McAlpin Tamil Vocabulary

The McAlpin Core Vocabulary for Tamil app is a fulltext searchable version of David W. McAlpin's "A core vocabulary for Tamil," rev. ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Dept. of South Asia Regional Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 1981. It is a product of the Digital South Asia Library program (http://dsal.uchicago.edu) at the University of Chicago (http://www.uchicago.edu).

The McAlpin Tamil dictionary app can be used both online and offline. The online version interacts with a database that runs remotely on a server at the University of Chicago. The offline version uses a database that is created on the Android device upon first download.

By default, the app operates in the online mode.

Headword Searching

The default mode for this app is to search headwords. To search for a headword, touch the search box at the top (magnifying glass icon) to expose the on-screen keyboard and begin searching. Headwords can be entered in Tamil, accented latin characters, and unaccented latin characters. For example, headword searches for கடமை, kaṭamai, or katamai will all yield the definition "duty."

Fulltext Searching

For fulltext searching, select the "Search all text" check box in the overflow menu (usually the three vertical dots icon at the top right corner of the screen), then enter the search term in the search box at the top.

Results Display

Search results come first in a numbered list that displays the Tamil headword, the accented latin transliteration of the headword, and a chunk of the definition. To see a full definition, touch the list item.

The full result page presents definitions in a format that allows the user to select terms to copy and paste for further dictionary searching or for conducting a web search on the term (given an internet connection). In online mode, the full result page also has a page number link that the user can click to get the full page context of the definition. Link arrows at the top of the full page allow the user to click to previous and next pages in the dictionary.

The user can also choose to see results definitions fully transliterated. In the overflow menu (three vertical dots icon at the top right corner of the screen), simply touch "Transliterated display."

Selecting Online/Offline Mode

To select either online or offline mode, simply check or uncheck the "Search offline" box in the overflow menu. When in online mode, the world icon at the top of the screen will appear dark; in offline mode, it will appear light.

Note that on start up, the app will test to see whether the device has an internet connection and the remote server is available. Again, the app operates in online mode by default. The user should select the appropriate mode before conducting a search.