Cree (ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ / Nēhiyaw)

Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by about 120,000 people in Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador. Cree, which is also known as Cree–Montagnais–Naskapi, has official status, along with eight other indigenous languages, in the Northwest Territories.

Major varieties of Cree include:

Central Cree (York Cree, West Shore Cree, West Main Cree) with 4,500 speakers. Dialects include: Moose Cree (Ililîmowin), which is spoken in the southern tip of James Bay in Moosonee, Ontario, and Swampy Cree (Inilîmowin), which is spoken northwestward across Ontario into north-eastern Manitoba.
Coastal Eastern Cree (Coastal Cree, Eastern Coastal Cree) is spoken by about 5,000 people in Quebec on the east coast of James Bay.
Inland Eastern Cree (Inland Cree, Eastern Inland Cree) has about 2,200 speakers in Quebec.
Western Cree with about 53,000 speakers in the USA and in north central Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada. Dialects include: Woods Cree (Nīhithawīwin), Plains Cree (Nēhiyawēwin ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ) and Western Swampy Cree (Nēhinawēwin).

Cree syllabics

James Evans (1801-1846) was a Wesleyan missionary working at Norway House in Hudson's Bay, invented a syllabary for the Ojibwe language in about 1840. He had tried to produce a Latin-based orthography for Ojibwe, but eventually gave up and came up with a syllabary, based partly on shorthand.

Evans' syllabary for Ojibwe consisted of just nine symbols, each of which could be written in four different orientations to indicate different vowels. This was sufficient to write Ojibwe, but Evans' superiors were not keen on his invention and would not allow him to use it.

Later Evans learnt to speak Cree and set about the task of devising a way of writing that language. After encountering difficulties with using the Latin alphabet, he dug out his Ojibwe syllabary and adapted it to write Cree.

Thanks to its simplicity and the ease with which it could be learnt, the Cree syllabary was hugely successful with the Cree people. Within a short space of time, virtually the whole community was literate in the syllabary and James Evans became known as "the man who made birchbark talk."

Source: www.nlc-bnc.ca/north/index-e.html

According to Cree tradition, Evans adapted an existing script which was invented at an earlier date, possibly by a member of the Blackfoot nation.

Notable Features

Type of writing system: syllabary
Direction of writing: left to right in horizontal lines
Each sign can be written facing four different directions which indicate the vowel attached to it. As there are up to 7 vowels in some dialects of Cree, diacritics are used to indicate the extra vowels
The finals are used to write stand-alone consonants
There are various different versions of the Cree syllabary, which are used to write different dialects of the Cree language.

Used to write

Modified versions of this syllabary are used to write: Blackfoot, Ojibwe, Carrier, Slavey, Naskapi and Inuktitut.

Cree syllabary (Plains/Swampy Cree)

Cree syllabary (Woodland Cree)

Sample text in Swampy Cree

Sample text in Cree

Transliteration
misiwe ininiw tipenimitisowinik eshi nitawikit nesta peywakan kici ishi kanawapamikiwisit kistenimitisowinik nesta minikowisiwima. e pakitimamacik kaketawenitamowininiw nesta mitonenicikaniniw nesta wicikwesitowinik kici ishi kamawapamitocik.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Information about Cree | Cree language learning materials