Spelling East Cree (Southern) – Dialect Differences

The syllabic chart

The full syllabic chart shows all the symbols that are used in writing Eastern James Bay Cree. Some symbols are used only in the Southern dialect, not in the Northern, as explained below.

North – South differences

Speakers from Wemindji, Chisasibi, Whapmagoostui, and sometimes Eastmain use ᐋ, ᐹ, ᒑ, ᒫ, ᓈ, ᓵ, ᔖ instead of ᐁ, ᐯ, ᑌ, ᒉ, ᒣ, ᓀ, ᓭ, ᔐ.

The Northern speakers do not use ᐸ, ᑕ, ᑲ, ᒐ, ᒪ, ᓇ, ᓴ, ᔕ, ᔭ but instead use ᐱ, ᑎ, ᑭ, ᒋ, ᒥ, ᓂ, ᓯ, ᔑ, ᔨ.

However, ᐊ is used in both Northern and Southern dialects at the beginning of a word, and after ᐦ in some verbs.

Eastmain speakers

In Eastmain, speakers use both Southern and Northern pronunciations since the community is on the boundary of the two dialect areas. Sometimes the two pronunciations are used in a single word, or show up in the written form.

ᓭ, ᓯ, ᓱ, ᓴ, ᔅ and ᔐ, ᔑ, ᔓ, ᔕ, ᔥ

Both these sets are used in writing East Cree words. Some Inland speakers may pronounce the ᔐ, ᔑ, ᔓ, ᔕ, ᔥ as ᓭ, ᓯ, ᓱ, ᓴ, ᔅ and therefore may want to check their spelling with the dictionary.

Writing ᒡ at the end of a word

There is a tendency for southern coastal speakers to pronounce ᒡ as ᑦ at the end of words. Special attention is needed when writing final ᒡ.

Note that there are words that do end in ᑦ (such ᒉᑳᑦ, ᐁ ᓂᐸᑦ) and these ones should not be changed to ᒡ.

Inland and Coastal differences in pronunciation

There is a dialect difference between Inland and Coastal Southern speakers in the pronunciation of certain words such as the ones below. Words in the dictionary which differ are marked ‘coastal’ or ‘inland’.

See also: Spelling East Cree – Northern Dialect – Dialect Differences