Indigenous Nations Library Program Graphic

Phoneme Background

Languages are developed through the complex placement of sounds added together to form words. Words are combined with other words to formulate sentences to convey thoughts and meaning. Sentences convey information of place, identity, philosophy, and expression for the sole purpose of communicating to people, place, and the other. What is presented in the graph is the smallest unit of sounds (phonemes) from Indigenous languages.

As you can see from the INLP graphic, Indigenous sounds are unique and diverse. Twenty-four phonemes are represented in the graph from across North/South America and Polynesia. Sounds are represented using the International Phonetic Alphabet and indigenous community writing systems and orthographies.

Indigenous phonemes were collected through the following resources:

For a thorough explanation of what the different symbols mean in the graph please follow the link to the International Phonetic Alphabet chart with sounds! http://www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ipa-sounds/ipa-chart-with-sounds/

Phoneme Selection

24 Indigenous languages are represented in the spelling out of INLP. Each Indigenous sound is selected based on their position in their language alphabet and are placed within the graph to spell out Indigenous Nations Library Program. 

While indigenous languages do share sounds with the world's languages, their sound systems and grammars are often dramatically different, calling into question the idea that knowledge can be unproblematically translated from European educational materials. Other phonemes are represented with symbols; Maori, Ojibwe, and Inuktituk have symbols in place of the International Phonetic Alphabet.