Common Voice Scripted Speech 23.0 - Batanga

[Batanga] — Batanga (bnm)

This datasheet is for version 23.0 of the the Mozilla Common Voice Scripted Speech dataset for Batanga (bnm). The dataset contains 17 hours of recorded speech (17 hours validated) from 21 speakers.

Language

Batanga is a coastal Bantu language spoken in the Ocen Division, South Region of Cameroon.

Variants

Contributors to this dataset identified two Batanga dialects: Bapuku and Banoho. Both dialects were used to compile sentence prompts for read speech in the voice clip recordings.

Demographic information

The dataset includes the following distribution of age and gender.

Gender

Self-declared gender information, percentage refers to the number of clips annotated with this gender.

Age

Self-declared age information, percentage refers to the number of clips annotated with this age band.

Writing system

The collection of sentence prompts provided by the language representatives aligns with the General Alphabet of Cameroonian Languages

Sample

There follows a randomly selected sample of five sentences from the corpus.

1. Ó yadi ya sukulu, ihándini behado mʼbɔbɔtɔ

2. Taba ya mwadi ehávɛkwɛ nʼkodi múyava

3. Ovévé voji bwámu, timbaha etungi

4. Bato bɔkɔ́ bahátɔndɔ ija mehɔndɔ myá nʼtiba

5. Inɔngindi jɛtɔ já náh basiyo bahipɔse pɛhɛ

Automatic random samples

 Ivɛndi malinda mámɛ mɛ́hɛ́pi ó ba mesɔji
Vyaha ó ndabo vɛngɛ na kolo, tombete vakɛ na kolo.
Na mɔ́ na nɔngɔ́hɔ mahɔni mámu na dikúkú
Nyuwɛ ya ipala diwedi da moto endi nyuwɛ ya kɔbɔlɔ o mepawo me kwedi
Eyɔ́ endi na wéh wáhá na ehevo.

Community links

• Common Voice translators on Pontoon

Contribute

https://commonvoice.mozilla.org/bnm/speak

Acknowledgements

The compilation of this dataset occured during data camp organized in Yaoundé (Cameroon) in September-October 2024. Two main contributors were involved in the localization of the MCV interface for Batanga, gathering of the sentence prompts, reading sentence prompts, and validating recordings. They are :

• Jean-Mathieu Etoma

• Paul Mpoulet

The organization of the data camp was conducted by a dynamic whose dedication is herewith acknowledged :

• Eliette Emilie-Caroline Ngo Tjomb Assembe (Project Lead)

• Dr. Florus Landry Dibenge

• Blaise Mathieu Banoum Manguele

• Blaise Abo Djoulde

• Mathilde Nyambe A.

• Brice Martial Atangana Eloundou

• Jeff Sterling Ngami Kamagoua

• José Mpuda Avom

• Zacharie Nyobe

• Emmanuel Giovanni Eloundou Eyenga

• André Pascal Likwai

Datasheet authors

Emmanuel Ngue Um ngueum@gmail.com, Jean-Mathieu Etoma etomajmatt@gmail.com, Paul Mpoulet paulmpoulet2024@gmail.com

Citation guidelines

Ngué Um E, Ngo Tjomb EEC, Dibengue FL, Banum Manguele BM, Abo Djoulde B, Nyambe MA, Atangana Eloundou BM, Ngami Kamagoua JS, Mpouda Avom J, Nyobe Z, Eloundou Eyenga EG, Likwai AP (2025) Speech Technologies Datasets for African Under-Served Languages. Proceedings of the Eight Workshop on the Use of Computational Methods in the Study of Endangered Languages, edited by Lachler J, Agyapong G, Arppe A, Moeller S, Chaudhary A, Rijhwani S, Rosenblum D. URL Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL).

Funding

The organization of the data camp that led to the compilation of this dataset was made possible by a grant by the Mozilla Foundation under the Opem Multingual Speech Fund (OMSF)

Licence

This dataset is released under the Creative Commons Zero (CC-0) licence. By downloading this data you agree to not determine the identity of speakers in the dataset.