Eastern Cree syllabics are a variant of Canadian Aboriginal syllabics

Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics

Canadian Aboriginal syllabic writing, or simply syllabics, is a family of abugidas used to write a number of Aboriginal Canadian languages of the Algonquian, Inuit, and Athabaskan language families....

 used to write all the Cree

Cree language

Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana...

 dialects from Moosonee, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 to Kawawachikamach on the Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

–Labrador

Labrador

Labrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...

 border in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 that use syllabics.

Cree syllabics uses different glyph

Glyph

A glyph is an element of writing: an individual mark on a written medium that contributes to the meaning of what is written. A glyph is made up of one or more graphemes....

s to indicate consonants, and changes the orientation of these glyphs to indicate the vowel that follows it. The basic principles of Canadian syllabic writing are outlined in the article for Canadian Aboriginal syllabics

Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics

Canadian Aboriginal syllabic writing, or simply syllabics, is a family of abugidas used to write a number of Aboriginal Canadian languages of the Algonquian, Inuit, and Athabaskan language families....

.

In this article, Cree words and sounds will transcribed using the Standard Roman Orthography.

Inventory

The primary difference between eastern and western Cree orthographies is the shape of the final consonants (consonant sounds with no following vowel). Eastern Cree dialects write finals with a superscripted a-syllabic. ᒫᔅᑰᒡ /māskōc/ has two finals, ᔅ /s/ and ᒡ /c/. Other differences are placing the diacritic for labialization (/w/) before rather than after the letter—ᑖᐺ /tāpwē/ (Western Cree ᑖᐻ),—and several additional series for consonants not found in Western Cree.

Eastern Cree syllabic character table

Initial	Vowels							Final
	ê	i	o	a	î	ô	â
	ᐁ	ᐃ	ᐅ	ᐊ	ᐄ	ᐆ	ᐋ
p	ᐯ	ᐱ	ᐳ	ᐸ	ᐲ	ᐴ	ᐹ	ᑉ
t	ᑌ	ᑎ	ᑐ	ᑕ	ᑏ	ᑑ	ᑖ	ᑦ
k	ᑫ	ᑭ	ᑯ	ᑲ	ᑮ	ᑰ	ᑳ	ᒃ
c	ᒉ	ᒋ	ᒍ	ᒐ	ᒌ	ᒎ	ᒑ	ᒡ
m	ᒣ	ᒥ	ᒧ	ᒪ	ᒦ	ᒨ	ᒫ	ᒻ
n	ᓀ	ᓂ	ᓄ	ᓇ	ᓃ	ᓅ	ᓈ	ᓐ
s	ᓭ	ᓯ	ᓱ	ᓴ	ᓰ	ᓲ	ᓵ	ᔅ
sh	ᔐ	ᔑ	ᔓ	ᔕ	ᔒ	ᔔ	ᔖ	ᔥ
y	ᔦ	ᔨ	ᔪ	ᔭ	ᔩ	ᔫ	ᔮ	ᔾ (ᐤ)
r	ᕃ	ᕆ	ᕈ	ᕋ	ᕇ	ᕉ	ᕌ	ᕐ
l	ᓓ	ᓕ	ᓗ	ᓚ	ᓖ	ᓘ	ᓛ	ᓪ
v, f	ᕓ	ᕕ	ᕗ	ᕙ	ᕖ	ᕘ	ᕚ	ᕝ
th*	ᕞ	ᕠ	ᕤ	ᕦ	ᕢ	ᕥ	ᕧ	ᕪ
w	ᐌ	ᐎ	ᐒ	ᐗ	ᐐ	ᐔ	ᐙ	ᐤ
h	ᐦᐁ	ᐦᐃ	ᐦᐅ	ᐦᐊ	ᐦᐄ	ᐦᐆ	ᐦᐋ	ᐦ

*Th is rare and used only in words borrowed from other languages.

Other finals:

• There is in Moose Cree
  Moose Cree language
  Moose Cree is an Algonquian language spoken in Ontario, Canada around the southern tip of James Bay.-References:*...
  
   an /sk/ final which merges into one character ᔅ /s/ and ᒃ /k/. ᐊᒥᔉ /amisk/ beaver
• The Moose Cree final /y/ is a ring written above the previous syllabic instead of the raised /ya/: ᐋᔕ̊ /āšay/ now.
• East Cree has special finals for ᒄ /kw/ and ᒽ /mw/ which are raised versions of the o-syllabics. ᒥᔅᑎᒄ /mistikw/ tree.
• Naskapi
  Naskapi language
  Naskapi is an Algonquian language spoken by the Naskapi in Quebec and Labrador, Canada. It is written in Eastern Cree syllabics....
  
  does not mark vowel length at all and uses two dots, either placed above or before a syllable, for a w: ᐛ wa, ᐖ wo, ᑥ twa, ᒂ kwa, ᒠ cwa (/tswa/), ᒺ mwa, ᓏ nwa, ᔄ swa, ᔽ ywa. Since Naskapi s- consonant clusters are all labialized, sCw-, these also have the two dots: ᔌ spwa, etc. There is also a labialized final sequence, ᔊ -skw, which is a raised sa-ko.

External links

• Cree syllabics at languagegeek.com Downloadable Unicode syllabics fonts and keyboard layouts for all dialects of Cree
• eastcree.org Cree fonts page Fonts and keyboard layouts for East Cree
• Talking syllabic chart A mapping between roman and syllabic orthographies for East Cree (audio)