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Case study · Community-built language technology

A dictionary the community keeps writing.

Kokoy is an English-based Creole spoken in four villages in northeast Dominica. It emerged when the British brought English-speaking enslaved people to a French Creole-speaking island. We built the platform; the community writes the dictionary.

founding villages: Marigot, Wesley, Woodford Hill, Clifton
4
accounts needed to contribute
0
surfaces: web app and Chrome extension
2
Kokoy Dictionary Today screen: a 1-day streak, today’s word Finahral (funeral), and a Did you know card on why the project exists.Kokoy Dictionary suggest-a-word form, with fields for a Kokoy word and its English meaning and a Submit suggestion button.

The problem

Kokoy is still spoken every day in Marigot, Wesley, Woodford Hill and Clifton, but nothing documented it in a form the community could add to. A dictionary built once and frozen doesn’t fit a language that’s still changing.

How we built it

We built the platform end to end but aren’t the authority on the content. A community member from Wesley maintains the dictionary day to day.

  1. Dictionary and search first

    The core word list and search came before anything else.

  2. No account to contribute

    A sign-up wall would shut out the people whose lived knowledge the dictionary needs, so suggesting a word takes no account.

  3. A review gate

    Every submission goes to a review team before it’s published, to guard against vandalism.

  4. A route for technical contributors

    A GitHub Issue path feeds the same data, for people who prefer it.

Three views

  • Today

    A daily streak and a featured word, like “Ahringe” (orange).

  • Dictionary

    Kokoy to English search with a direction toggle, category filters and a scrolling word list.

  • About and contribute

    Suggest a word with no account, rate the extension, or find the GitHub repo.

Through the Ansanm™ lens

Four decisions, each mapped to an Ansanm band
The challengeWhat we didAnsanm band
A living language with no resource the community could add toA dictionary the community grows, moderated by a member from WesleySocial band, Ansanm Framework
Sign-up walls stop people from sharing what they knowWord suggestions need no accountCognitive band, Ansanm Framework
New contributors need to trust the project firstPrivate credit (name or village, optional) instead of a public leaderboardEmotional band, Ansanm Framework
Open submissions invite vandalismA review team approves every entry before it’s publishedPurpose band, Ansanm Framework

Results, and what’s next

Results

Live as an installable web app and a Chrome extension, and taking community submissions from all four founding villages.

What we’d do differently: every submission field is optional, so many entries arrive without pronunciation or an example sentence, and pronunciation matters most for an oral language. Next, we’ll gently prompt for it without making it required. The project’s success also rests on the community choosing to contribute, which no design can guarantee.

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