Eastern Cree syllabics

:"Note - partially copied from Western_Cree_syllabics"

Eastern Cree syllabics are a variant of Canadian Aboriginal syllabics used to write all the Cree dialects from Moosonee, Ontario to Kawawachikamach on the Quebec-Labrador border in Canada 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.

Eastern syllabics use only those characters needed to write the phonemes of the eastern dialects. In this article, Cree words and sounds will transcribed using the "Standard Roman Orthography".

Eastern finals

The differentiating factor between eastern and western Cree orthographies is the shape of the glyphs indicating finals (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/. These finals derive graphically from the syllabic characters ᓴ /sa/ and ᒐ /ca/.

* There is in Moose Cree an /sk/ final which merges into one character ᔅ /s/ and ᒃ /k/. ᐊᒥᔉ /amisk/ beaver
* The Moose Cree /y/ final can be written with a ring above the previous syllabic instead of the raised /ya/. ᐋᔕ̊ or ᐋᔕᔾ /āšay/ now.
* East Cree has special finals for ᒄ /kw/ and ᒽ /mw/ which are raised versions of the o-syllabics. ᒥᔅᑎᒄ /mistikw/ tree.

W-dot placement

In syllables where a /w/ occurs between a consonant and a vowel, a mid-line "w-dot" is written on one side of the syllabic character. The eastern Cree practice (all of Ontario and Quebec) places the dot before the syllabic character; western Cree dialects place the dot after.

Eastern ᑖᐺ — Western ᑖᐻ /tāpwē/.

External Links

* [http://www.languagegeek.com/algon/cree/nehiyawewin.html Cree syllabics at languagegeek.com] Downloadable Unicode syllabics fonts and keyboard layouts for all dialects of Cree
* [http://www.eastcree.org/en/resources/fonts.html eastcree.org Cree fonts page] Fonts and keyboard layouts for East Cree
* [http://www.eastcree.org/keyboard.html Talking syllabic chart] A mapping between roman and syllabic orthographies for East Cree (audio)