indic_nlp_library/docs/indicnlp.MD

# Indic NLP Library
##  A unified approach to NLP for Indian languages

### Anoop Kunchukuttan (`[email protected]`)

The goal of the Indic NLP Library is to build Python based libraries for common text processing and Natural Language Processing in Indian languages. Indian languages share a lot of similarity in terms of script, phonology, language syntax, etc. and this library is an attempt to provide a general solution to very commonly required toolsets for Indian language text.

The library provides the following functionalities:

- Text Normalization
- Script Information
- Word Tokenization and Detokenization
- Sentence Splitting 
- Word Segmentation
- Syllabification
- Script Conversion
- Romanization
- Indicization
- Transliteration
- Translation

The data resources required by the Indic NLP Library are hosted in a different repository. These resources are required for some modules. You can download from the [Indic NLP Resources](https://github.com/anoopkunchukuttan/indic_nlp_resources) project. 

**If you are interested in Indian language NLP resources, you should check the [Indic NLP Catalog](https://github.com/anoopkunchukuttan/indic_nlp_library) for pointers.**

## Pre-requisites

- Python 3.x 
   - (For Python 2.x version check the tag `PYTHON_2.7_FINAL_JAN_2019`. Not actively supporting Python 2.x anymore, but will try to maintain as much compatibility as possible)
- [Indic NLP Resources](https://github.com/anoopkunchukuttan/indic_nlp_resources)
- Other dependencies are listed in setup.py


## Configuration

- Installation from pip:

    `pip install indic-nlp-library`

- If you want to use the project from the github repo, add the project to the Python Path: 

    - Clone this repository
    - Install dependencies: `pip install -r requirements.txt`
    - Run: `export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:<project base directory>`

- In either case, export the path to the _Indic NLP Resources_ directory

    Run: `export INDIC_RESOURCES_PATH=<path to Indic NLP resources>` 

## Usage 

You can use the Python API to access all the features of the library. Many of the most common operations are also accessible via a unified commandline API. 

### Getting Started

Check [this IPython Notebook](http://nbviewer.ipython.org/url/anoopkunchukuttan.github.io/indic_nlp_library/doc/indic_nlp_examples.ipynb) for examples to use the Python API.
  - You can find the Python 2.x Notebook [here](http://nbviewer.ipython.org/url/anoopkunchukuttan.github.io/indic_nlp_library/doc/indic_nlp_examples_2_7.ipynb) 

### Documentation

You can find detailed documentation  [HERE](https://indic-nlp-library.readthedocs.io/en/latest)

This documents the Python API as well as the commandline reference. 

## Citing

If you use this library, please include the following citation: 

```
@unpublished{kunchukuttan2020indicnlp,
author = "Anoop Kunchukuttan",
title = "The IndicNLP Library",
year = "2020",
}
```
You can find the document [HERE](docs/indicnlp.pdf)

## Website

`http://anoopkunchukuttan.github.io/indic_nlp_library`

## Author
Anoop Kunchukuttan ([[email protected]]([email protected]))

## Version: 0.7

## Revision Log

0.7 : 02 Apr 2020:

    - Unified commandline 
    - Improved documentation
    - Added setup.py

0.6 : 16 Dec 2019:

    - New romanizer and indicizer
    - Script Unifiers
    - Improved script normalizers
    - Added contrib directory for sample uses
    - changed to MIT license 

0.5 : 03 Jun 2019: 

    - Improved word tokenizer to handle dates and numbers. 
    - Added sentence splitter that can handle common prefixes/honorofics and uses some heuristics.
    - Added detokenizer
    - Added acronym transliterator that can convert English acronyms to Brahmi-derived scripts

0.4 : 28 Jan 2019: Ported to Python 3, and lots of feature additions since last release; primarily around script information, script similarity and syllabification.

0.3 : 21 Oct 2014: Supports morph-analysis between Indian languages

0.2 : 13 Jun 2014: Supports transliteration between Indian languages and tokenization of Indian languages 

0.1 : 12 Mar 2014: Initial version. Supports text normalization.

## LICENSE

Indic NLP Library is released under the MIT license