diff --git a/spacy/lang/da/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/da/__init__.py
index 8cac30b26..7128338af 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/da/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/da/__init__.py
@@ -3,9 +3,21 @@ from .punctuation import TOKENIZER_INFIXES, TOKENIZER_SUFFIXES
 from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
 from .lex_attrs import LEX_ATTRS
 from ...language import Language
+from ...util import load_config_from_str
+
+
+DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
+[initialize]
+
+[initialize.lookups]
+@misc = "spacy.LookupsDataLoader.v1"
+lang = ${nlp.lang}
+tables = ["lexeme_norm"]
+"""
 
 
 class DanishDefaults(Language.Defaults):
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     tokenizer_exceptions = TOKENIZER_EXCEPTIONS
     infixes = TOKENIZER_INFIXES
     suffixes = TOKENIZER_SUFFIXES
diff --git a/spacy/lang/de/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/de/__init__.py
index b645d3480..99c161961 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/de/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/de/__init__.py
@@ -3,9 +3,21 @@ from .punctuation import TOKENIZER_PREFIXES, TOKENIZER_SUFFIXES, TOKENIZER_INFIX
 from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
 from .syntax_iterators import SYNTAX_ITERATORS
 from ...language import Language
+from ...util import load_config_from_str
+
+
+DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
+[initialize]
+
+[initialize.lookups]
+@misc = "spacy.LookupsDataLoader.v1"
+lang = ${nlp.lang}
+tables = ["lexeme_norm"]
+"""
 
 
 class GermanDefaults(Language.Defaults):
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     tokenizer_exceptions = TOKENIZER_EXCEPTIONS
     prefixes = TOKENIZER_PREFIXES
     suffixes = TOKENIZER_SUFFIXES
diff --git a/spacy/lang/el/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/el/__init__.py
index 1a7b19914..818405842 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/el/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/el/__init__.py
@@ -9,9 +9,21 @@ from .punctuation import TOKENIZER_PREFIXES, TOKENIZER_SUFFIXES, TOKENIZER_INFIX
 from .lemmatizer import GreekLemmatizer
 from ...lookups import Lookups
 from ...language import Language
+from ...util import load_config_from_str
+
+
+DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
+[initialize]
+
+[initialize.lookups]
+@misc = "spacy.LookupsDataLoader.v1"
+lang = ${nlp.lang}
+tables = ["lexeme_norm"]
+"""
 
 
 class GreekDefaults(Language.Defaults):
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     tokenizer_exceptions = TOKENIZER_EXCEPTIONS
     prefixes = TOKENIZER_PREFIXES
     suffixes = TOKENIZER_SUFFIXES
diff --git a/spacy/lang/en/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/en/__init__.py
index bf7e9987f..f4ea10f9c 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/en/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/en/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 from typing import Optional
-
 from thinc.api import Model
 
 from .tokenizer_exceptions import TOKENIZER_EXCEPTIONS
@@ -10,9 +9,21 @@ from .punctuation import TOKENIZER_INFIXES
 from .lemmatizer import EnglishLemmatizer
 from ...language import Language
 from ...lookups import Lookups
+from ...util import load_config_from_str
+
+
+DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
+[initialize]
+
+[initialize.lookups]
+@misc = "spacy.LookupsDataLoader.v1"
+lang = ${nlp.lang}
+tables = ["lexeme_norm"]
+"""
 
 
 class EnglishDefaults(Language.Defaults):
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     tokenizer_exceptions = TOKENIZER_EXCEPTIONS
     infixes = TOKENIZER_INFIXES
     lex_attr_getters = LEX_ATTRS
diff --git a/spacy/lang/id/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/id/__init__.py
index 87373551c..46bef57ca 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/id/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/id/__init__.py
@@ -4,9 +4,21 @@ from .tokenizer_exceptions import TOKENIZER_EXCEPTIONS
 from .lex_attrs import LEX_ATTRS
 from .syntax_iterators import SYNTAX_ITERATORS
 from ...language import Language
+from ...util import load_config_from_str
+
+
+DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
+[initialize]
+
+[initialize.lookups]
+@misc = "spacy.LookupsDataLoader.v1"
+lang = ${nlp.lang}
+tables = ["lexeme_norm"]
+"""
 
 
 class IndonesianDefaults(Language.Defaults):
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     tokenizer_exceptions = TOKENIZER_EXCEPTIONS
     prefixes = TOKENIZER_PREFIXES
     suffixes = TOKENIZER_SUFFIXES
diff --git a/spacy/lang/ja/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/ja/__init__.py
index e7cc1ef3b..4e6bf9d3c 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/ja/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/ja/__init__.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ from typing import Optional, Union, Dict, Any
 from pathlib import Path
 import srsly
 from collections import namedtuple
-from thinc.api import Config
 
 from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
 from .syntax_iterators import SYNTAX_ITERATORS
@@ -16,7 +15,7 @@ from ...scorer import Scorer
 from ...symbols import POS
 from ...tokens import Doc
 from ...training import validate_examples
-from ...util import DummyTokenizer, registry
+from ...util import DummyTokenizer, registry, load_config_from_str
 from ... import util
 
