phonemes

alphabets, letters, words, sounds, phonemes, grammar, definitions, meanings, translation

above are a handfull of words that relate to language. you speak. i understand what you are saying. you speak your mother tongue. i don’t understand what you are saying but I am learning your language.

phoneme : any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one word from another, for example p, b, d, and t in the English words pad, pat, bad, and bat.

what language are you learning? what language would you like to learn?
what is your favourite word? what Is your favourite letter/sound (phoneme)

your tongue
your upper lip
your lower lip
your upper teeth
your upper gum ridge (alveolar ridge)
your hard palate
your velum (soft palate)
your uvula (free-hanging end of the soft palate)
your pharyngeal wall
your glottis (space between the vocal cords)

this project takes recordings of different languages’ alphabets being spoken by google translate. the artist generated strokes that could signify phonemes in an imaginary language. the project thinks about all these aspects of language.

studio mokii, phonemes, 1:51 video, recording of google translate: digital drawings, Netherlands, 2020