A Robust Language Processor for African Tone Language Systems

The problem associated with building language processors for African tone languages seems intractable. These problems, which range from homographs handling to domain specific words not in language dictionaries, have resulted in the boundless growth of the font’s system. Some attempts have been made in recent times to overcome these problems. One interesting attempt is the development of the tone language keyboard. The design of such hardware is complex (using more functional keys) and from users’ perspective, more troublesome (keeping an auxiliary of key combinations). This paper implements a software approach to solving this problem for Ibibio, a Lower Cross language of the (new) Benue-Congo language sub-family widely spoken in the southeastern, oil rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The system is designed to enable language database or dictionary switching, provided such dictionaries are designed in a csv file format. We discuss the problems and challenges of this design and prof...