Canadian Aboriginal syllabics

Canadian syllabics
Syllable inventory of Ojibwe syllabics
Script type	Featural abugida
Time period	1840s–present
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Algonquian languages Cree Naskapi Ojibwe Chippewa Blackfoot Eskimo–Aleut languages Inuktitut Inuinnaqtun Natsilingmiutut Athabaskan languages Dane-zaa, Slavey, Chipewyan Sayisi Carrier (Dakelh) Sekani
Related scripts
Parent systems	Devanagari, Pitman shorthand Canadian syllabics
Child systems	Inuktitut Cree (Western, Eastern) Ojibwe Blackfoot Dakelh
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Cans (440), ​Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics
Unicode
Unicode alias	Canadian Aboriginal
Unicode range	U+1400–U+167F Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics, U+18B0–U+18FF Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Extended, U+11AB0–U+11ABF Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Extended-A
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article contains Canadian Aboriginal syllabic characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of syllabics.

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Canadian syllabic writing, or simply syllabics, is a family of writing systems used in a number of indigenous Canadian languages of the Algonquian, Inuit, and (formerly) Athabaskan language families. These languages had no formal writing system previously. They are valued for their distinctiveness from the Latin script and for the ease with which literacy can be achieved.^[1] For instance, by the late 19th century the Cree had achieved what may have been one of the highest rates of literacy in the world.^[2] Syllabics are an abugida, where glyphs represent consonant–vowel pairs, determined by the rotation of the glyphs. They derive from the work of linguist and missionary James Evans.

Canadian syllabics are currently used to write all of the Cree languages from including Eastern Cree, Plains Cree, Swampy Cree, Woods Cree, and Naskapi. They are also used to write Inuktitut in the Canadian Arctic; there they are co-official with the Latin script in the territory of Nunavut. They are used regionally for the other large Canadian Algonquian language, Ojibwe, as well as for Blackfoot. Among the Athabaskan languages further to the west, syllabics have been used at one point or another to write Dakelh (Carrier), Chipewyan, Slavey, Tłı̨chǫ (Dogrib), and Dane-zaa (Beaver). Syllabics have occasionally been used in the United States by communities that straddle the border.