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tansi cuzzins!
We have now reached week thirty-three of our journey into studying the Y dialect of the Cree language together!
Each week, readers follow along with me as I learn more about my language using a sacred type of alphabet called Spirit Markers (some folks call them syllabics). The Spirit Marker chart we're using is called a Star Chart and it is below. It's oriented opposite of how "western" maps are – North goes on the bottom for us, and South is at the top.
You can find past lessons on the website here. Not all lessons are up yet on the website – my apologies! We're working on a new system of organizing them, which I hope to reveal to you soon.
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We're on the very last branch of the Star Chart, which extends in the northeast direction and contains the last six Spirit Markers we'll be looking at this year. For those of you who have been with me since week one, give yourself a pat on the back – it's been quite a journey!
Last week we looked at the first Spirit Marker on this branch, ᒪ, pronounced 'ma.'
This week, our Spirit Marker is ᑲ, which is spelled 'ka' in SRO. However, it's pronounced more like 'ga.'
Like the 't' in Cree, 'k' is not pronounced as it is in English. It's got more of a glottal sound, meaning it comes from the back of your mouth more than the front. To my ears, it sounds much more like an English 'g.'
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Sometimes I wish they had choses a 'g' to represent this sound in SRO, because the 'k' sometimes misleads new Cree learners and leads to mispronunciation.
It's a good general rule that when you read Cree written in SRO, which is the most common way you'll see it, to pronounce the 'k's more like 'g's.
In reality, the sound is probably a kind of a mix of the two English sounds – a little more aspirated than the English G, a little softer than the English 'k.'
Easy peasy, right? 😛
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As always, when the vowel is lengthened, we signify this by placing a dot on top of the Spirit Marker, as above. ᑳ is written 'kâ' in SRO and pronounced 'kaa.'
Now onto our word of the week!
ᑳᐦᑳᑭᐤ (kâhkâkiw) means raven or crow, depending on your location.
I don't know about you, but as a word nerd I love onomatopoeia – that's when the word for something sounds like the thing that it is. An example of this would be the words "buzz" or "sizzle."
According to môsom Google, a large number of bird names arise from onomatopoeia. It appears that holds true across multiple languages.
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So it is that the nehiyawewin word for raven or crow sounds like the cawing sound our relatives make!
That's right – like all animals, ravens and crows are our relatives. Sometimes I make tobacco offerings to them, asking them to think of me in their ceremonies.
I know some of you have special relationships with crows and ravens too, feeding them when they yell at you from their perch on your balcony, or watching them raise their families in your neighbourhood.
That concludes our mini Cree lesson for this week! I want to thank all of you who have donated to our reciprocal fundraising campaign. We've extended it by a few days because members of our team have been ill this week.
As of this writing we're only at 45% of our goal. 🥺 If you have the means, it would mean a lot to us if you could help us get the rest of the way there.
To all of you, whether you're able to contribute financially or not, thank you for sharing your hearts and minds with us here at IndigiNews. ᑭᓇᓈᐢᑯᒥᑎᓄᐤ (kinanâskomitinow)
I remain grateful for your readership and the community we're building together.
Aunty Eden
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Eden Fineday is a nehiyaw iskwew and the publisher of IndigiNews. She is a also a mom, writer and student of nehiyawewin. She lives with gratitude as an uninvited guest on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), səl̓ ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Peoples.
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