Japhug Language Translator
Published:
As part of LING073: Computational Linguistics at Swarthmore College, I worked alongside Levin Ho and Yang Windhorse to design and implement a rule-based machine translation (RBMT) system for the Japhug language, leveraging the Apertium platform. This system enables bidirectional translation between Japhug and English, incorporating core components such as tokenizers, morphological analyzers and generators, as well as lexical and structural transfer modules for both languages.
Our work contributes to the computational support of an under-resourced language and demonstrates the adaptability of RBMT frameworks to lesser-studied linguistic systems. Detailed documentation is available here.
In addition to the RBMT system, we also developed a Japhug keyboard and an orthography conversion tool for Japhug that facilitates transliteration between the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and the traditional Tibetan script. Those tools support linguistic analysis and accessibility for both academic and native contexts.
Special thanks to Prof. Jonathan N. Washington and Prof. Guillaume Jacques for their invaluable guidance and insightful feedback throughout the development of this project.