diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+Copyright Christian Hoener zu Siederdissen 2014
+
+All rights reserved.
+
+Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
+modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
+
+    * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
+      notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
+
+    * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
+      copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
+      disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided
+      with the distribution.
+
+    * Neither the name of Christian Hoener zu Siederdissen nor the names of other
+      contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
+      from this software without specific prior written permission.
+
+THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
+"AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
+A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
+OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
+SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
+DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
+THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
+(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
+OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
diff --git a/NLP/Alphabet/MultiChar.hs b/NLP/Alphabet/MultiChar.hs
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+++ b/NLP/Alphabet/MultiChar.hs
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+{-# LANGUAGE TypeFamilies #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving #-}
+
+-- | An alphabet, where each character is a short bytestring.
+--
+-- Due to the overhead this incurs, we use 'ShortByteString's internally. We
+-- also provide an 'Interned' instance to further reduce overhead using
+-- hash-consing.
+--
+-- TODO we'd like to use the @stringable@ library but it depends on
+-- @system-filepath@ which is not yet compatible with @text>=1@.
+
+module NLP.Alphabet.MultiChar where
+
+import           Data.Function (on)
+import           Data.Hashable
+import           Data.Interned
+import           Data.String
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Short as S
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Short.Internal as S
+
+
+
+-- | Interns a 'MultiChar' character.
+
+internMultiChar :: MultiChar -> MultiChar
+internMultiChar = uninternMultiChar . intern
+
+-- | Wrap a short bytestring. Read and Show instances behave like for normal
+-- strings.
+
+newtype MultiChar = MultiChar { unMultiChar :: S.ShortByteString }
+  deriving (Eq,Ord)
+
+instance Show MultiChar where
+  showsPrec p (MultiChar ps) r = showsPrec p ps r
+
+instance Read MultiChar where
+  readsPrec p str = [ (MultiChar x, y) | (x,y) <- readsPrec p str ]
+
+instance Hashable MultiChar where
+  hashWithSalt salt (MultiChar s@(S.SBS sbs)) = hashByteArrayWithSalt sbs 0 (S.length s) salt
+
+instance IsString MultiChar where
+  fromString = MultiChar . fromString
+
+
+
+-- * Interned
+
+data InternedMultiChar = InternedMultiChar
+  { internedMultiCharId :: {-# UNPACK #-} !Id
+  , uninternMultiChar   :: {-# UNPACK #-} !MultiChar
+  }
+
+instance IsString InternedMultiChar where
+  fromString = intern . fromString
+
+instance Eq InternedMultiChar where
+  (==) = (==) `on` internedMultiCharId
+
+instance Ord InternedMultiChar where
+  compare = compare `on` internedMultiCharId
+
+instance Show InternedMultiChar where
+  showsPrec d (InternedMultiChar _ mc) = showsPrec d mc
+
+instance Interned InternedMultiChar where
+  type Uninterned InternedMultiChar = MultiChar
+  newtype Description InternedMultiChar = DMC MultiChar deriving (Eq,Hashable)
+  describe = DMC
+  identify = InternedMultiChar
+  cache = imcCache
+
+imcCache :: Cache InternedMultiChar
+imcCache = mkCache
+{-# NOINLINE imcCache #-}
+
diff --git a/NaturalLanguageAlphabets.cabal b/NaturalLanguageAlphabets.cabal
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+++ b/NaturalLanguageAlphabets.cabal
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+name:           NaturalLanguageAlphabets
+version:        0.0.0.1
+author:         Christian Hoener zu Siederdissen
+maintainer:     choener@tbi.univie.ac.at
+homepage:       http://www.tbi.univie.ac.at/~choener/
+copyright:      Christian Hoener zu Siederdissen, 2014
+category:       Natural Language Processing
+synopsis:       Alphabet and word representations
+license:        BSD3
+license-file:   LICENSE
+build-type:     Simple
+stability:      experimental
+cabal-version:  >= 1.6.0
+description:
+                Provides different encoding for characters and words in natural
+                language processing. A character will often be encoded as a
+                bytestring as we deal with multi-symbol characters.
+
+
+
+extra-source-files:
+  changelog
+
+library
+  build-depends:
+    base                  >3 && <5  ,
+    bytestring            >= 0.10.4 ,
+    hashable              >= 1.2    ,
+    intern                >= 0.9    ,
+    unordered-containers  >= 0.2.3
+
+  exposed-modules:
+    NLP.Alphabet.MultiChar
+
+  ghc-options:
+
+source-repository head
+  type: git
+  location: git://github.com/choener/NaturalLanguageAlphabets
+
diff --git a/Setup.hs b/Setup.hs
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/Setup.hs
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+import Distribution.Simple
+main = defaultMain
diff --git a/changelog b/changelog
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+++ b/changelog
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+0.0.0.1
+-------
+
+- initial checkin
+- internable MultiChar characters
+