Canadian Aboriginal syllabics

Basic principles

Canadian "syllabic" scripts are not syllabaries, in which every consonant–vowel sequence has a separate glyph, but abugidas, in which consonants are modified in order to indicate an associated vowel—in this case through a change in orientation (which is unique to Canadian syllabics). In Cree, for example, the consonant p has the shape of a chevron; in an upward orientation, ᐱ, it transcribes the syllable pi; inverted, so that it points downwards, ᐯ, it transcribes pe; pointing to the left, ᐸ, it is pa, and to the right, ᐳ, po. The consonant forms and the vowels so represented vary from language to language, but generally approximate their Cree origins.

Because the script is presented in syllabic charts and learned as a syllabary, it is often considered to be such. Indeed, computer fonts have separate coding points for each syllable (each orientation of each consonant), and the Unicode Consortium considers syllabics to be a "featural syllabary" along with such scripts as hangul, where each block represents a syllable, but consonants and vowels are indicated independently (in Cree syllabics, the consonant by the shape of a glyph, and the vowel by its orientation). This is unlike a true syllabary, where each combination of consonant and vowel has an independent form that is unrelated to other syllables with the same consonant or vowel.

Syllabic and final consonant forms

The original script, which was designed for Western Swampy Cree, had ten such letterforms: eight for syllables based on the consonants p-, t-, c-, k-, m-, n-, s-, y- (pronounced /p, t, ts, k, m, n, s, j/), another for vowel-initial syllables, and finally a blended form, now obsolete, for the consonant cluster sp-. In the 1840 version, all were written with a light line to show the vowel was short and a heavier line to show the vowel was long: ᑲ ka, ᑲ kâ; however, in the 1841 version, a light line indicated minuscules ("lowercase") and a heavier line indicated majuscules ("uppercase"): ᑲ ka, ᑲ KA or Ka; additionally in the 1841 version, an unbroken letterform indicated a short vowel, but for a long vowel, Evans notched the face of the type sorts, such that in print the letterform was broken. A handwritten variant using an overdot to indicate a long vowel is now used in printing as well: ᑕ ta, ᑖ tâ. One consonant, w, had no letterform of its own but was indicated by a diacritic on another syllable; this is because it could combine with any of the consonants, as in ᑿ kwa, as well as existing on its own, as in ᐘ wa.

There were distinct letters for the nine consonants -p, -t, -c, -k, -m, -n, -s, -y, and w when they occurred at the end of a syllable. In addition, four "final" consonants had no syllabic forms: -h, -l, -r, and the sequence -hk. These were originally written midline, but are now superscripted. (The glyph for -hk represents the most common final sequence of the language, being a common grammatical ending in Cree, and was used for common -nk in Ojibwe.) The consonants -l and -r were marginal, only found in borrowings, baby talk, and the like. These, and -h, could occur before vowels, but were written with the final shape regardless. (-l and -r are now written the size of full letters when they occur before vowels, as the finals were originally, or in some syllabics scripts have been replaced with full rotating syllabic forms; -h only occurs before a vowel in joined morphemes, in a couple of grammatical words, or in pedagogical materials to indicate the consonant value following it is fortis.)

Vowel transformations

The vowels fall into two sets, the back vowels -a and -u, and the front vowels -e and -i. Each set consists of a lower vowel, -a or -e, and a higher vowel, -u or -i. In all cases, back-vowel syllables are related through left-right reflection: that is, they are mirror images of each other. How they relate to front-vowel syllables depends on the graphic form of the consonants. These follow two patterns. Symmetrical, vowel, p-, t-, sp-, are rotated 90 degrees (a quarter turn) counter-clockwise, while those that are asymmetrical top-to-bottom, c-, k-, m-, n-, s-, y-, are rotated 180 degrees (a half turn). The lower front-vowel (-e) syllables are derived this way from the low back-vowel (a) syllables, and the high front-vowel (-i) syllables are derived this way from the higher back-vowel (-u) syllables.

The symmetrical letter forms can be illustrated by arranging them into a diamond:

And the asymmetrical letter forms can be illustrated by arranging them into a square:

These forms are present in most syllabics scripts with sounds values that approach their Swampy Cree origins. For example, all scripts except the one for Blackfoot use the triangle for vowel-initial syllables.

