Although all Ojibway language communities could use Syllabics to accurately represent their languages, it is important to note that not all Ojibway communtiies use this writing system. It is particularly the communities of northern Ontario and western Ojibway dialect speakers of Manitoba and Saskatchewan that have a current use of Syllabics. All other communities use a number of roman orthography systems to write their local dialects, including Algonquin, Odawa, Eastern Ojibwe, and Central Ojibwe. There is a relatively high degree of variation in the local typographic and orthographic preferences for Ojibway Syllabics between communities, particularly for communities in northern Ontario. This is particularly evident in northern Ontario communities, and can be seen primarily in the form and orientation of finals characters and their vertical positioning. The following chart shows the preferred representation of the Ojibway Syllabics orthography:
❶ A major distinction towards local typographic preferences amongst Northern Ontario Ojibwe communities is in the preferred form or orientation of finals characters. This is notably the difference between Western and Eastern Cree finals forms, and the i-pos and a-pos orientation scheme of finals glyphs. This can vary between communities, and between users within the same community. Some northern Ontario Ojibwe communities may follow the form of the Western Cree finals shapes, while others the Eastern Cree. For those who use the Eastern Cree finals forms, they may follow either the "a vowel" (ᐊ ᐸ ᑲ ᓇ) position or "i vowel" (ᐃ ᐱ ᑭ ᓂ) position orientation, a convention unique to Ontario Ojibwe Syllabics. There can also be mixing of these two orientation positions within the same text. Unicode encodes both the "a" and "i" position finals orientations to accommodate these preferences.
❷ Note that there is a local preference for a horizontally-centered "n final" (ᓐ) for some Northwestern Ojibwe communities.
❸ Note that this small ring character U+18DE ᣞ CANADIAN SYLLABICS FINAL SMALL RING is often depicted as a raised glyph, sitting above the top line in some common, system-level Syllabics typefaces. This is a finals character and should be vertically positioned and drawn to work in harmony with the other finals glyphs, as in the example below:
This glyph is used in several other Algonquian Syllabics using languages, and should appear in the same manner for all language communities.
❹ There is variation in the preferred positioning of the "w dot" in relation to the syllabic that it is modifying. Traditionally, Western Cree and Ojibwe communities place the w-dot to the right of the base syllabic, while Eastern Cree and Ojibwe communities will place the dot to the left of the syllabic, to lead the base character it is modifying. There is variation within
There is also variation in how this dot is encoded in texts between communities and individual users within communities. Some users will encode the "w dot" as two distinct code points: U+1427 ᐧ FINAL MIDDLE DOT plus the base syllabic glyph (ᐧ + ᐃ = ᐧᐃ). Others will encode these sequences of "w dot" with the pre-composed base glyphs within UCAS, where "w dot" and the base syllabic are treated as a composite glyph (ᐎ, ᐗ).
Ojibway Syllabics Subset:
ᐧ ᐁ ᐃ ᐅ ᐊ ᐄ ᐆ ᐋ ᐯ ᐱ ᐳ ᐸ ᐲ ᐴ ᐹ ᑌ ᑎ ᑐ ᑕ ᑏ ᑑ ᑖ ᑫ ᑭ ᑯ ᑲ ᑮ ᑰ ᑳ ᒉ ᒋ ᒍ ᒐ ᒌ ᒎ ᒑ ᒣ ᒥ ᒧ ᒪ ᒦ ᒨ ᒫ ᓀ ᓂ ᓄ ᓇ ᓃ ᓅ ᓈ ᓭ ᓯ ᓱ ᓴ ᓰ ᓲ ᓵ ᔐ ᔑ ᔓ ᔕ ᔒ ᔔ ᔖ ᔦ ᔨ ᔪ ᔭ ᔩ ᔫ ᔮ ᕓ ᕕ ᕖ ᕗ ᕘ ᕙ ᕚ ᕞ ᕠ ᕢ ᕤ ᕥ ᕦ ᕧ ᐎ ᐐ ᐓ ᐕ ᐗ ᐙ ᑊ ᑉ ᣔ ᐟ ᑦ ᣕ ᐠ ᒃ ᣖ ᐨ ᒡ ᣗ ᒻ ᣘ ᐣ ᓐ ᣙ ᐢ ᔅ ᣚ ᐡ ᔥ ᣛ ˚ ᔾ ᕝ ᕪ ᐤ ᣜ ᣝ ᓫ ᕑ ᐦ ᐞ
Orthographically and typographically speaking, Oji-Cree follows the same general pattern as Western Cree and Ojibwe Syllabics: "w dot" positioned to the right, following the syllabic, and employing the Western Cree finals forms. The difference from Cree being that Oji-Cree requires the "sh series" (ᔐ ᔑ ᔓ ᔕ) in its orthography. Additionally, Oji-Cree may use Latin script full stop and hyphen in contemporary texts, rather than the local Syllabics characters.
❶ While variation exists within Northwestern Ojibway communities in regards to the positioning of the "w dot" between users in contemporary texts, Oji-Cree users always follow the Western Cree convention of placing "w dot" to the right of the modified base syllabic.
