Spelling East Cree (Southern) – Syllabic Finals

How the small syllabic symbols change when an ending is added

Words ending with ᑉ, ᑦ, ᒃ, ᒡ, ᒻ, ᓐ, ᔅ, ᔥ

Animate Plural Suffix

When you add this ending, just make the final big, then add ᒡ. Use ᐸ, ᑕ, ᑲ, ᒪ, ᓇ, ᓴ, ᔕ.

Locative Suffix

When you add the locative ending, meaning ‘in, at, to, on‘ etc, change the small ᑉ, ᑦ, ᒃ, ᒡ, ᒻ, ᓐ, ᔅ, ᔥ to big ᐱ, ᑎ, ᑭ, ᒋ, ᒥ, ᓂ, ᓯ, ᔑ.

Diminutive Suffix

When you add the diminutive ending you usually change the small syllabic final ᑉ, ᑦ, ᒃ, ᒡ, ᒻ, ᓐ to big ᐱ, ᑎ, ᑭ, ᒋ, ᒥ, ᓂ.

Be careful with the diminutive of words where final ᔅ changes to ᔑᔥ or ᔥ. In addition, the following changes may take place ᑎ, ᑏ, ᑐ, ᑑ, ᑖ, ᐧᑖ change to ᒋ, ᒌ, ᒍ, ᒎ, ᒑ, ᐧᒑ and ᓯ, ᓰ, ᓱ, ᓲ, ᓵ, ᐧᓵ change to ᔑ, ᔒ, ᔓ, ᔔ, ᔖ, ᐧᔖ.

Another exception is the change of final ᒃ to ᒋ in a few words:

Possessive Suffix

When the possessive endings are added, little ᑉ, ᑦ, ᒃ, ᒡ, ᓪ, ᓐ, ᔅ, ᔥ become big ᐱ, ᑎ, ᑭ, ᒋ, ᒥ, ᓂ, ᓯ, ᔑ.

Here is a summary of how the finals will change:

Words ending with ᒄ

The little ᒄ changes to big ᑯ when an ending is added.

Words ending with ᐤ

When the animate plural ending is added to a noun, the ᐤ becomes ᐅ.

When the animate plural ending is added to a verb, the ᐤ becomes ᐅ.

When the diminutive, locative or possessive ending is added to a noun, the ᐤ is dropped.

If the suffix is ᐦ (h), then the ᐤ is kept.

Some Exceptions

Be careful of the following words where ᒻ becomes ᒧ, ᔅ becomes ᓱ and ᔥ becomes ᔓ when an ending is added.

More examples of words with these endings:

See also: Spelling East Cree – Northern Dialect – How the syllabic finals change when an ending is added