 
@@ -166,7 +165,7 @@ class JapaneseTokenizer(DummyTokenizer):
 
 
 class JapaneseDefaults(Language.Defaults):
-    config = Config().from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     stop_words = STOP_WORDS
     syntax_iterators = SYNTAX_ITERATORS
     writing_system = {"direction": "ltr", "has_case": False, "has_letters": False}
diff --git a/spacy/lang/ko/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/ko/__init__.py
index dd07ef89c..83c9f4962 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/ko/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/ko/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 from typing import Optional, Any, Dict
-from thinc.api import Config
 
 from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
 from .tag_map import TAG_MAP
@@ -10,7 +9,7 @@ from ...compat import copy_reg
 from ...scorer import Scorer
 from ...symbols import POS
 from ...training import validate_examples
-from ...util import DummyTokenizer, registry
+from ...util import DummyTokenizer, registry, load_config_from_str
 
 
 DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
@@ -70,7 +69,7 @@ class KoreanTokenizer(DummyTokenizer):
 
 
 class KoreanDefaults(Language.Defaults):
-    config = Config().from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     lex_attr_getters = LEX_ATTRS
     stop_words = STOP_WORDS
     writing_system = {"direction": "ltr", "has_case": False, "has_letters": False}
diff --git a/spacy/lang/lb/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/lb/__init__.py
index da6fe55d7..ead5f5d10 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/lb/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/lb/__init__.py
@@ -3,9 +3,21 @@ from .punctuation import TOKENIZER_INFIXES
 from .lex_attrs import LEX_ATTRS
 from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
 from ...language import Language
+from ...util import load_config_from_str
+
+
+DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
+[initialize]
+
+[initialize.lookups]
+@misc = "spacy.LookupsDataLoader.v1"
+lang = ${nlp.lang}
+tables = ["lexeme_norm"]
+"""
 
 
 class LuxembourgishDefaults(Language.Defaults):
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     tokenizer_exceptions = TOKENIZER_EXCEPTIONS
     infixes = TOKENIZER_INFIXES
     lex_attr_getters = LEX_ATTRS
diff --git a/spacy/lang/pt/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/pt/__init__.py
index 0447099f0..1c95c11d9 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/pt/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/pt/__init__.py
@@ -3,9 +3,21 @@ from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
 from .lex_attrs import LEX_ATTRS
 from .punctuation import TOKENIZER_INFIXES, TOKENIZER_PREFIXES
 from ...language import Language
+from ...util import load_config_from_str
+
+
+DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
+[initialize]
+
+[initialize.lookups]
+@misc = "spacy.LookupsDataLoader.v1"
+lang = ${nlp.lang}
+tables = ["lexeme_norm"]
+"""
 
 
 class PortugueseDefaults(Language.Defaults):
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     tokenizer_exceptions = TOKENIZER_EXCEPTIONS
     infixes = TOKENIZER_INFIXES
     prefixes = TOKENIZER_PREFIXES
diff --git a/spacy/lang/ru/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/ru/__init__.py
index 4a296dd23..857e197e9 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/ru/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/ru/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 from typing import Optional
-
 from thinc.api import Model
 
 from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
@@ -8,9 +7,21 @@ from .lex_attrs import LEX_ATTRS
 from .lemmatizer import RussianLemmatizer
 from ...language import Language
 from ...lookups import Lookups
+from ...util import load_config_from_str
+
+
+DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
+[initialize]
+
+[initialize.lookups]
+@misc = "spacy.LookupsDataLoader.v1"
+lang = ${nlp.lang}
+tables = ["lexeme_norm"]
+"""
 
 
 class RussianDefaults(Language.Defaults):
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     tokenizer_exceptions = TOKENIZER_EXCEPTIONS
     lex_attr_getters = LEX_ATTRS
     stop_words = STOP_WORDS
diff --git a/spacy/lang/sr/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/sr/__init__.py
index 165e54975..5da19c6f3 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/sr/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/sr/__init__.py
@@ -2,9 +2,21 @@ from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
 from .tokenizer_exceptions import TOKENIZER_EXCEPTIONS
 from .lex_attrs import LEX_ATTRS
 from ...language import Language
+from ...util import load_config_from_str
+
+
+DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
+[initialize]
+
+[initialize.lookups]
+@misc = "spacy.LookupsDataLoader.v1"
+lang = ${nlp.lang}
+tables = ["lexeme_norm"]
+"""
 
