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tansi cuzzins!
Welcome to week twenty-seven of our journey into studying the Y dialect of the Cree language together!
I took a break from my
Cree newsletter last week, as I was busy meeting my heroes in Winnipeg, where the whole IndigiNews team took part in the Indigenous Journalists Association 2023 conference.
We were also there to pick up our awards, of which there were 9 (!) between IndigiNews staff and freelance contributors. 🎉
It was an incredible four days. Rosanna Deerchild, host of CBC Radio's Unreserved, attended our workshop on newsroom staff wellness. She approached us afterwards to tell us how inspired she was by what we had to say.
Rosanna Deerchild. Was inspired. By us. 🥹
In the evenings, after the scheduled events, we had time to socialize. That's how I got to witness veteran journalist Duncan McCue sing "Your Kiss Is On My
List" by Hall & Oates at karaoke. 🎤
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But enough about last week!
For readers who are just joining us, welcome! Yes, we have been doing this for a while, but we hope you jump in and enjoy learning with
us.
You can find past lessons on the website here.
Each week, readers follow along with me as I learn more about my language using a sacred type of alphabet called Spirit Markers (some folks call them syllabics). The Spirit Marker chart we're using is called a Star Chart, and it is below. It's oriented opposite of how "western" maps are – North goes on the bottom for us, and South is at the top.
This week we're continuing the northwestern limb on the Star Chart, the one on the bottom, righthand side.
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The Spirit Marker we are learning about this week is ᓱ (so), pronounced 'soo' like in "Susan."
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When the Spirit Marker has a dot on top of it, like below, the vowel sound is shortened.
It is then pronounced like the English word, "sew."
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Here's our word of the week. ᓲᐦᑭᓯᐏᐣ (sôhkisiwin). It means Strength.
See how the first Spirit Marker in this word has a dot on top of it? This means that the first
syllable of this word is pronounced "so."
The pronunciation of this word is really neat! As a novice, I would think this word was pronounced SO-KI-si-win.
But it's not.
As you can hear on itwewina, it's pronounced like sohk-SOON. Fascinating.
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I'll be back next week with the last Spirit Marker on this limb. Until then, please take good care of yourself.
If you are one of the many people dealing with evacuations from a wildfire right now,
know that I am holding you in my heart. If you are not one of those people, please keep evacuees in your prayers and thanksgiving.
The Earth, our Mother, is undergoing a process of healing necessitated by the careless manner in which humans have been living upon her for the last few hundred years. Unfortunately that healing involves major upheaval and radical shifts. May we all exactly where we're meant to be.
hiy hiy!
Aunty Eden
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Eden Fineday is a nehiyaw iskwew and the publisher of IndigiNews. She is a also a mom, writer and student of nehiyawewin. She lives with gratitude as an uninvited guest on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), səl̓ ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Peoples.
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