Learn Cree - PART 1
Learn Cree and the history behind the Cree writing system
Objectives: Learn the history behind the Cree language and the writing system. Give students the opportunity to compare a Cree text with its transliteration and translation. In the second part of the lesson, students will carry on to compose A short poem in groups using the Cree vocabulary list and the syllabary, and present it to the class.
Materials:
Learn Cree and the history behind the Cree writing system
Objectives: Learn the history behind the Cree language and the writing system. Give students the opportunity to compare a Cree text with its transliteration and translation. In the second part of the lesson, students will carry on to compose A short poem in groups using the Cree vocabulary list and the syllabary, and present it to the class.
Materials:
- Cree language history
- Cree syllabary
- Cree text, transliteration and translation
Cree syllabary (Plains/Swampy Cree)Cree syllabary (Woodland Cree)Sample text in Swampy CreeTransliteration
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) |
Cree syllabary (ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ)
Cree, (Nēhiyawēwin / ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ) a group of closely related Algonquian languages spoken by about 60,000 people in Canada, especially in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Major varieties include:
Notable Features
According to Cree tradition, Evans adapted an existing script which was invented at an earlier date, possibly by a member of the Blackfoot nation. Origin of the syllabary James Evans, 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. About 20 years 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 the Cree language. 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: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/cree.htm |