Eastern Cree syllabics are a variant of
Canadian Aboriginal syllabics used to write all the
Cree dialects from
Moosonee,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
to
Kawawachikamach on the
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
–
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
border in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
that use syllabics.
Cree syllabics uses different
glyphs to indicate consonants, and changes the orientation of these glyphs to indicate the vowel that follows it. The basic principles of Canadian syllabic writing are outlined in the article for
Canadian Aboriginal syllabics.
In this article, Cree words and sounds will transcribed using the ''Standard Roman Orthography''.
Inventory
The primary difference between eastern and western Cree orthographies is the shape of the final consonants (consonant sounds with no following vowel). Eastern Cree dialects write finals with a superscripted a-syllabic. ᒫᔅᑰᒡ /māskōc/ has two finals, ᔅ /s/ and ᒡ /c/. Other differences are placing the diacritic for labialization (/w/) before rather than after the letter—ᑖᐺ /tāpwē/ (Western Cree ᑖᐻ),—and several additional series for consonants not found in Western Cree.
* The glyphs for v (
\ f (
and th (
and
are rare and used only in words borrowed from other languages. However, the
Inuktitut adaptation of Eastern Cree syllabics commonly uses the Eastern Cree v \ f set as their v set.
Other finals:
* There is in
Moose Cree Moose Cree (Cree: ''Mōsonī'' or ''Ililiw''), also known as Moosonee, and together with Eastern Swampy Cree, also known as Central Cree, West James Bay Cree or West Main Cree. They speak the l-dialect of the Cree language.
The Moose Cree were fi ...
an /sk/ final which merges into one character ᔅ /s/ and ᒃ /k/. ᐊᒥᔉ /amisk/ ''beaver''
* The Moose Cree final /y/ is a ring written above the previous syllabic instead of the raised /ya/: ᐋᣁ /āšay/ ''now''.
*
East Cree
East Cree, also known as (Eastern) James Bay Cree, and East Main Cree, is a group of Cree dialects spoken in Quebec, Canada on the east coast of lower Hudson Bay and James Bay, and inland southeastward from James Bay. Cree is one of the most spok ...
has special finals for ᒄ /kw/ and ᒽ /mw/ which are raised versions of the o-syllabics. ᒥᔅᑎᒄ /mistikw/ ''tree''.
*
Naskapi
The Naskapi (Nascapi, Naskapee, Nascapee) are an Indigenous people of the Subarctic native to the historical country St'aschinuw (ᒋᑦ ᐊᔅᒋᓄᐤ, meaning 'our nclusiveland'), which is located in northern Quebec and Labrador, neighb ...
does not mark vowel length at all and uses two dots, either placed above or before a syllable, for a ''w'': ᐛ ''wa,'' ᐖ ''wo,'' ᑥ ''twa,'' ᒂ ''kwa,'' ᒠ ''cwa'' ({{IPA, /tswa/), ᒺ ''mwa,'' ᓏ ''nwa,'' ᔄ ''swa,'' ᔽ ''ywa.'' Since Naskapi ''s-'' consonant clusters are all labialized, ''sCw-,'' these also have the two dots: ᔌ ''spwa, etc.'' There is also a labialized final sequence, ᔊ ''-skw,'' which is a raised ''sa-ko.''
External links
Cree syllabics at languagegeek.comDownloadable Unicode syllabics fonts and keyboard layouts for all dialects of Cree
Fonts and keyboard layouts for East Cree
A mapping between roman and syllabic orthographies for East Cree (audio)
Cree language
Canadian Aboriginal syllabics