefix format for ByT5 G2P
def format_input(text):
    return f"kab: {text}"

tokenizer = ByT5Tokenizer.from_pretrained("google/byt5-small")
model = T5ForConditionalGeneration.from_pretrained("google/byt5-small")

# Example
inputs = tokenizer(format_input("Yeqqim d igellil kra yedder."), return_tensors="pt")
labels = tokenizer("jəqːim ð iʝəlːil çræ jədːər", return_tensors="pt").input_ids

# Train...
```

---

## Limitations

### Spirantization of /k/

The phonemization of the grapheme **k** requires special attention in Kabyle. The current implementation applies the following rules:

| Context | Output | Example |
|---------|--------|---------|
| Default (word-initial, intervocalic, post-consonantal except blockers) | `ç` | *akal* → `æçæl` |
| **Blocked** after homorganic nasals (`n`, `m`), `l`, `f`, `b`, `s`, `r`, `ḥ`, `c`, `ɛ` | `k` | *tamellalt* → `θəməlːælt` (final `t` also blocked after `l`) |
| **Blocked** word-finally after `l` | `k` | — |

**Known edge cases:**
- Word-initial `/t/` may or may not spirantize — this requires further verification.
- The `/k/` → `ʃ` allophone (reported in some dialectal descriptions) is **not** implemented; only `ç` is produced.
- Loanwords with non-native clusters may produce unexpected outputs.

Users training G2P models on this data should be aware that the `/k/` spirantization blocking rules are based on the validated specification from July 2026 and may not cover all dialectal variants.

---

## Data Provenance

| Stage | Source |
|-------|--------|
| **Original text** | Tatoeba, Common Voice, and other Kabyle corpora |
| **Audio** | Resampled to 22.05 kHz mono for Piper TTS ([kabyle-piper-22khz](https://huggingface.co/datasets/boffire/kabyle-piper-22khz)) |
| **Phonemization** | [orthography2ipa](https://github.com/athmanemokraoui/orthography2ipa) (dev branch) — rule-based Kabyle G2P with allophony, sandhi, and stress |
| **Validation** | Zero errors across 59,462 utterances |

---

## Citation

If you use this dataset, please cite:

```bibtex
@dataset{kabyle_g2p_2026,
  author    = {Mokraoui, Athmane},
  title     = {Kabyle G2P Training Data},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {HuggingFace},
  url       = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/boffire/kabyle-g2p-training-data}
}
```

---

## Related Resources

| Resource | Link |
|----------|------|
| orthography2ipa (G2P engine) | https://github.com/TigreGotico/orthography2ipa |
| Source audio dataset | https://huggingface.co/datasets/boffire/kabyle-piper-22khz |
| Kabyle CV26 (cleaned speech) | https://huggingface.co/datasets/boffire/common-voice-scripted-speech-kab-26 |
| Kabyle TTS (Piper) | https://huggingface.co/datasets/boffire/kabyle-piper-22khz |

---

## Contact

**Athmane Mokraoui** (boffire)  
Maintainer of Kabyle NLP resources on HuggingFace.

---

*Generated on 2026-07-22*