Msingi-AI/MsingiAI-Tokenizers

Language tokenizers and preprocessing tools for low-resource African languages, developed by MsingiAI to empower NLP research and applications. # MsingiAI Tokenizers ### Building Tokenization Tools for African Languages Welcome to the **MsingiAI Tokenizers Repository**! This is a community-driven initiative to develop **high-quality tokenizers** for African languages, which are currently underserved in the world of natural language processing (NLP). By building tokenizers specifically tailored to the linguistic structure and diversity of African languages, we aim to lay a strong foundation for advancing NLP research and applications across the continent. ## Why This Matters Africa is one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world, with over 2,000 languages. Unfortunately, many of these languages lack the basic computational tools necessary for natural language processing tasks. Tokenization is one of the most fundamental tasks in NLP. However, tokenizers designed for widely spoken languages like English, French, or Chinese often fail to account for: - **Complex Morphology**: Many African languages are highly agglutinative, where words are formed by combining multiple morphemes. - **Tonal Systems**: Tone can alter the meaning of words in some languages, but it is often ignored by existing tools. - **Lack of Standardized Orthography**: Some African languages lack standardized writing systems, making tokenization more challenging. - **Multilingual Contexts**: Many African speakers mix multiple languages, often within the same sentence (code-switching). By addressing these challenges, we aim to empower researchers, developers, and communities to build tools that reflect the true richness of African languages. ## 🎯 Project Objectives 1. **Develop Tokenizers**: Build tokenizers for as many African languages as possible, tailored to their unique linguistic features. 2. **Provide Benchmarks**: Establish evaluation frameworks for tokenizers to measure their accuracy and performance. 3. **Create Reusable Tools**: Provide easy-to-use libraries and APIs for African language tokenization. 4. **Fos …