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Vol. 9 (2021)

TACL approved

MasakhaNER: Named Entity Recognition for African Languages

Published 2022-01-04

  • David Ifeoluwa Adelani
    • ,
  • Jade Abbott
    • ,
  • Graham Neubig
    • ,
  • Daniel D'souza
    • ,
  • Julia Kreutzer
    • ,
  • Constantine Lignos
    • ,
  • Chester Palen-Michel
    • ,
  • Happy Buzaaba
    • ,
  • Shruti Rijhwani
    • ,
  • Sebastian Ruder
    • ,
  • Stephen Mayhew
    • ,
  • Israel Abebe Azime
    • ,
  • Shamsuddeen Hassan Muhammad
    • ,
  • Chris Emezue
    • ,
  • Joyce Nakatumba-Nabende
    • ,
  • Perez Ogayo
    • ,
  • Aremu Anuoluwapo
    • ,
  • Catherine Gitau
    • ,
  • Derguene Mbaye
    • ,
  • Jesujoba Alabi
    • ,
  • Seid Muhie Yimam
    • ,
  • Tajuddeen Gwadabe
    • ,
  • Ignatius Ezeani
    • ,
  • Andre Rubungo Niyongabo
    • ,
  • Jonathan Mukiibi
    • ,
  • Verrah Otiende
    • ,
  • Iroro Orife
    • ,
  • Davis David
    • ,
  • Samba Ngom
    • ,
  • Tosin Adewumi
    • ,
  • Paul Rayson
    • ,
  • Mofetoluwa Adeyemi
    • ,
  • Gerald Muriuki
    • ,
  • Emmanuel Anebi
    • ,
  • Chiamaka Ijeoma Chukwuneke
    • ,
  • Nkiruka Odu
    • ,
  • Eric Peter Wairagala
    • ,
  • Samuel Abiodun Oyerinde
    • ,
  • Clemencia Siro
    • ,
  • Tobius Saul Bateesa
    • ,
  • Temilola Oloyede
    • ,
  • Yvonne Wambui
    • ,
  • Victor Akinode
    • ,
  • Deborah Nabagereka
    • ,
  • Maurice Katusiime
    • ,
  • Ayodele Awokoya
    • ,
  • Mouhamadane Mboup
    • ,
  • Dibora Haile
    • ,
  • Henok Tilaye
    • ,
  • Kelechi Nwaike
    • ,
  • Degaga Wolde
    • ,
  • Abdoulaye Faye
    • ,
  • Blessing K. Sibanda
    • ,
  • Orevaoghene Ahia
    • ,
  • Bonaventure Dossou
    • ,
  • Kelechi Ogueji
    • ,
  • Thierno Ibrahima Diop
    • ,
  • Abdoulaye Diallo
    • ,
  • Adewale Akinfaderin
    • ,
  • Tendai Marengereke
    • ,
  • Salomey Osei

David Ifeoluwa Adelani
Saarland University

Jade Abbott
Retro Rabbit

Graham Neubig
Carnegie Mellon University

Daniel D'souza
ProQuest

Julia Kreutzer
Google

Constantine Lignos
Brandeis University

Chester Palen-Michel
Brandeis University

Happy Buzaaba
University of Tsukuba

Shruti Rijhwani
Carnegie Mellon University

Sebastian Ruder
DeepMind

Stephen Mayhew
Duolingo

Israel Abebe Azime
AIMS-AMMI

Shamsuddeen Hassan Muhammad
Bayero University, Kano

Chris Emezue
Technical University of Munich

Joyce Nakatumba-Nabende
Makerere University

Perez Ogayo
African Leadership University

Aremu Anuoluwapo
Masakhane

Catherine Gitau
Afrian Institute for Mathematical Sciences(AIMS)

Derguene Mbaye
Université Cheikh Anta Diop - Baamtu

Jesujoba Alabi
Saarland University

Seid Muhie Yimam
Universität Hamburg

Tajuddeen Gwadabe
University of Chinese Academy of Science

Ignatius Ezeani
Lancaster University

Andre Rubungo Niyongabo
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Jonathan Mukiibi
Makerere University

Verrah Otiende
USIU-A

Iroro Orife
Niger-Volta Language Technologies Institute

Davis David
TYD Innovation Incubator

Samba Ngom
Solid Afrique

Tosin Adewumi
Luleå University of Technology

Paul Rayson
Lancaster University

Mofetoluwa Adeyemi
Udacity

Gerald Muriuki
ADS Research

Emmanuel Anebi
Masakhane

Chiamaka Ijeoma Chukwuneke
Lancaster University

Nkiruka Odu
African University of Science and Technology

Eric Peter Wairagala
Makerere University

Samuel Abiodun Oyerinde
Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State Nigeria

Clemencia Siro
African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, AMMI Rwanda

Tobius Saul Bateesa
Makerere University

Temilola Oloyede
Masakhane

Yvonne Wambui
Hepta Analytics

Victor Akinode
Federal University Oye-Ekiti Nigeria

Deborah Nabagereka
Makerere University

Maurice Katusiime
Makerere University

Ayodele Awokoya
University of Ibadan

Mouhamadane Mboup
Université Alioune DIOP Bambey

Dibora Haile
Makerere University

Henok Tilaye
Masakhane

Kelechi Nwaike
Xidian University

Degaga Wolde
Masakhane

Abdoulaye Faye
Masakhane

Blessing K. Sibanda
Namibia University of Science and Technology

Orevaoghene Ahia
Instadeep

Bonaventure Dossou
Jacobs University Bremen

Kelechi Ogueji
University of Waterloo

Thierno Ibrahima Diop
BAAMTU

Abdoulaye Diallo
Masakhane

Adewale Akinfaderin
Amazon

Tendai Marengereke
Namibia University of Science & Technology

Salomey Osei
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Abstract

We take a step towards addressing the under-representation of the African continent in NLP research, by bringing together different stakeholders to create the first large, publicly available, high-quality dataset for named entity recognition (NER) in ten African languages. We detail the characteristics of these languages to help researchers and practitioners better understand the challenges they pose for NER tasks. We analyze our datasets and conduct an extensive empirical evaluation of state-of-the-art methods across both supervised and transfer learning settings. Finally, we release the data, code, and models to inspire future research on African NLP.
Presented at EMNLP 2021 Article at MIT Press