A dictionary-making tool dubbed “Marayum” has been developed to preserve and save the country’s endangered indigenous languages.
The Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) said a team of computer scientists and linguists, led by Mario Carreon, assistant professor of the Department of Computer Science at the University of the Philippines – Diliman (UPD) developed a community-built online web dictionary platform through Project Marayum.
“The project sought to produce an online language dictionary which can be modified by registered members of a specific community who mainly utilizes the language,” it said in a statement.
Project Marayum is funded by the DOST-PCIEERD.
The Council noted that the Asi-English language dictionary was the first dictionary uploaded containing 513 words.
“Revisions to the dictionary are allowed only to registered Asi language speakers with entries reviewed by a group of assigned language experts,” it said.
Other dictionaries featured at the website are Kinaray-a-English (595 words), Cebuano-English (563 words) and Hiligaynon-English (559 words).
"Project Marayum was built through a collaborative effort of different communities. As an online dictionary platform for Philippine languages, it aims to empower native language speakers to create and curate an online dictionary of their language without needing to have technical expertise in website design, implementation, and maintenance,” the DOST-PCIEERD said.
DOST-PCIEERD Executive Director Dr. Enrico Paringit cited the importance of the project in celebration of Buwan ng Wika.
"The national language is as symbolic as the country's own freedom, giving it its unique identity as a sovereign nation. This Buwan ng Wika, we can also celebrate other local languages in the country through this project,” he said.
The dictionary-making tool can be accessed at https://marayum.ph.
The Council said using Marayum, the team is currently collating other dictionaries which include the following languages with their corresponding English translations: Bikol-Buhi’non, Bikol-Central, Bikol-Rinconada, Masbatenyo, Kapampangan, Chavacano, Gaddang, Inakyeanon, Waray, and Ilocano.
All the dictionaries are being managed by their communities and assigned linguists.