By 1841, when Evans cast the first movable type for syllabics, he found that he could not satisfactorily maintain the distinction between light and heavy typeface for short and long vowels. He instead filed across the raised lines of the type, leaving gaps in the printed letter for long vowels. This can be seen in early printings. Later still a dot diacritic, originally used for vowel length only in handwriting, was extended to print: Thus today ᐊ a contrasts with ᐋ â, and ᒥ mi contrasts with ᒦ mî. Although Cree ê only occurs long, the script made length distinctions for all four vowels. Not all writers then or now indicate length, or do not do so consistently; since there is no contrast, no one today writes ê as a long vowel.

Pointing

Reflecting the shorthand principles on which it was based, syllabics may be written plain, indicating only the basic consonant–vowel outline of speech, or pointed, with diacritics for vowel length and the consonants and . Full phonemic pointing is rare. Syllabics may also be written without word division, as Devanagari once was, or with spaces or dots between words or prefixes.

Punctuation

The only punctuation found in many texts is spacing between words and ᙮ for a full stop. Punctuation from the Latin script, including the period (.), may also be used. Due to the final c resembling a hyphen, a double hyphen ⟨᐀⟩ is used as the Canadian Aboriginal syllabics hyphen.

Glossary

Some common terms as used in the context of syllabics

"Syllables", or full-size letters

The full-sized characters, whether standing for consonant-vowel combinations or vowels alone, are usually called "syllables". They may be phonemic rather than morphophonemic syllables. That is, when one morpheme (word element) ends in a consonant and the next begins with a vowel, the intermediate consonant is written as a syllable with the following vowel. For example, the Plains Cree word pīhc-āyi-hk "indoors" has pīhc as its first morpheme, and āyi as its second, but is written ᐲᐦᒑᔨᕽ pīh-cā-yihk.

In other cases, a "syllable" may in fact represent only a consonant, again due to the underlying structure of the language. In Plains Cree, ᑖᓂᓯ tānisi "hello" or "how are you?" is written as if it had three syllables. Because the first syllable has the stress and the syllable that follows has a short , the vowel is dropped. As a result, the word is pronounced "tānsi" with only two syllables.

Syllabication is important to determining stress in Algonquian languages, and vice versa, so this ambiguity in syllabics is relatively important in Algonquian languages.

Series

The word "series" is used for either a set of syllables with the same vowel, or a set with the same initial consonant. Thus the n-series is the set of syllables that begin with n, and the o-series is the set of syllables that have o as their vowel regardless of their initial consonant.

"Finals", or reduced letters

A series of small raised letters are called "finals". They are usually placed after a syllable to indicate a final consonant, as the ᕽ -hk in ᔨᕽ yihk above. However, the Cree consonant h, which only has a final form, begins a small number of function words such as ᐦᐋᐤ hāw. In such cases the "final" ᐦ represents an initial consonant and therefore precedes the syllable.

The use of diacritics to write consonants is unusual in abugidas. However, it also occurs (independently) in the Lepcha script.

Finals are commonly employed in the extension of syllabics to languages it was not initially designed for. In some of the Athabaskan alphabets, finals have been extended to appear at mid height after a syllable, lowered after a syllable, and at mid height before a syllable. For example, Chipewyan and Slavey use the final ᐟ in the latter position to indicate the initial consonant dl ().

In Naskapi, a small raised letter based on sa is used for consonant clusters that begin with /s/: ᔌ spwa, ᔍ stwa, ᔎ skwa, and ᔏ scwa. The Cree languages the script was initially designed for had no such clusters.

In Inuktitut, something similar is used not to indicate sequences, but to represent additional consonants, rather as the digraphs ch, sh, th were used to extend the Latin letters c, s, t to represent additional consonants in English. In Inuktitut, a raised na-ga is placed before the g- series, ᖏ ᖑ ᖓ, to form an ng- () series, and a raised ra (uvular ) is placed before syllables of the k- series, ᕿ ᖁ ᖃ, to form a uvular q- series.

Although the forms of these series have two parts, each is encoded into the Unicode standard as a single character.

