Grant Amount: US$ 29,865

Keywords: LOCALIZATION, SOFTWARE, SHAMUKHI, GURMUKHI, INDIA, PAKISTAN

Geographic coverage: Punjab, India and Punjab, Pakistan

Objective

The objective of this project is to develop a software package facilitating transliteration from Shahmukhi to Gurmukhi languages and enabling web-based networking between East and West Punjab.

Research context

This project is a culmination of ten years of academic research and literacy development in the United Kingdom, Pakistan and India. The aim of the project is to facilitate electronic and written communication between people in East (Indian) and West (Pakistani) Punjab through the development of a Punjabi Language Transliteration Tool. The intellectual background to this work has already been completed through a grant from the European Union, Asia-ITC programme. The project expands on a Gurmukhi to Shahmukhi Transliteration software developed by the Punjabi University at Patiala and aims to develop a complementary Shamukhi to Gurmukhi processor to facilitate use of these technologies on the web and enhance networking between India and Pakistan.

Target beneficiaries

The general beneficiaries of this project are the Punjabi community, and in particular media organizations, schools, colleges, literacy promotional organizations, writers and non-governmental organizations involved in dissemination activities.

Outputs

• Online Shahmukhi-Gurmukhi transliteration utility to transliterate Punjabi text in Shahmukhi script to Gurmukhi script;
• An offline Windows-based software to transliterate Punjabi text in Shahmukhi script encoded in popular formats such as Inpage or Unicode to Gurmukhi script in any of the popular Gurmukhi fonts or Unicode;
• Shahmukhi – Gurmukhi direct transliteration dictionary with 25,000 entries;
• A morphological analyser and synthesizer tool for Shahmukhi text;
• Documentation for usage of transliteration tool; and
• Training materials for usage of transliteration software.

Duration

Start Date: March 2006
End Date: February 2008
Total Duration: 24 Months

Contact information

Dr. Gurpreet Singh Lehal, Director
Advanced Centre for Technical Development of Punjabi Language Literature and Culture
Punjabi University, Patiala, India
Telephone: +91 17 5304 6171
Fax: +91 17 5304 6313
Email: gslehal@yahoo.com
 
Website: http://www.advancedcentrepunjabi.org