Motorola, in partnership with the Lenovo Foundation, announces the next phase of indigenous language’s digital inclusion project with the addition of two new endangered languages – Kuvi and Kangri – spoken in regions of India. This initiative makes Motorola the first OEM to support the preservation of indigenous endangered languages from regions in India.
This initiative is a step towards Motorola’s commitment to embracing inclusivity and delivering smarter technology for all, by delivering the first-ever Kuvi language writing system and keyboard, and a fully localized Kangri smartphone User Interface to the devices. India tops the UNESCO Atlas of World’s Languages in Dangerlist with 197 endangered languages followed by the U.S. (191) and Brazil (190). Motorola analyzed the percentage of speakers in the communities to indicate loss of language, access to technologies, engagement with the broader community, and availability of linguistics resources.
This led to the discovery that while the Kuvi language community accounts for 155,000 people, only 9% of the people in the region still speak the language. Kangri is spoken by 1.7 million people in India, but only a small fraction are fluent speakers. Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS)said,“ This is a commendable use of technology to create a truly inclusive world, where communities living on the fringes, integrate into the larger world of opportunities.”