An expert in minority languages at Auckland's University of Technology Tania Ka'ai says a new online Cook Islands dictionary will play a strong role in helping to preserve the language.
The CI Dictionary app was launched at AUT in New Zealand on Tuesday.
Photo: AUT
It contains 17,000 words and will also include recordings of Cook Islanders speaking the language to help users with pronounciation.
Professor Ka'ai says the app also includes a social networking feature which will allow Cook Islanders and other users to connect with each other around the world.
"There's cultural knowledge that can be loaded onto the app as well. So it's more than just a dictionary. It has images and photographs. We've got that happening with the Mangai'an dictionary - they're very advanced in putting material up. They can meet their community, the language community, through this app."