Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics for English
(ᐦᑫᓀ˙ᐃᑏᐁᓐ ᐊᐯᕆᒉᓀᓪ ᐦᓭᓚᐱᐦᒃᐦᔅ ᐦᕘᕐ ᐃᖕᒃᓕᐦᔥ)

Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics for English is a way to write General American English (including Canadian English) with Canadian Aboriginal syllabics, devised by Michael Chen. It helps him practice learning and applying syllabics writing system, and is based on Eastern Cree and Inuktut syllabics more than Western Cree.

Notable features

Type of writing system: syllabary
Direction of writing: left to right in horizontal lines
Used to write: General American English

Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics for English

Notes

Canadian Aboriginal syllabics has four short vowels and three long vowels: a, ā, u, ū, i, ī, e. We also add an ē vowel by following the -e syllabic with the Unicode combining character dot above (˙)
Here is how we map these eight vowels to General American vowels, written in IPA. In the IPA transcription, we assume the cot–caught merger ([ɔː~ɒ] → [ɑː] except before [ɹ]), [ʌ] is an allophone of [ə], no phonemic vowel length distinctions, and no [t/d] → [ɾ].
- a: [æ], including [aʊ~æʊ]
- ā: [ɑ], [a] as in [aɪ]
- e: [ə~ʌ~ɜ]
- ē: [ɛ], [e] as in [eɪ] or [eɹ]
- i: [ɪ]
- ī: [i]
- u: [ʊ], [ɔ] as in [ɔi], [o] as in [oʊ]
- ū: [u], [ɔ] as in [ɔɹ]
Canadian Aboriginal syllabics does not have many series of characters contrasting in voicing. We have the consonants represent voiced sounds by default, and form the unvoiced equivalents by preceding them with an h (ᐦ). This is similar to how Burmese romanization uses hm and hl for the unvoiced equivalents of m and l

Download a script chart for Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics for English (Excel)

For the automatic conversion of General American English IPA to this system of Canadian Aboriginal syllabics, you can use this JavaScript script which runs remotely: https://repl.it/@MichaelChen6/English-to-Canadian-Aboriginal-syllabics

Sample text in Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics for English

ᐋᓪ ᕻᔫᒣᓐ ᐲᐃᖕᔅ ᐋᕐ ᐴᕐᓐ ᐦᕝᕇ ᐊᓐᑦ ᐄᐦᒃᐌᓪ ᐃᓐ ᑎᒃᓀᐦᑏ ᐊᓐᑦ ᕌᐃᐦᑦᐦᔅ. ᕞ˙ᐃ ᐋᕐ ᐁ˙ᓐᑕᐅᑦ ᐎᕪ ᕇᓭᓐ ᐊᓐᑦ ᐦᑳᓐᐦᔐᓐᐦᔅ ᐊᓐᑦ ᐦᔓᑦ ᐊᐦᒃᐦᑦ ᐦᑌᐔᕐᑦᔅ ᐌᓐ ᐁᓀᕞᕐ ᐃᓐ ᐁ ᐦᔅᐦᐱᕂᐦᑦ ᐁᕝ ᑉᕂᕞᕐᕷᑦ.

IPA transcription

/ɑl ˈhjumən ˈbiɪŋz ɑr bɔrn fri ænd ˈikwəl ɪn ˈdɪgnəti ænd raɪts. ðeɪ ɑr ɛnˈdaʊd wɪð ˈrizən ænd ˈkɑnʃəns ænd ʃʊd ækt təˈwɔrdz wʌn əˈnʌðər ɪn ə ˈspɪrət ʌv ˈbrʌðərˌhʊd./

Transliteration

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)

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