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Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa or Anishinaabemoowin is the third most commonly spoken Native language in Canada (after Cree and Inuktitut). It also has many speakers in the United States. Anishinaabemoowin, an Algonquian language that is closely related to Cree, Potawatomi, Odawa, and Algonkin, is spoken by the Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) people.
Ojibwe has a syllabary developed by missionary James Evans around 1840, based on Pitman's shorthand. In the United States, the language is most often written phonemically with Roman characters. Syllabics are primarily used in Canada. The newest Roman character-based writing system is the Double Vowel system, devised by Charles Fiero. There is no standard orthography, however the Double Vowel system is gaining popularity among language teachers in the United States and Canada because of its ease of use. The following is the Double Vowel system:
Vowels : Ojibwe example (English translation) / English equivalent
a : asemaa (tobacco) / about
aa : omaa (here) / father [aː]
e : esiban (raccoon) / way [eː]
i : gimiwan (it's raining) / pin
ii : niiwin (four) / seen [iː]
o : opin (potato) / obey, book
oo : oodenaang (in/to town) / boat, boot [oː, uː]
Consonants : Ojibwe example (English translation) / English equivalent
b : bakwezhigan (bread) / big
ch : chi-oginiig (tomatoes) / chin
d : doodooshaboo (milk) / dog
g : gaag (porcupine) / go
h : hay' (oops) / hi
j : maajaan (go) / jello
k : mikinaak (turtle) / kite
m : mamoon (take it) / milk
n : bine (partridge) / name
p : baapiwag (they laugh) / pig
s : es (clam) / sun
sh : nishkaadizi (s/he's angry) / bush
t : anit (fishing spear) / time
w : waawaan (egg) / woman
y : babagiwayan (shirt) / yell
z : mooz (moose) / zebra
zh : niizh (two) / measure
' : ma'iingan (wolf) / oh-oh (Glottal stop)
Notes:
The English letters and sounds of f, l, q, r, u, v and x are not part of the Ojibwe alphabet.
The Ojibwe alphabet contains the additional double-letter symbols of aa, ch, ii, oo, sh and zh.
External link
Ojibwe Language Society (http://www.ojibwemowin.com/)
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