Interested in Oji-Cree?

The chart shows the sounds. For example, usually ᐁ is transliterated as ‘e’, but it sounds like ‘ay’.

Triangles by themselves are vowels. Usually, however, vowels are included as part of a syllabic.

ᐃ bit  i    ᐄ bee  ee ᐁ way  ay not dotted ᐅ top  aw  ᐆ go  oh ᐊ bat   a    ᐋ ahbs

Syllabics are not letters. ᓂ is not ‘n’, it is ni. A dot above a syllabic makes it long. ᓃ is nee.

ᐎ wit   ᐐ weep

Dot before makes W

 ᐌ wait

always ‘ay’

 ᐒ wot   ᐔ woke ᐗ wack

ᐙ wahx

 o w small raised syllabic ends word
ᑭ kit or giddy  ki

ᑮ keen or geek  kee

 ᑫ kake or gay

always ‘ay’. Not dotted.

 ᑯ kof or got  gaw

ᑰ koat or goat  go

 ᑲ kat or gap  ka

ᑳ kahbbage gahllop

 ᑲ  k / g    final letter of word
ᑎ tick or dip   ti

ᑏ tea or deep   tee

 ᑌ take or day

 

 ᑐ top or dot   taw

ᑑ toe or donut

 ᑕ tap or dash

ᑖ tahmp dahmp

 ᑕ  t / d

ᑎ th anywhere
ᒋ chip   chi

ᒌ cheek   chee

 ᒉ chaynge ᒍ chop   chaw

ᒎ choke

 ᒐ chat   cha

ᒑ chahllenge

 ᒐ  ch
ᒥ mit  mi  ᒦ meek  mee ᒣ may ᒧ mop  maw   ᒨ mope ᒪ mat   ma   ᒫ mahm ᒪ  m
ᓂ nip   ni  ᓃ neat  nee ᓀ neigh ᓄ not  naw   ᓅ no ᓇ nap   na   ᓈ   nahtter ᓇ  n
ᐱ pit or bib   pi

ᐲ pee or bee

 ᐯ pay or bay ᐳ pop or bot   paw

ᐴ poet or boat   poe

 ᐸ pat or bat   ba

ᐹ pahlette bah

 ᐸ  p / b

ᐱ f / ph anywhere
ᕆ rib   ri    ᕇ reap   ree ᕃ raid   ray ᕈ rot   raw     ᕉ rope   roe ᕋ rat   ra     ᕌ rahbbit ᕋ   r
ᓯ sip    si     ᓰ see ᓭ say ᓱ sop   saw     ᓲ soap   so ᓴ sat  ᓵ sahlute ᓴ  s     ᔉ sk
ᔑ zhi  ᔒzhee ᔐ zhay ᔓ zho      ᔔ zhoe ᔕ zha      ᔖ zhah ᔕ   zh
ᓕ lip   li    ᓖ leap   lee ᓓ lake   lay ᓗ lot        ᓘ low ᓚ lap               ᓛ lahtte ᓚ   l
ᔨ yip   yi  ᔩyeast   yee ᔦ yale ᔪ yob   ᔫ yoyo ᔭ yap   ᔮ yeah o   y  over final syllabic, like ᔧy, ᐰ py, ᑍ ty, ᒊ ly, ᑬ ky, ᒤ my

ᐦ H

ᑕᔒᑫ o  ᐆᑕ gets spelled tašihkew, but it sounds tazhikaywh. The final ‘wh’ (or ‘ew’) can sound like o.

Tazhikayo ota. Somebody lives here. Cree uses no ‘she’ or ‘he’. Bodies are ‘someone’ or ‘something’, and the possessive prefix – o – translates to English as her/his but means a living being’s. Living beings include not only animals and some plants, but also bread, soap, sun, spoon, kettle, dock, and so on.

A fun way to make syllabics familiar is to write English words in syllabics. ᓯᓚᕋ cellar, ᐸᓇᓇ banana, ᑲᕋ car, ᑏᐱᐄ TV, ᕉᑕ road, ᑐᑲ dog, etc. Or your name: ᓖᐊᒪ Liam, ᐃᒥᓖ Emily.

Junker, M.-O., MacKenzie, M., Bobbish-Salt, L., Duff, A., Salt, R., Blacksmith, A., Diamond, P., & Weistche, P. (Eds.). (2012). The Eastern James Bay Cree Dictionary on the Web: English-Cree and Cree-English, French-Cree and Cree-French (Northern and Southern dialects). Retrieved from http://dictionary.eastcree.org/

 

(Oji-Cree blends (Ojibwa [Anishinaabe] and ᐄᓅᐊᔨᒧᐧᐃᓐ iinuuayimuwin [Cree], the two being so similar.)