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Dialects — where your contribution goes

Africa has hundreds of languages and many dialects within each language. This repo handles that with a simple rule:

One pack = one language variant with a clear geographic scope.
Dialect differences usually go inside that pack as aliases, not as separate folders.

Read this before opening a PR if you speak a regional dialect — e.g. coastal Swahili, Kano Hausa, Wolof in Senegal vs Mauritania, isiXhosa variants, Amharic regional usage.

Decision tree (30 seconds)

Is there already a pack for your language?
│
├─ NO  → Add a new pack (see NAMING_GUIDE.md)
│
└─ YES → Is your dialect still the same language in that pack's scopeNote?
         │
         ├─ YES → Edit THAT pack. Add your phrasing as aliases.
         │
         └─ NO  → Different creole / country variant / teaching standard?
                  → New pack with new name + locale (e.g. cameroon-pidgin, hausa-niger)

Option 1: Add aliases (most common)

Use this when:

  • A pack already exists for your language (swahili, hausa, wolof, igbo, zulu, …)
  • Your dialect differs in word choice, not a completely different language
  • You are in another city or country but still within that pack’s scopeNote

Where: packs/<language>/keywords.json and packs/<language>/pack.json → keywords

Example — Swahili regional phrasing (sw-KE pack, East Africa):

"IF": ["kama", "ikiwa", "if"]

Example — Wolof (wo-SN, West Africa):

"PRINT": ["wone ci ecran bi", "print", "console.log"]

Example — isiZulu (zu-ZA, Southern Africa):

"IF": ["uma", "kepha uma", "if"]

Also update scopeNote if helpful:

"scopeNote": "Swahili baseline (Kenya-led). Includes common East African aliases; say your country in the PR."

PR description: "I speak Swahili from [country/city]. Added aliases for X, Y — did not change pack scope."

Option 2: New pack (different variant)

Use this when:

  • It is a different creole or language (Nigerian Pidgin ≠ Cameroon Pidgin)
  • It is a country-specific teaching standard (planned: hausa-niger ha-NE vs hausa ha-NG)
  • The existing pack's scopeNote says your phrases do not belong there

Where: new folder packs/<new-name>/ + entry in packs/index.json

Example — West vs Central Africa pidgin:

Field West (exists) Central (new pack)
name nigerian-pidgin cameroon-pidgin
languageCode pcm wes
locale pcm-NG wes-CM
displayName Nigerian Pidgin Cameroon Pidgin

Do not add Kamtok phrases to packs/nigerian-pidgin/.

Example — Hausa across West Africa (same language, different locale):

Field Nigeria baseline Niger variant
name hausa hausa-niger
languageCode ha ha
locale ha-NG ha-NE

Same languageCode, different locale — that is how we split regional standards.

Example — Edoid languages in Edo State (different languages):

Field Ẹdo (Bini) Etsako (Yekhee)
name edo etsako (planned)
languageCode bin ets
locale bin-NG ets-NG

Same Nigerian state does not make them one pack. Etsako is a sibling Edoid language, not an Edo dialect. Do not add Etsako glosses under packs/edo/.

What NOT to do

Don't Why
Create packs/zulu-durban/ for alias-level differences Use aliases in zulu instead
Mix Nigerian Pidgin and Cameroon Pidgin in one pack Different countries / creoles → different packs
Mix Wolof and Hausa in one pack Different languages → different packs
Mix Ẹdo (Bini) and Etsako (Yekhee) in one pack Sibling Edoid languages → different packs (bin vs ets)
Change languageCode to a country code (NG, ZA) Country codes go in countries, not languageCode
Start a new pack without checking language-registry.json You may duplicate a planned pack

Many languages across Africa

Each language gets its own pack (Swahili, Hausa, Wolof, Amharic, Lingala, isiZulu, …).
Each dialect of that language usually shares that pack via aliases.

If your language is not listed in index.json, add a new language pack — not a dialect folder.

Unsure? Open a GitHub issue with tag question. Say your language, dialect, and country/region.