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tansi cuzzins!
Welcome to ᐃᔨᑯᐱᐏ ᐲᓯᒼ (iyikopiwi-pîsim) – Frost Moon, or November.
Another week has passed, and we are now at the second-to last Spirit Marker of the Star Chart. Welcome to week thirty-six of studying the Y dialect of Cree.
Each week, readers have followed along with me as I learn more about my language using a sacred type of alphabet called Spirit Markers (also known as "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.
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From Esoteric.Codes' interview with Jon
Corbett.
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Our Spirit Marker this week is the third-to-last on this arm on the Star Chart, but since Y dialect doesn't have an 'r' sound, this is our second-to last Spirit Marker.
The Spirit Marker we're looking at today is ᓴ, which is pronounced 'sa.' I sometimes refer to this Spirit Marker by its shape, which reminds me of an upside-down wine glass.
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This is the short form of the vowel.
When we put a dot on top of the Spirit Marker, like so ᓵ, the vowel becomes longer, as you can see below.
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Are you familiar with mink, the animal? That's our word this week: ᓵᑵᐢ (sâkwês), mink. When I saw this word, I realized I don't know anything about this relative.
Mosom Google tells me that mink are related to ferrets, otters and badgers. I also know from old-school Hollywood stars that their fur is beautiful.
You can hear ᓵᑵᐢ pronounced here.
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With Itwewina, the Cree dictionary linked above, it's often possible to hear a word spoken by multiple different speakers.
That's the case with with this word – you'll see an Elder's name in a box and if you click on it a list of other Elders drops down and you can select a different speaker. Sometimes one of the recordings isn't very audible so just know you can look for a clearer recording.
I have never seen a mink, so I found a video of one on YouTube. It has webbed feet and its body is reminiscent of a beaver. You can see the video of our beautiful relative here.
ᑭᓇᓈᐢᑯᒥᑎᓄᐤ (kinanâskomitinow) I am 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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