THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE BISAYA COMMUNITY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIGITAL GLOSSARY: THE E-GAYAD MABALUT GLOSSARY

The use of mother tongue among minority communities, particularly the younger generation, is showing a worrying downward trend. One such affected group is the Bisaya community in Beaufort, Sabah, where the use of the Bisaya language is increasingly declining due to the influence of more dominant and widely used languages in daily life. To address this issue, this study focuses on the active involvement of the Bisaya community in the development of the E-Gayad Mabalut Glossary, a participatory digital glossary aimed at preserving and documenting the community’s language and cultural heritage, especially among the younger generation. This study also identifies key issues such as the lack of systematic digital glossary references and the limited level of community involvement in language documentation initiatives. The objectives of the study are to understand the forms and extent of community involvement, identify the challenges encountered during project implementation, and assess the implications of developing the digital glossary. A qualitative case study approach was employed, with data collected through semi-structured interviews and term collection workshops involving the community. A total of seven informants were selected through purposive sampling, including native speakers, teachers, and local leaders actively involved in efforts to preserve the Bisaya language and culture. Data were analyzed thematically to identify forms of participation and their impact on the development of the digital glossary. Findings of the study revealed three main forms of community involvement: contribution of terms, content validation, and dissemination of the digital glossary. Overall, the community responded positively to this approach, despite facing challenges such as time constraints and limited digital skills. This study demonstrates that a participatory approach not only strengthens the process of documenting minority languages, but also has the potential to serve as a reference model for other communities in Malaysia in their efforts to preserve local language and cultural heritage through the development of digital glossaries.