Abioye unveils digital platform – Alarino, for Yoruba preservation
Ikeoluwa Abioye
Abioye unveils digital platform – Alarino, for Yoruba preservation
A United States-based Nigerian, Ikeoluwa Abioye has inaugurated a digital platform that preserves Yoruba language, making it easier for people to communicate with the language.The digital platform known as Alarino, provides accurate Yoruba translations with proper diacritics.
Ikeoluwa Abioye, who once made headline for earning nine A’s in her WAEC examination at The Guardian, said the tool would be useful for learners, educators, native speakers, especially Al developers looking for cleaner data on a language that is often overlooked in global tech innovation.
“One of the key problems is that Yoruba is considered a low-resource language in natural language processing (NLP),” Abioye explained.
“That means fewer high-quality digital resources exist, making it harder for developers to create reliable tools. What’s more, new AI systems tend to rely on existing tools and datasets—creating a cycle of neglect.”
On what motivated her to develop the Alarino, she explained that her living in abroad amidst people unfamiliar with the language, made her to often struggle to recall or verify Yoruba words- the native language she had grown up speaking in Nigeria.
“I turned to Google Translate and similar tools, but most of them lacked proper tone marks. All I saw were misspellings. In Yoruba, diacritics aren’t optional, they determine meaning. Without them, the same letters could mean completely different things,” she expressed.
She expressed hope that the digital platform would serve language speakers, urging developers, linguists, and language enthusiasts to contribute to its dataset, which can provide a foundation for future AI development.
“I want Alarino to be the most trusted resource for Yoruba language learning and translation,” she said. “But more importantly, I want it to remind us that our languages matter, and they deserve to be part of the digital future.”
Abioye has a rich academic record in Nigeria before leaving for Dartmouth College in the United States. Being a former President of the African Students Association at Dartmouth, Abioye’s leadership experiences have informed her inclusive approach. At Dartmouth, she created support structures for African students adjusting to life abroad. That experience broadened her understanding of the unique challenges Africans face in foreign environments, especially when their languages and cultures are underrepresented.
