Ojibwe is an indigenous language of North America from the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is one of the largest Native American languages north of Mexico in terms of number of speakers and is characterized by a series of dialects, some of which differ significantly. The dialects of Ojibwe are spoken in Canada from southwestern Quebec, through Ontario, Manitoba and parts of Saskatchewan, with outlying communities in Alberta and British Columbia,Valentine, J. Randolph, 1994, p. 6Nichols, John, 1980, pp. 1-2 and in the United States from Michigan through Wisconsin and Minnesota, with a number of communities in North Dakota and Montana, as well as migrant groups in Kansas and Oklahoma.Rhodes, Richard, and Evelyn Todd, 1981
The absence of linguistic or political unity among Ojibwe-speaking groups is associated with the relative autonomy of the regional dialects of Ojibwe.Pentland, David, 1996, p. 262 There is no single dialect that is considered the most prestigious or most prominent, and no standard writing system used to represent all dialects.Ningewance, Patricia, 1999 Ojibwe dialects have been written in numerous ways over a period of several centuries, with the development of different written traditions reflecting a range of influences from the orthographic practices of other languages.
Writing systems associated with particular dialects have been developed by adapting the Latin script, usually the English or French orthographies.Walker, Willard, 1996 A widely used Roman character-based writing system is the double vowel system, attributed to Charles Fiero. The double vowel system is quickly gaining popularity among language teachers in the United States and Canada because of its ease of use.
A syllabic writing system not related to English or French writing is used by some Ojibwe speakers in northern Ontario and Manitoba. Development of the original form of Canadian Aboriginal syllabics is credited to missionary James Evans around 1840.Nichols, John, 1996
The Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics are based on French orthography with letters organized into syllables. It was primarily used by speakers of Fox, Potawatomi, and Winnebago, but there is indirect evidence of use by speakers of Chippewa ("Southwestern Ojibwe").
Anishinaabewibii'iganan
Anishinaabewibii'iganan can refer to the body of Ojibwe writings found as petroglyphs, on story-hides, and on Midewiwin wiigwaasabakoon, similar to the Mi'kmaw Suckerfish script. Not much is known to academia regarding these "hieroglyphics" or glyphs, though there are said to be several Ojibwe elders who still know the meanings of many of the symbols. As their content is considered sacred, however, very little information about them has been shared with outsiders.Our Knowledge Is Not Primitive: Decolonizing Botanical Anishinaabe Teachings by Wendy Makoons Geniusz. Published 2009. Page 83.
In treaty negotiations with the British, the treaty-signing chiefs would often mark an "X" for their signature and then use the Wiigwaasabak character representing their totem. Today, Ojibwe artists commonly incorporate motifs found in the Wiigwaasabak to instill "Native Pride."
The term itself: "Anishinaabewibii'iganan", simply means Ojibwe/Anishinaabe or "Indian" writings and can encompass a far larger meaning than only the historical pictographic script. Indeed, Anishinaabewibii'iganan may describe the pictographic script better since its connections with non-Anishinaabe or -Ojibwe nations extend deeply.
Romanized Ojibwe systems Modern Latin alphabets The different systems used to write Ojibwe are typically distinguished by their representation of key features of the Ojibwe inventory of sounds. Differences include: the representation of vowel length, the representation of nasal vowels, the representation of fortis and lenis consonants; and the representation of consonants which require an International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol that differs significantly from the conventional alphabetic symbol.
Double vowel system The double vowel orthography is an adaptation of the linguistically oriented system found in publications such as Leonard Bloomfield's Eastern Ojibwa.Bloomfield, Leonard, 1958 Its name arises from the use of doubled vowel symbols to represent long vowels that are paired with corresponding short vowels;Ningewance, Patricia, 1999, p. 2 a variant in which long vowels are represented with a macron (ˉ) over short vowels is also reported for several publications in the early 1970s.Rhodes, Richard and Evelyn Todd, 1981, p. 65, Table 6, n. a Development of the double vowel system is attributed to Charles Fiero.Nichols, John and Lena White, 1987, p. iii At a conference held to discuss the development of a common Ojibwe orthography, Ojibwe language educators agreed that the double vowel system was a preferred choice but recognized that other systems were also used and preferred in some locations.Ningewance, Patricia The double vowel system is widely favored among language teachers in the United States and Canada and is taught in a program for Ojibwe language teachers.Native Language Instructors' Program. Native Language Instructors' Program, Lakehead University Faculty of Education, Lakehead University. Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Retrieved on March 27, 2009.
The double vowel orthography is used to write several dialects of Ojibwe spoken in the circum-Great Lakes area. Significant publications in Chippewa (Southwestern Ojibwe) include a widely used dictionaryNichols, John and Earl Nyholm, 1995 and a collection of texts.Kegg, Maude, 1991 The same system with minor differences is used for several publications in the Ottawa and Eastern Ojibwe dialects (see below Ottawa-Eastern Ojibwe double vowel system).
One of the goals underlying the double vowel orthography is promoting standardization of Ojibwe writing so that language learners are able to read and write in a consistent way. By comparison, folk phonetic spelling approaches to writing Ottawa based on less systematic adaptations of written English or French are more variable and idiosyncratic and do not always make consistent use of alphabetic letters.
