Keyboards for the Endangered Idu Mishmi Language

TL;DR

This paper introduces digital keyboard tools for the endangered Idu Mishmi language, enabling native speakers to input the full character set offline, supporting language preservation and digital literacy.

Contribution

It presents the design and deployment of mobile and desktop keyboards supporting the complete Idu Mishmi orthography, a novel digital input solution for this endangered language.

Findings

Android keyboard actively used in teacher training

Desktop keyboard undergoing community testing

Supports full character inventory including special vowels

Abstract

We present a mobile and desktop keyboard suite for Idu Mishmi, an endangered Trans-Himalayan language spoken by approximately 11,000 people in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Although a Latin-based orthography was developed in 2018, no digital input tools existed to use it, forcing speakers into ad-hoc romanizations that cannot represent the full writing system. Our keyboards comprise two tools: (1) an Android mobile keyboard, published on the Google Play Store and actively used in teacher training programs, and (2) a Windows desktop keyboard currently undergoing community testing. Both tools support the complete Idu Mishmi character inventory, including schwa, retracted schwa, nasalized vowels, and accented forms. Both operate fully offline with zero network permissions, addressing connectivity constraints and data sovereignty concerns. We describe the design, implementation, and deployment as a replicable model for other endangered language communities.