 
 class SerbianDefaults(Language.Defaults):
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     tokenizer_exceptions = TOKENIZER_EXCEPTIONS
     lex_attr_getters = LEX_ATTRS
     stop_words = STOP_WORDS
diff --git a/spacy/lang/ta/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/ta/__init__.py
index ac5fc7124..7a5a3ac8f 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/ta/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/ta/__init__.py
@@ -1,9 +1,21 @@
 from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
 from .lex_attrs import LEX_ATTRS
 from ...language import Language
+from ...util import load_config_from_str
+
+
+DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
+[initialize]
+
+[initialize.lookups]
+@misc = "spacy.LookupsDataLoader.v1"
+lang = ${nlp.lang}
+tables = ["lexeme_norm"]
+"""
 
 
 class TamilDefaults(Language.Defaults):
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     lex_attr_getters = LEX_ATTRS
     stop_words = STOP_WORDS
 
diff --git a/spacy/lang/th/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/th/__init__.py
index a35ae987f..834fe1871 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/th/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/th/__init__.py
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
-from thinc.api import Config
-
 from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
 from .lex_attrs import LEX_ATTRS
 from ...language import Language
 from ...tokens import Doc
-from ...util import DummyTokenizer, registry
+from ...util import DummyTokenizer, registry, load_config_from_str
 
 
 DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
@@ -12,6 +10,13 @@ DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
 
 [nlp.tokenizer]
 @tokenizers = "spacy.th.ThaiTokenizer"
+
+[initialize]
+
+[initialize.lookups]
+@misc = "spacy.LookupsDataLoader.v1"
+lang = ${nlp.lang}
+tables = ["lexeme_norm"]
 """
 
 
@@ -42,7 +47,7 @@ class ThaiTokenizer(DummyTokenizer):
 
 
 class ThaiDefaults(Language.Defaults):
-    config = Config().from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     lex_attr_getters = LEX_ATTRS
     stop_words = STOP_WORDS
 
diff --git a/spacy/lang/vi/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/vi/__init__.py
index 1db762adb..e2f7b3e35 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/vi/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/vi/__init__.py
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
-from thinc.api import Config
-
+from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
+from .lex_attrs import LEX_ATTRS
 from ...language import Language
 from ...tokens import Doc
-from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
-from ...util import DummyTokenizer, registry
-from .lex_attrs import LEX_ATTRS
+from ...util import DummyTokenizer, registry, load_config_from_str
 
 
 DEFAULT_CONFIG = """
@@ -55,7 +53,7 @@ class VietnameseTokenizer(DummyTokenizer):
 
 
 class VietnameseDefaults(Language.Defaults):
-    config = Config().from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     lex_attr_getters = LEX_ATTRS
     stop_words = STOP_WORDS
 
diff --git a/spacy/lang/zh/__init__.py b/spacy/lang/zh/__init__.py
index 457502e21..a413d86eb 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/zh/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/zh/__init__.py
@@ -4,14 +4,13 @@ import tempfile
 import srsly
 import warnings
 from pathlib import Path
-from thinc.api import Config
 
 from ...errors import Warnings, Errors
 from ...language import Language
 from ...scorer import Scorer
 from ...tokens import Doc
 from ...training import validate_examples, Example
-from ...util import DummyTokenizer, registry
+from ...util import DummyTokenizer, registry, load_config_from_str
 from .lex_attrs import LEX_ATTRS
 from .stop_words import STOP_WORDS
 from ... import util
@@ -329,7 +328,7 @@ class ChineseTokenizer(DummyTokenizer):
 
 
 class ChineseDefaults(Language.Defaults):
-    config = Config().from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
+    config = load_config_from_str(DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     lex_attr_getters = LEX_ATTRS
     stop_words = STOP_WORDS
     writing_system = {"direction": "ltr", "has_case": False, "has_letters": False}
diff --git a/spacy/tests/parser/test_ner.py b/spacy/tests/parser/test_ner.py
index b657ae2e8..78a20c1e8 100644
--- a/spacy/tests/parser/test_ner.py
+++ b/spacy/tests/parser/test_ner.py
@@ -339,6 +339,7 @@ def test_ner_warns_no_lookups(caplog):
     nlp.vocab.lookups = Lookups()
     assert not len(nlp.vocab.lookups)
     nlp.add_pipe("ner")
+    nlp.config["initialize"]["lookups"] = None
     with caplog.at_level(logging.DEBUG):
         nlp.initialize()
         assert "W033" in caplog.text