Computerised writing for smaller languages

Abstract

If knowledge is to be shared on the Internet between members of a linguistic community, then their language needs to be written and the writing encoded for the computer. The problem of achieving this for small languages is illustrated with the case study of Nepal. Nepal has over 120 languages, with only the national language Nepali having any modern computer support. Nepali is relatively easy, since it is written in Devanagari which is also used for Hindi and other Indian languages, though with some local differences. I focus on one particular language, that of the Newar people, which has a mature written tradition spanning more than one thousand years, with several different styles of writing, and which, as yet, has no encoding of its writing within Unicode. I also look at the many unwritten languages of Nepal and the frustrated aspirations of their speakers. I explore why this happens, looking for answers in the standardisation processes and in the different and competing interests and incentives of the people involved. Finally I suggest what small linguistic communities around the world can do to access information and knowledge using their own language