Revitalising the Irula Language Through Mobile Language Learning Application

Language serves as a fundamental conduit for transmitting culture within Indigenous communities. The cessation of language use poses a significant risk of extinction, consequently leading to the loss of substantial historical knowledge. India, characterised by its multicultural and multilingual landscape, has 449 indigenous tribal communities. In Tamil Nadu, there are approximately 36 scheduled tribes, six of which are classified as primitive tribal groups. The Irula community is one such group, whose native language is endangered due to factors such as language shift, discrimination, undervaluation of the language, and, notably, the younger generation's lack of interest and motivation to learn it. Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) technologies have facilitated the development of mobile applications, including games, dictionaries, and translators, which support autonomous learning and revitalisation of languages. This study aims to design and develop an Android-based application that utilises MALL to engage young language learners within the Irula community. This study employs secondary data sources to construct a linguistic dataset, while agile software development methodologies are applied in the creation of MALL. This article elaborates on the architecture and design of MALL. Experimental evaluation on six devices demonstrated stable performance across both iOS and Android platforms, with positive initial user feedback on usability, confirming the app's potential as a tool for Irula language revitalisation.