Spelling East Cree (Southern) – Boundaries

Making compound words

Two or three words can be joined together to make one new word, but there are almost always spelling changes when this happens. The names of the months are good examples of compound words.

Sometimes there is no change to the spelling of the words.

Often the syllabic final is made big when the second word begins with a consonant (use ᐱ ᑎ ᒋ ᓂ ᒥ ᓯ ᔑ in this case)

This also applies to words made of a second part that cannot stand alone (to which a final is added):

When the second word begins with a vowel symbol (ᐁ ᐃ ᐄ ᐅ ᐆ ᐊ ᐋ) this vowel disappears but the small symbol at the end of the first word becomes big.

Sometimes the beginning of the second word is dropped.

The w-circle ᐤ is changed to ᐅ.

The w-circle ᐤ is changed to ᐅ and the beginning of the second word is dropped if it is a vowel (ᐁ ᐃ ᐄ ᐅ ᐆ ᐊ ᐋ).

Note that the w-circle at the end of the first word becomes a w-dot in the compound word:

The little ᒄ becomes big ᑯ or ᐧᑳ.

Many words add a ᐅ between the words (and may drop the beginning of the second word).

A number of words have shorter forms (acting as finals) used to created new words:

Sometimes a joining y or w is used:

See also: Spelling East Cree – Northern Dialect – Making compound words