Mexico

This paper presents Mayasoundex, a phonetic algorithm designed specifically for information retrieval in the Maya language. Mayasoundex generates codes based on Maya phonetics, ensuring consistent codes for words with similar sounds, thereby enhancing phonetic similarity in information retrieval tasks.
The proposed algorithm is based on the characterization of the Mayan consonant system and linguistic knowledge of writing.
Mayasoundex addresses several challenges inherent in the Maya language, including its predominantly oral tradition, recent adoption of Latin characters, and the necessity for a flexible search algorithm capable of accommodating these linguistic nuances. Emphasizing its potential impact, this paper underscores the role of Mayasoundex in preserving and promoting the Maya language through advancements in information retrieval technologies.
Furthermore, the algorithm is made publicly accessible through a Colab Notebook, facilitating broader utilization and fostering future developments in this field.

NAACL 2024

Mayasoundex: A Phonetically Grounded Algorithm for Information Retrieval in the Maya Language

maya language

endangered language

workshop paper

## Welcome to 2024 Annual Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics!
This year, the conference is in Mexico City. NAACL was actually already planned for Mexico City in 2021, but due to the pandemic the entire conference was moved online. This year, finally, we get to go! So it is my sincere pleasure to welcome you to Mexico City, whether in person or virtually. Having the conference in Mexico City is a good opportunity to emphasize that NAACL is our flagship conference for ACL members not only in North America but also in Central and South America, even though NAACL has been bearing “North” in its name. At this year’s conference, we have a theme to match, with a theme track on the Languages of Latin America to showcase the linguistic diversity of the region.
 
The opportunity to present at NAACL should not depend on a researcher’s travel budget, or their family status. This is why it is so important to make virtual participation at NAACL as good an experience as possible – but we want to also provide a good experience for in-person participants. As a community, we are still working out the best way to do that. This year at NAACL, we are trying out a big virtual poster session ahead of the conference, with the hope that this will make make for a lively and interactive experience. At the same time, we are reducing virtual oral presentations, which seem to be particularly tricky to make to work well. A big thanks to the NAACL program chairs and to Luciana Benotti for all their ideas and work to improve the virtual experience. And participants, virtual as well as in-person: Please let us know what worked for you and what didn’t, so we can continue to improve hybrid conferences. 
 
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Welcome and hope you all enjoy the conference! 
Katrin Erk 
The University of Texas at Austin 
NAACL-2024 General Chair 
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2024 Annual Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics

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Mayasoundex: A Phonetically Grounded Algorithm for Information Retrieval in the Maya Language

Next from NAACL 2024

Understanding Toxicity and Sentiment Dynamics in Social Media: LLM Analysis of Diverse and Focused Interest Users

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