Spelling East Cree (Northern) – Syllabic Finals

The use of the ᐦ (h) ᔮᐦᔮᐙᑭᓐ

ᐦ at the end of a word

At the end of a word ᐦ (h) is used to mark grammatical categories such as the inanimate plural of nouns, obviative of animate nouns, locative of nouns, imperative marker of verbs, etc.

Inanimate plural marker

Nouns:

Verbs:

Animate obviative marker

Possessed animate nouns

Obviative Nouns with Transitive Animate Verbs

When a Transitive Animate Verb has two third persons, one of them (is obviative) and adds an ᐦ (h) at the end.

ᐊᔑᒫᐤ ᓂᑖᒻᐦ ᐋᓃ᙮
ashimâu nitâmh ânî.

ᓂᑖᒻ ᐊᔑᒫᐃᑯ ᐋᓃᐦ᙮
nitâm ashimiku ânî-h.

ᐋᓃ ᐧᐋᐸᒥᑰ ᓂᔅᑖᔅᐦ᙮
ânî wâpamikû nistâs-h.

ᐋᓃ ᐙᐱᒫᐤ ᓂᔅᑖᔅᐦ᙮
ânî wâpimâu nistâs-h.

ᐦ (h) on expressions of time

ᐦ (h) can be added to an expression of time, when something happens more than once.

• ᔖᔥ ᐹᔨᑯᐲᓯᒻᐦ ᐄᑎᓂᐦᐆ᙮
• ᐹᔨᑯᐲᓯᒻᐦ ᐄᑎᓂᐦᐆ ᒫᓐ᙮
• ᓃᔓᑎᐱᔅᑳᐤᐦ ᓂᒥ ᓅᐦᒋ ᒥᔪᐦᐧᑳᒧᓐ᙮

ᐦ (h) on habitual verbs

ᐦ (h) is found on conjugation #12b to indicate a habitual or repetitive event: ‘whenever…’

ᐦ (h) as a marker of Imperative verbs for second person singular forms

Note that ᐦ (h) is used for the command forms ‘do it to it’ and ‘do it to me’ but not for ‘do it to him’.

See also: Spelling East Cree – Southern Dialect – ᐦ at the end of a word