There is variation, though, in how "w dot" is encoded in texts between communities and individual users within Oji-Cree communities. As in Northern Ojibway communities, users may encode the "w dot" as two distinct code points: U+1427 ᐧ CANADIAN SYLLABICS FINAL MIDDLE DOT plus the base syllabic glyph (ᐧ + ᐃ = ᐧᐃ). For an example of this encoding practice, see ᐧᐊᐧᐊᑌ ᐊᒋᒧᐧᐃᓇᐣ / Wawatay News. Others may encode "w dot" sequences with the pre-composed base glyphs within UCAS, where "w dot" and the base syllabic are treated as a composite glyph (ᐎ, ᐗ).
Oji-Cree Syllabics Subset:
ᐧ ᐁ ᐃ ᐅ ᐊ ᐄ ᐆ ᐋ ᐌ ᐎ ᐒ ᐗ ᐧᐄ ᐧᐆ ᐧᐋ ᐯ ᐱ ᐳ ᐸ ᐲ ᐴ ᐹ ᑌ ᑎ ᑐ ᑕ ᑏ ᑑ ᑖ ᑫ ᑭ ᑯ ᑲ ᑮ ᑰ ᑳ ᒉ ᒋ ᒍ ᒐ ᒌ ᒎ ᒑ ᒣ ᒥ ᒧ ᒪ ᒦ ᒨ ᒫ ᓀ ᓂ ᓄ ᓇ ᓃ ᓅ ᓈ ᓭ ᓯ ᓱ ᓴ ᓰ ᓲ ᓵ ᔐ ᔑ ᔓ ᔕ ᔒ ᔔ ᔖ ᔦ ᔨ ᔪ ᔭ ᔩ ᔫ ᔮ ᐤ ᑊ ᐟ ᐠ ᐨ ᒼ ᐣ ᐢ ᐡ ᔾ ᓬ ᕒ ᐦ ᐀ ᙮ - .
Western Ojibwe is the dialect of Ojibwe spoken by the communities west of Ontario. As a result of their proximity to neighbouring Western Cree communities, the orthographic and typographic conventions tend to follow verry closely that of the Plains and Western Swampy Cree Syllabics, where "w dot" is positioned right of the base syllabic. Note that Western Ojibwe requires the "sh series" (ᔐ ᔑ ᔓ ᔕ) in it's orthographic repertoire – as does Oji-Cree – not needed in the Cree language orthographies.
❶ While Western Ojibwe typically follows the style Round form style of Syllabics, consistent with other Western Cree communities, it is possible that users prefer to have the glyphs ᔓ and ᔕ represented in the Square form style, while Eastern Ojibwe and Cree communities would represent this glyph in the Round form style, illustrated below:
Western Ojibwe Syllabics Subset:
ᐧ ᐁ ᐃ ᐅ ᐊ ᐄ ᐆ ᐋ ᐯ ᐱ ᐳ ᐸ ᐲ ᐴ ᐹ ᑌ ᑎ ᑐ ᑕ ᑏ ᑑ ᑖ ᑫ ᑭ ᑯ ᑲ ᑮ ᑰ ᑳ ᒉ ᒋ ᒍ ᒐ ᒌ ᒎ ᒑ ᒣ ᒥ ᒧ ᒪ ᒦ ᒨ ᒫ ᓀ ᓂ ᓄ ᓇ ᓃ ᓅ ᓈ ᓭ ᓯ ᓱ ᓴ ᓰ ᓲ ᓵ ᔐ ᔑ ᔓ ᔕ ᔒ ᔔ ᔖ ᔦ ᔨ ᔪ ᔭ ᔩ ᔫ ᔮ ᐧᐁ ᐧᐃ ᐧᐅ ᐧᐊ ᐧᐄ ᐧᐆ ᐧᐋ ᑊ ᐟ ᐠ ᐨ ᒼ ᐣ ᐢ ᐡ ᕀ ᐤ ᓬ ᕒ ᐦ ᕁ ᐀ ᙮ - .
We would like to acknowledge and thank with gratitude Bill Jancewicz for sharing his knowledge of Cree and the Algonquian Syllabics.
- James Evans, ᓇᑲᒧᐏᓇ ᐅᒪᐢᑮᑯᐘ ᐅᑎᑘᐏᓂᐘᐤ (Swampy Cree Hymn book). Norway House, 1841.
- John Horden, Bible and Gospel history, in Saulteux, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 1860
- Charles Fiero, ‘Style manual for syllabics’. In Promoting Native Writing Systems in Canada, pp 95–104, OISE Press, 1985
- [Canadian Bible Society], ᐃᐃᐁᐧ ᒥᓇᐧᒋᒧᐃᐧᣙ ᑲᐃᓇ ᑐᑕᣖ ᐊᐊ ᒪᣖ / The Gospel of Mark in Northern Ojibway (Saulteaux) and English (TEV). Canadian Bible Society, 1974
- [Canadian Standards Association], Proposed pDAM for Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics. ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N1441, 10 June 1996
- Wawatay News, ᐗᐗᑌ ᐊᒋᒧᐎᓇᐣ / Wawatay News, 17 July, 2020 Vol.47, No. 7, PM#0382659799
- International Organization for Standardization, Information technology—Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (UCS): Part 1: Architecture and Basic Multilingual Plane: Amendment 11: Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics. From ISO/IEC 10646–1:1993, FDAM 11, L2/98–128, 1998