Diacritics

Other marks placed above or beside the syllable are called "diacritics". These include the dot placed above a syllable to mark a long vowel, as in ᒦ mî, and the dot placed at mid height after the syllable (in western Cree dialects) or before the syllable (in eastern Cree dialects) to indicate a medial w, as in ᑿ kwa. These are all encoded as single characters in Unicode.

Diacritics used by other languages include a ring above on Moose Cree ᑬ kay (encoded as "kaai"), head ring on Ojibwe ᕓ fe, head barb on Inuktitut ᖤ lha, tail barb on West Cree ᖌ ro, centred stroke (a small vertical bar) in Carrier ᗇ ghee, centred dot in Carrier ᗈ ghi, centred bar (a bar perpendicular to the body) in Cree ᖨ thi, and a variety of other marks. Such diacritics may or may not be separately encoded into Unicode. There is no systematic way to distinguish elements that are parts of syllables from diacritics, or diacritics from finals, and academic discussions of syllabics are often inconsistent in their terminology.

Points and pointing

The diacritic mark used to indicate vowel length is often referred to as a "point". Syllabics users do not always consistently mark vowel length, w, or h. A text with these marked is called a "pointed" text; one without such marks is said to be "unpointed".

Syllabaries and syllabics

The word syllabary has two meanings: a writing system with a separate character for each syllable, but also a table of syllables, including any script arranged in a syllabic chart. Evans' Latin Ojibwe alphabet, for example, was presented as a syllabary. Canadian Aboriginal syllabics, the script itself, is thus distinct from a syllabary (syllabic chart) that displays them.

Round and Square

While Greek, Latin, and Cyrillic have serif and sans-serif forms, Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics generally do not. Instead, like proportional and monospaced fonts, Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics have a round form and a square form. Round form, known in Cree as Kâ-wâwiyêyaki, is akin to a proportional font, characterised by their smooth bowls, differing letter heights, and occupying a rectangular space. Round form syllabics are more commonly found east of Lake Winnipeg. Square form, known in Cree as Kâ-ayisawêyaki, is akin to a monospace font, characterised by their cornered bowls, same letter heights, and occupying a square space. Square form syllabics are more commonly found west of Lake Winnipeg.

Syllabic alphabets

The inventory, form, and orthography of the script vary among all the Cree communities which use it. However, it was further modified to create specific alphabets for other Algonquian languages, as well as for Inuktitut, which have significant phonological differences from Cree. There are two major variants of the script, Central Algonquian and Inuktitut. In addition, derivative scripts for Blackfoot and Athabaskan inherit at least some principals and letter forms from the Central Algonquian alphabet, though in Blackfoot most of the letters have been replaced with modified Latin. Each reflects a historical expansion of the writing system.

Central Algonquian

Cree and Ojibwe were the languages for which syllabics were designed, and they are the closest to the original pattern described by James Evans. The dialects differ slightly in their consonants, but where they share a sound, they generally use the same letter for it. Where they do not, a new letter was created, often by modifying another. In several Cree dialects ê has merged with the î, and these use only three of the four vowel orientations.

Eastern and western syllabics

When syllabics spread to Ojibwe and to those Cree dialects east of the Manitoba–Ontario border, a few changes occurred. For one, the diacritic used to mark non-final w moved from its position after the syllable to before it; thus western Cree ⟨ᒷ⟩ is equivalent to the eastern Cree ⟨ᒶ⟩ – both are pronounced mwa. Secondly, the special final forms of the consonants were replaced with superscript variants of the corresponding a series in Moose Cree and Moose Cree influenced areas, so that ⟨ᐊᒃ⟩ is ak and ⟨ᓴᑉ⟩ sap (graphically "a^ka" and "sa^pa"), rather than ⟨ᐊᐠ⟩ and ⟨ᓴᑊ⟩; among some of the Ojibwe communities superscript variants of the corresponding i series are found, especially in handwritten documents. Cree dialects of the western provinces preserve the Pitman-derived finals of the original script, though final y has become the more salient ⟨ᐩ⟩, to avoid confusion with the various dot diacritics. Additional consonant series are more pervasive in the east.

