CI Dictionary

This is an app that is an essential aid to all learners and speakers of a Cook Island language. The CI Dictionary is a bilingual dictionary of the Cook Islands languages that is easy to use for searching English or Cook Islands words and their meanings. The Cook Islands languages app is the companion to the online Dictionary of Cook Islands Languages, which continues to be developed.

The Cook Islands languages app is designed for online and offline use so it is fully self-contained and does not need an internet connection in order to operate. It will also receive updates as the project builds on the dictionary entries. The app currently features the languages of Rarotonga, Mangaia and Tongareva (Penrhyn), but words unique to the languages of the other islands of the Southern Cook Islands are being added, such as Aitutaki, Mauke, Atiu, and Mitiaro. Within the app, there is the ability to search across all languages or just within one language.

This CI Dictionary app has come about from a joint project between the University of the South Pacific – Cook Islands Campus, Cook Islands Ministry of Education and Te Ipukarea – The National Māori Language Institute and Te Ara Poutama – The Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Development at AUT University.

The Rarotangan dictionary is sourced from Buse, Jasper with Raututi Taringa edited by Bruce Biggs and Rangi Moeka‘a. 2006. Cook Islands Maori Dictionary. Ministry of Education, Government of the Cook Islands. This is probably the most comprehensive dictionary of the Cook Islands and includes information for entries about languages. The Ministry of Education, who provided the funding for the checking and loading of that dictionary, has also checked the entries.

The Mangaian dictionary is from the collection made by Donald Marshall in the 1950s. He consulted a group of elders to collect the headwords, writing each word on a separate file card with its English equivalent(s). There are approximately 9000 file cards. Marshall’s dictionary was not completed and never published, but the file cards were kept and donated by the Marshall family to USP Cook Islands. These have been loaded onto the dictionary and two elders from Mangaia have checked the entries.

The Penrhyn (Tongarevan) dictionary is from Shibata, Norio (ed.). 2003. Penrhyn (Penrhynese)-English Dictionary. Kyoto: ELPR Publication Series. It is no longer in print. This dictionary has been loaded and is currently being checked.

Words are currently being collected for Manihiki and Rakahanga from the northern group.