CTexT delivers ten spelling checkers for evaluation to government
On 4 November 2008, the Centre for Text Technology (CTexT™) from the North-West University
(Potchefstroom Campus) delivered spelling checkers for ten South African languages to the Department
of Arts and Culture (DAC) for evaluation.
CTexT and the Department’s National Language Service (NLS), entered into the agreement at the end of
2006. The aim of the project was to create these spelling checkers specifically for the government
domain. The spelling checkers include customised versions of the existing Afrikaans, isiXhosa, isiZulu,
Sepedi and Setswana spelling checkers, as well as first generation spelling checkers for Sesotho,
Tshivenda and Xitsonga and second generation spelling checkers for isiNdebele and Siswati.
On the day of delivery, CTexT visited the NLS for a workshop that was attended by their core evaluation
group. During this workshop, Suléne Pilon from CTexT’s management committee explained the
workings of spelling checkers in general, as well as what can be expected of them. She emphasised the
fact that spelling checkers cannot take into account the context in which a word is used and that they
can therefore not flag the incorrect usage of a valid word. The DAC was assured that the data obtained
for the spelling checkers was checked by linguists and that their performance is in accordance with
internationally accepted standards. These standards require spelling checkers to have both a lexical
recall (the ability to recognise correctly spelled words as correct) and an error recall (the ability to flag
incorrect words) of more than 90%.
“The spelling checker project, commissioned to CTexT of the NWU, is one of the major initiatives of the
DAC in the area of Human Language Technologies. Its aim is to enhance quality and consistency of
documents rendered in or translated into official languages and thus contributing to the implementation
of the National Language Policy Framework,” said Dr. Mbulelo Jokweni, Chief Director of the National
Language Service.
Government translators will evaluate the spelling checkers and give CTexT feedback. The final versions
of the spelling checkers will officially be presented to the DAC early in 2009.