Additional consonant series

A few western charts show full l- and r- series, used principally for loan words. In a Roman Catholic variant, r- is a normal asymmetric form, derived by adding a stroke to c-, but l- shows an irregular pattern: Despite being asymmetrical, the forms are rotated only 90°, and li is a mirror image of what would be expected; it is neither an inversion nor a reflection of le, as in the other series, but rather a 180° rotation.

Some western additions

Series were added for l-, r-, sh- (š-) and f- in most eastern Cree dialects. R- is an inversion of the form of western l-, but now it is re that has the unexpected orientation. L- and f- are regular asymmetric and symmetric forms; although f- is actually asymmetric in form, it is derived from p- and therefore rotates 90° as p- does. Here is where the two algorithms to derive vowel orientations, which are equivalent for the symmetrical forms of the original script, come to differ: For the ᕙ f- series, as well as a rare ᕦ th- series derived from ᑕ t-, vowels of like height are derived via counter-clockwise rotation; however, an eastern sh- series, which perhaps not coincidentally resembles a Latin s, is rotated clockwise with the opposite vowel derivations: high -i from low -a and lower (mid) -e from higher (mid) -o. The obsolete sp- series shows this to be the original design of the script, but Inuktitut, perhaps generalizing from the ᕙ series, which originated as ᐸ plus a circle at the start of the stroke used to write the letters, but as an independent form must be rotated in the opposite (counter-clockwise) direction, is consistently counter-clockwise. (The eastern Cree r- series can be seen as both of these algorithms applied to ro (bold), whereas western Cree l- can be seen as both applied to la (bold).)

Some eastern additions

There are minor variants within both eastern and western Cree. Woods Cree, for example, uses western Cree conventions, but has lost the e series, and has an additional consonant series, ⟨ᙾ⟩ th- (ð-), which is a barred form of the y- series.

Moose Cree, which uses eastern Cree conventions, has an -sk final that is composed of -s and -k, as in ᐊᒥᔉ amisk "beaver", and final -y is written with a superscript ring, ⟨°⟩, rather than a superscript ya, which preserves, in a more salient form, the distinct final form otherwise found only in the west: ᐋᣁāshay "now".

The Eastern Cree dialect has distinct labialized finals, ⟨ᒄ⟩ -kw and ⟨ᒽ⟩ -mw; these are written with raised versions of the o-series rather than the usual a-series, as in ᒥᔅᑎᒄ mistikw "tree". This is motivated by the fact that the vowel o labializes the preceding consonant.

Although in most respects Naskapi follows eastern Cree conventions, it does not mark vowel length at all and uses two dots, either placed above or before a syllable, to indicate a w: ⟨ᐛ⟩ wa, ⟨ᐖ⟩ wo, ⟨ᑥ⟩ twa, ⟨ᒂ⟩ kwa, ⟨ᒠ⟩ cwa (), ⟨ᒺ⟩ mwa, ⟨ᓏ⟩ nwa, ⟨ᔄ⟩ swa, ⟨ᔽ⟩ ywa. Since Naskapi s- consonant clusters are all labialized, sCw-, these also have the two dots: ⟨ᔌ⟩ spwa, etc. There is also a labialized final sequence, ⟨ᔊ⟩ -skw, which is a raised so-ko.

See also:

• Ojibwe syllabics
• Oji-Cree language

Inuktitut

The eastern form of Cree syllabics was adapted to write the Inuktitut dialects of Nunavut (except for the extreme west, including Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay) and Nunavik in northern Quebec. Unicode 14.0 added support for the Natsilingmiutut language of Western Nunavut. In other Inuit areas, various Latin alphabets are used.

Inuktitut has only three vowels, and thus only needs the a-, i-, and o-series of Cree, the latter used for . The e-series was originally used for the common diphthong , but this was officially dropped in the 1960s so that Inuktitut would not have more characters than could be moulded onto an IBM Selectric typewriter ball, with -ai written as an a-series syllable followed by ⟨ᐃ⟩ i. Recently the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami decided to restore the ai-series, and the Makivik Corporation has adopted this use in Nunavik; it has not been restored in Nunavut.

