Malappuram: The Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University will launch an authentic online lexical dictionary of Malayalam language that also includes local dialect used in Kerala.
A consortium of technological institutes led by the Malayalam University is conducting research, lexical survey and other work to complete the first phase of the project soon. The consortium includes Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, C-DAC and K.B. Chandrashekhar Research Institute, Anna University, Chennai.
“The technical architecture for the online dictionary is ready. A team of researchers is on a hunt for the words and usages in Malayalam language, including varieties of local dialects,” says Dr. M. Srinathan, who supervises the project.
A district-wise dialect survey has already been launched by the university and the data collected would be used in the dictionary. “The project will be a processed data base of Malayalam for digital use,” said vice-chancellor Dr. K. Jayakumar.
The dictionary will be the first in Malayalam that offers the exact audible pronunciation of words. Apart from etymology, pronunciation and grammatical categorization, the dictionary will also feature the sociology of words. It will have a unique feature to detect orthographic errors and will offer the right word for the users. “The online dictionary will be an authentic encyclopaedia of Malayalam words and various dialects and will also work as a search engine of Malayalam words,” Dr. Srinathan said.
