Kickapoo/keyboard

Layout

~
`

◌̃
◌̀

!
1

 

@
2

#
3

$
4

%
5

^
6

&
7

*
8

(
9

<

)
0

>

_
-

◌̄

+
=

       

Q
q

 

W
w

E
e

R
r

T
t

Y
y

U
u

I
i

O
o

P
p

{
[

}
]

|
\

        

A
a

Ă
ă

S
s

D
d

F
f

G
g

H
h

J
j

K
k

L
l

ʻ
θ

ʼ

"
'

◌̈
◌́

           

Z
z

X
x

C
c

Č
č

V
v

B
b

N
n

M
m

:
,

;
.

?
/

Justification

We came up with the Kickapoo keyboard partly based on the English keyboard and also partly from an existing version online for the older script (https://www.languagegeek.com/algon/keyboards/keymaps/Kickapoo.pdf, download available): This involved moving the ; and : key into the keys for , and ., respectively. The less commonly used < and > marks are, as a result, moved to the top.

We decided to place the additional diacritics according to their occurrences: for caron (only comes with the letter c) and breve (only comes with the letter a), we added keys next to the letters so that they can be typed through the use of AltGr; also in correspondence with the Spanish layout, other more commonly used Diacritics similar to symbols on the keyboard are placed together and is accessible through the AltGr key; examples include ◌̄ and -. This is to make sure that target users (such as scholars of CS background researching Kickapoo) have access to type out script both in the more modern version and in the earlier version.

We also added a key for θ, a letter unique in the Kickapoo alphabet. Because there are no Caps for θ, we decided to add "ʻ" (shift+θ)and "ʼ" (AltGr+θ) marks to it, with regards to their frequency in use. We believe with this layout, keys that require the AltGr key is placed at a reasonable distance for typists to get familiar with easily.

Installation (Linux / IBus)

This layout is designed for the IBus input method framework using the m17n engine. It can be installed locally without requiring system-wide administrator permissions.

1. Prerequisites

Ensure that ibus-m17n is installed on your system.

Ubuntu / Debian / Mint:

sudo apt install ibus-m17n

2. Install the Layout File

You do not need to create complex sub-directories. Simply placing the .mim file in your local m17n configuration folder is enough.

1. Download the kickapoo_keyboard.mim file.
2. Open a terminal and create the local configuration directory (if it does not already exist):

mkdir -p ~/.m17n.d

1. Copy the downloaded file into that directory:

cp kickapoo_keyboard.mim ~/.m17n.d/

3. Activate the Keyboard

After copying the file, you must restart IBus to recognize the new layout.

Restart IBus:

ibus restart

Then:

1. Open IBus Preferences (Settings).
2. Go to the Input Method tab.
3. Click Add.
4. Search for Kickapoo or navigate to:

   English (or Other) → kickapoo_keyboard (m17n)

5. Click Add to finish.

4. Uninstallation

To remove the layout and revert:

rm -f ~/.m17n.d/kic_keyboard.mim
ibus restart

5. References

• Project documentation: https://wikis.swarthmore.edu/ling073/Kickapoo

6. License

This keyboard layout is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file in this repository for the full text.

Existing Resources

https://www.languagegeek.com/algon/keyboards/keymaps/Kickapoo.pdf is a keyboard layout by Languagegeek, a website founded for the promotion of indigenous languages – primarily those of North America. Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <http://fsf.org/> Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

This is the only keyboard we found available online. We noticed that the author, whose work focused on indigenous languages of North America, designed this in a similar fashion with what they did for other languages in the same family. Because this version is slightly different from our script, we did our own edit based on it (see explanation above).