Conversational Speech in Manipuri in the Finance Domain

Dataset creation

The dataset is strictly comprised of natural, spontaneous speech. Speakers were explicitly instructed not to follow a script. They were told to pick a topic they felt comfortable with and think: "How do I talk about this in real life?" To help them sustain natural dialogue for the required 9 to 10 minutes per session, speakers were given a tip to map out 4 to 5 simple bullet points or practice chatting with their partner once before hitting record. They were told to keep it personal, share their own stories, what they have seen around them, and what they think or feel.

The recordings feature natural pairs of individuals who already have an established real-life relationship. Users were told to record the conversations with someone they know, like a friend, a cousin, or a neighbour. To ensure acoustic and conversational diversity, a user could only record with the same partner for a maximum of 3 sessions, and they had to select an entirely different topic each time. For every recording, explicit speaker metadata was logged for the conversational partner, including Age, Gender, Phone Number, and the PIN code of where they are originally from.

Setup and Recording Instructions Given to Speakers:

• Speakers were instructed to talk in a quiet place, so their voices remained clear. While minor background noise was acceptable, it could not interfere with clarity, and both individuals had to be equally audible using the phone’s standard built-in microphone.

• Speakers were given an IMPORTANT safety instruction: they were strictly forbidden from mentioning their real names, their partner's names, where they work, or where they live. All identifying personal details were intentionally kept out of the conversations.

• Every submission had to strictly adhere to a window of 9 to 10 minutes. Participants were required to complete a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 8 conversation recordings per assigned domain.

Directory structure

The root directory contains pairs of WAV and JSON files, aligned with a prefix:

• T-18044.MT-ee55b0648bbd4e3aa1863de8d4bdcfc0.MTA-fa9fed6ffc92421a80c19488dc9b125d.A-562950054523254.W-130571.K-user_recording.R-87ec30a3fc9f4075.merged.json

• T-18044.MT-ee55b0648bbd4e3aa1863de8d4bdcfc0.MTA-fa9fed6ffc92421a80c19488dc9b125d.A-562950054523254.W-130571.K-user_recording.R-87ec30a3fc9f4075.wav

File structure

The JSON file has contains three parts: “audio”, “metadata” and “transcriptions”:

• audio: The filename and file format information

• meta The metadata of the speaker and the topic

• transcriptions: The time aligned transcriptions

Example

{
  "audio": {
    "filename": "T-18046.MT-add4ab8841fa4b7baec244be22f1c94a.MTA-ee29aefef317429388d74a55c921e0c8.A-562950054527938.W-142282.K-user_recording.R-b60e736d2b24d959.wav",
    "duration_sec": 331.759501,
    "sample_rate_hz": 44100,
    "bit_depth": 16,
    "channels": 1
  },
  "metadata": {
    "speaker2_gender": "male",
    "user_topic": "[\"ꯅꯨꯄꯤꯁꯤꯡꯒꯤ ꯑꯃꯁꯨꯡ ꯃꯃꯥ ꯑꯣꯏꯕꯤ ꯁꯤꯡꯒꯤ ꯍꯛꯆꯥꯡꯒꯤ ꯐꯤꯕꯝII\"]",
    "speaker2_pincode": 795001,
    "workerid_gender": "male",
    "val_id": "00342da2476949c798c841e3dccefe36"
  },
  "transcriptions": [
    {
      "utt_id": "T-18046.MT-add4ab8841fa4b7baec244be22f1c94a.MTA-ee29aefef317429388d74a55c921e0c8.A-562950054527938.W-142282.K-user_recording.R-b60e736d2b24d959_0001",
      "speaker": "SPEAKER1",
      "start_time": 0.31,
      "end_time": 2.53,
      "text": " ꯏꯇꯥꯎ ꯏꯇꯥꯎ ꯀꯔꯝꯃꯥꯢ ꯇꯧꯔꯤꯒꯦ ꯍꯨꯖꯤꯛꯀꯥꯟ ꯁꯤꯕꯣ? "
    },
    {
      "utt_id": "T-18046.MT-add4ab8841fa4b7baec244be22f1c94a.MTA-ee29aefef317429388d74a55c921e0c8.A-562950054527938.W-142282.K-user_recording.R-b60e736d2b24d959_0002",
      "speaker": "SPEAKER2",
      "start_time": 2.58,
      "end_time": 10.38,
      "text": " ꯑꯁ ꯏꯇꯥꯎ ꯅꯨꯡꯉꯥꯏꯔꯤ ꯍꯥꯏꯇꯥꯔꯦꯅꯦ ꯀꯃꯥꯢ ꯀꯩꯕꯨ ꯍꯥꯏꯔꯨꯅꯤ ꯅꯨꯉꯥꯏ ꯍꯥꯏꯕ ꯅꯠꯇ꯭ꯔꯗꯤ ꯑꯗꯣ ꯏꯇꯥꯎꯁꯨ ꯎꯗꯕ ꯀꯨꯏꯔꯦ ꯏꯇꯥꯎꯕꯨ ꯏꯇꯥꯎꯁꯨ ꯅꯨꯡꯉꯥꯏꯔꯤꯕꯣ ꯀꯃꯥꯏ ꯇꯧꯔꯤꯒꯦ꯫ "
    },

Translated Examples:

