Grant for varsity research project
A STAFF REPORTER April 23: The ministry of communication and
information technology has sanctioned a grant of Rs 1.52 crore to Gauhati
University for a research project aiming at northeastern language technology
development.
Shikhar Sarma, reader in the universitys department of computer science,
conceptualised and proposed the project.
The project will develop the necessary technology, standards and knowhow to
utilise Assamese and Bodo languages for computer applications.
Sarma said in the emerging scenario of computers, Internet and worldwide web,
it has become necessary to use local languages as a medium in the digital
world.
While computers and the Internet are reaching the grassroots, language has
emerged as a barrier to the effective utilisation of information technology, a
university release said.
The ministry of communication and information technology has sanctioned the
project under its Human-Centred Computing Division.
Congratulating Sarma on his success at obtaining the research grant within
two months, Gauhati University vice-chancellor Amarjyoti Choudhury expressed
the universitys commitment towards the overall development of the region.
He said the project would help people use computer technology, Internet and
worldwide web in vernacular languages.
Sarma said the first phase of the project would propose and finalise the
digital standards of these languages before an appropriate international forum
like Unicode.
The fonts of the languages, including the Assamese diphthong (vowel sound),
would be included in the first phase, he added.
The second phase would design and develop monolingual corpora and prototype
spellchecks.
The final phase will develop basic grammar checks for the two languages.
With the completion of this three-year project, it is expected that Assamese
and Bodo languages will be technologically on a par with other languages like
English. This would lead to the generation of technology and tools for
computerised translation of English-Assamese and vice versa. The research will
also lead to the development of tools for Internet searching in Assamese and
Bodo, Sarma said.
(The Telegraph,24.04.2008)
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080424/jsp/guwahati/story_9179283.jsp
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