Letters of the English alphabet substitute for specialized phonetic symbols, in conjunction with orthographic conventions unique to Ojibwe. The system embodies two principles: (1) alphabetic letters from the English alphabet are used to write Ojibwe but with Ojibwe sound values; (2) the system is phonemic in nature in that each letter or letter combination indicates its basic sound value and does not reflect all the phonetic detail that occurs. Accurate pronunciation thus cannot be learned without consulting a fluent speaker.Nichols, John and Earl Nyholm, 1995, p. xxiii
The long vowels are paired with the short vowels , and are written with double symbols that correspond to the single symbols used for the short vowels . The long vowel does not have a corresponding short vowel, and is written with a single .Valentine, J. Randolph, 2001, p. 34
The short vowels are: .Nichols, John and Earl Nyholm, 1995, pp. xxiv-xxv
+ Short vowels (Southwestern Ojibwe dialect)PhonemePhoneticOjibwe examplesGlossEnglish equivalenti pin o ~ obey, book nibo a ~ but
The long vowels are: .
+ Long vowels (Southwestern Ojibwe dialect)PhonemePhoneticOjibwe examplesGlossEnglish equivalentii seen oo ~ boat, boot aa father e ~ café
The short vowel represented as orthographic has values centering on ; short has values centering on ; and short has values centring on . The long vowel has values centering on ; long has values centering on ; and long has values centering on . The long vowel has values centering on .
The long nasal vowels are phonetically , , , and . They most commonly occur in the final syllable of nouns with diminutive suffixes or words with a diminutive connotation.Valentine, J. Randolph, 2001, pp. 185–188 Orthographically they are represented differently in word-final position as opposed to word-internally.
In the final syllable of a word the long vowel is followed by word-final to indicate that it is nasal; the use of is an orthographic convention and does not correspond to an independent sound. The examples in the table below are from the Ottawa dialect.Valentine, J. Randolph, 2001, p. 40
+ Long nasal vowels in word-final positionNasal VowelExampleEnglish
Word-internally long nasal vowels are represented by orthographic , as in Southwestern Ojibwe .Nichols, John and Earl Nyholm, 1995, p. 85
The nasalized allophones of the vowels, which occur predictably preceding the nasal+fricative clusters ns, nz, and nzh are not indicated in writing, in words such as gaawiin ingikendanziin "I don't know it", jiimaanens "small boat", and oshkanzhiin "someone's fingernail(s)".Nichols, John and Earl Nyholm, 1995, p. xxv Long vowels after the nasal consonants or are frequently nasalized, particularly when followed by . In such cases the nasalization is sometimes overtly indicated by optionally writing immediately after the vowel: moonz or mooz "moose."
In the original Double Vowel system, nasal long vowels now represented with / were written with the ogonek diacritic in some publications,Kegg, Maude, 1978, p. vii while in others they are represented by underlining the vowel.Nichols, John and Earl Nyholm, 1979, p. 251 The Double Vowel system used today employing / for long nasal vowels is sometimes called "Fiero-Nichols Double Vowel system" since John Nichols popularized this convention.
The affricates and are written and , and the fricatives and are written and . The semivowels and are written and .
The lenis obstruents are written using voiced characters: .Nichols, John and Earl Nyholm, 1995, pp. xxvi-xxvii
+ Lenis consonants (Southwestern Ojibwe dialect)PhonemePhoneticOjibwe examplesGlossEnglish equivalentb ~ bit, spit d ~ do, stop g ~ geese, ski j ~ jump, watch z ~ zebra, miss zh ~ measure, wash
The fortis consonants use voiceless characters: .
+ Fortis consonants (Southwestern Ojibwe dialect)PhonemePhoneticOjibwe examplesGlossEnglish equivalentp rip t pit k pick ch stitch s miss sh bush
The remaining consonants are written , in addition to the glottal stop , which is written .
+ Other consonants (Southwestern Ojibwe dialect)PhonemePhoneticOjibwe examplesGlossEnglish equivalentm man n, before g, k name, ankle w way y yellow h hi uh-oh
Although the double vowel system treats the digraphs each as single sounds, they are alphabetized as two distinct letters. The long vowel written with double symbols are treated as units and alphabetized after the corresponding short vowel. The resulting alphabetical order is:Nichols, John and Earl Nyholm, 1995, p. xxiv
a aa b (ch) d e g h ' i ii j k m n o oo p s t w y z
The consonant clusters that occur in many Ojibwe dialects are represented with the following sequences of characters:
mb, nd, ng, nj, nz, ns, nzh, sk, shp, sht, shk
The consonant cluster represents syllable onset [] followed by a syllable medial [], while the rare consonant cluster represents a nasaled vowel followed by ; in some varieties of Southwestern Ojibwe, the rare nasaled vowel followed by a glottal stop is represented with , in words such as niiyawen'enh "my namesake" and aan'aan'we "pintail duck".
Ottawa-Eastern Ojibwe double vowel system A minor variant of the double vowel system is used to write the Ottawa and Eastern Ojibwe varieties spoken in Michigan and southwestern Ontario, as exemplified in a prominent dictionary.Rhodes, Richard, 1985 Other publications making use of the same system include a reference grammarValentine, J. Randolph, 2001 and a collection of texts dictated by an Ottawa speaker from Walpole Island First Nation, Ontario.Valentine, J. Randolph, 1998
The two dialects are characterized by loss of short vowels because of vowel syncope. Since vowel syncope occurs frequently in the Ottawa and Eastern Ojibwe dialects, additional consonant clusters arise.