1. ꯍꯣꯍꯣ ꯑꯗꯨꯕꯨꯗꯤꯅꯦ ꯏꯅꯦ bank account ꯂꯩꯔꯕꯨꯗꯤ ꯌꯥꯝ ꯐꯔꯦ ꯑꯗꯨꯗꯅꯦ ꯍꯦꯛꯇ ꯊꯝꯖꯟꯒ꯭ꯔꯣ fix diposit ꯑꯣꯏꯅꯅꯦ ꯏꯅꯦꯅꯥꯅꯦ ꯂꯥꯎꯊꯣꯛꯅꯤꯡꯕ ꯃꯥꯇꯝ ꯗ ꯂꯥꯎꯊꯣꯛ ꯄꯒꯤ ꯃꯑꯣꯡ ꯗ ꯊꯝꯒꯦꯁꯨ ꯌꯥꯏ ꯅꯠꯇꯔꯒꯅꯦ ꯆꯍꯤ ꯃꯉꯥ ꯑꯃ ꯇꯔꯥ ꯑꯃ ꯑꯗꯨꯝ ꯂꯥꯎꯊꯣꯛꯇꯕꯤꯗ ꯊꯝꯃꯒ ꯍꯌꯦꯡꯅꯦ ꯄꯩꯁꯥꯗꯣ ꯁꯦꯟꯗꯣꯏꯒ ꯀꯩꯒ mature ꯑꯣꯏꯔꯛꯑꯀꯟꯗꯅꯦ ꯆꯥꯎꯅ ꯐꯪꯒꯦꯁꯨ ꯌꯥꯏ ꯏꯅꯦ ꯃꯥꯈꯟ ꯃꯈꯥꯟ ꯂꯩꯕꯅꯤ ꯑꯗꯨꯒꯤꯗꯤꯅꯦ ꯃꯣꯏꯒꯤ bank ꯀꯤ ꯃꯤꯁꯤꯡꯗ ꯍꯪꯉꯥꯒꯅꯦ ꯑꯀꯨꯞꯄ ꯃꯔꯣꯜ ꯈꯪꯉꯥꯅꯤ꯫

   • If you have a bank account, it's very good. You don't have to worry much. Fixed deposits are such that when you want to withdraw money, you can withdraw it in the way you want. Or, if you withdraw it after five years or something, you can withdraw it. If the money matures, you can withdraw it. There's so many ways to save money and it'll be better to ask the bank staff for further details.

2. ꯑꯣ ꯑꯗꯨꯕꯨꯗꯤꯅꯦ ꯏꯅꯦ ꯑ insurance ꯌꯥꯎꯕꯁꯦ ꯌꯝꯕꯨꯗꯤ ꯀꯥꯟꯅꯩ ꯍꯥꯏꯗꯤꯅꯦ ꯑꯍꯜ ꯑꯣꯏꯒꯦꯔꯥ ꯅꯍꯥ ꯑꯣꯏꯒꯦꯔꯥ ꯃꯤ ꯑꯁꯦ ꯁꯤꯕ ꯅꯥꯕ ꯖꯦ ꯇꯝꯕ ꯉꯝꯕ ꯅꯠꯇꯦ ꯑꯗꯣ ꯅꯥꯔꯛꯑꯦ ꯌꯦꯛꯂꯛꯑꯦ ꯏꯅꯦꯅꯅꯦ ꯀꯔꯤꯒꯨꯝꯕ ꯍꯥꯏꯕꯨꯗꯤ ꯍꯥꯏꯍꯩꯗꯦꯀꯣ ꯏꯅꯦ accident ꯀ ꯇꯧꯗꯅꯒꯖꯦ ꯌꯥꯝꯅ ꯆꯥꯎꯅꯒ ꯅꯔꯦꯗꯅꯀꯣ ꯏꯅꯦꯒꯤ ꯑꯔꯨꯕ ꯑꯗꯣ ꯏꯅꯦꯒꯤꯅꯦ ꯏꯆꯥ ꯏꯁꯨ ꯂꯩꯍꯧꯔꯤꯕꯁꯤꯡꯁꯤꯅꯅꯦ ꯄꯩꯁꯥ ꯐꯪꯗꯣꯏꯅꯤ ꯏꯅꯦ꯫

• Oh, that's right. Aunt, having Insurance is very beneficial. Whether one is old or young, human beings cannot predict death or illness. If one falls sick or becomes ill .Aunt, I'm not saying it will happen but if a major accident occurs, [PAUSE] Aunt, for such difficult times, the children and grandchildren who are left behind will receive the money.

1. ꯏꯃꯥ ꯏꯕꯦꯝ ꯏꯕꯦꯝꯃ ꯏꯅꯦꯖꯦ ꯉꯔꯥꯡꯖꯦ ꯃꯔꯨꯞ ꯑꯃ ꯐꯥꯎꯋꯦꯕ ꯑꯥ ꯑꯗ ꯄꯩꯁꯥꯖꯤꯗꯤꯅꯦ ꯌꯨꯝꯗ ꯀꯨꯏꯅ ꯊꯝꯖꯟꯕꯖꯦ ꯀꯤꯔꯕ ꯑꫭ ꯍꯧꯖꯤꯛꯀꯥꯟꯗꯤ ꯄꯩꯁꯥꯖꯦ ꯃꯔꯨꯞ ꯐꯥꯎꯋꯦꯖꯦ ꯄꯥꯎ ꯍꯦꯛ ꯇꯥꯒꯤꯕꯗ ꯌꯥꯝꯅ ꯍꯥꯠꯇꯣꯛꯅꯩꯗꯅ ꯫

• Mother, my dear, Aunt got her Marup yesterday. ah But keeping money at home for a long time is scary. ah Nowadays, as soon as people hear news about money being kept for Marup, they come to rob or kill.