Inuktitut has more consonants than Cree, fifteen in its standardised form. As Inuktitut has no , the c series has been reassigned to the value g (). The y series is used for either y- or j-, since the difference is one of dialect; similarly with the s series, which stands for either s- or h-, depending on the dialect. The eastern Cree l series is used: ⟨ᓚ⟩ la, ⟨ᓗ⟩ lu, ⟨ᓕ⟩ li, ⟨ᓓ⟩ lai; a stroke is added to these to derive the voiceless lh () series: ⟨ᖤ⟩ lha, etc. The eastern Cree f series is used for Inuktitut v-: ⟨ᕙ⟩ va, etc. The eastern Cree r series is used for the very different Inuktitut sound, , which is also spelled r. However, this has been regularized in form, with vowels of like height consistently derived through counter-clockwise rotation, and therefore rai the inversion of ri:

The remaining sounds are written with digraphs. A raised ra is prefixed to the k-series to create a digraph for q: ⟨ᖃ⟩ qa, etc.; the final is ⟨ᖅ⟩ -q. A raised na-ga is prefixed to the g-series to create an ng () series: ⟨ᖓ⟩ nga, etc., and the na is doubled for geminate nng (): ⟨ᙵ⟩ nnga. The finals are ⟨ᖕ⟩ and ⟨ᖖ⟩.

In Nunavut, the h final has been replaced with Roman ⟨ᕼ⟩, which does not rotate, but in Nunavik a new series is derived by adding a stroke to the k-series: ⟨ᕹ⟩ ha, etc.

In the early years, Roman Catholic and Anglican missionaries used slightly different forms of syllabics for Inuktitut. In modern times, however, these differences have disappeared. Dialectal variation across the syllabics-using part of the Inuit world has promoted an implicit diversity in spelling, but for the most part this has not had any impact on syllabics itself.

Derived scripts

At least two scripts derive from Cree syllabics, and share its principles, but have fundamentally different letter shapes or sound values.

Blackfoot

Blackfoot, another Algonquian language, uses a syllabary developed in the 1880s that is quite different from the Cree and Inuktitut versions. Although borrowing from Cree the ideas of rotated and mirrored glyphs with final variants, most of the letter forms derive from the Latin script, with only some resembling Cree letters. Blackfoot has eight initial consonants, only two of which are identical in form to their Cree equivalents, ⟨ᓯ⟩ se and ⟨ᔨ⟩ ye (here only the vowels have changed). The other consonants were created by modifying letters of the Latin script to make the e series, or in three cases by taking Cree letters but reassigning them with new sound values according to which Latin letters they resembled. These are ⟨ᑭ⟩ pe (from ⟨P⟩), ⟨ᒥ⟩ te (from ⟨T⟩), ⟨ᖼ⟩ ke (from ⟨K⟩), ⟨ᒋ⟩ me (from ⟨m⟩), ⟨ᖸ⟩ ne (from ⟨N⟩), ⟨ᖴ⟩ we (from ⟨Ϝ⟩). There are also a number of distinct final forms. The four vowel positions are used for the three vowels and one of the diphthongs of Blackfoot. The script is largely obsolete.

Carrier and other Athabaskan

Athabaskan syllabic scripts were developed in the late 19th century by French Roman Catholic missionaries, who adapted this originally Protestant writing system to languages radically different from the Algonquian languages. Most Athabaskan languages have more than four distinct vowels, and all have many more distinct consonants than Cree. This has meant the invention of a number of new consonant forms. Whereas most Athabaskan scripts, such as those for Slavey and Chipewyan, bear a reasonably close resemblance to Cree syllabics, the Carrier (Dakelh) variant is highly divergent, and only one series – the series for vowels alone – resembles the original Cree form.

To accommodate six distinctive vowels, Dakelh supplements the four vowel orientations with a dot and a horizontal line in the rightward pointing forms: ᐊ a, ᐅ ʌ, ᐈ e, ᐉ i, ᐃ o, and ᐁ u.

One of the Chipewyan scripts is more faithful to western Cree. (Sayisi Chipewyan is substantially more divergent.) It has the nine forms plus the western l and r series, though the rotation of the l- series has been made consistently counter-clockwise. The k- and n- series are more angular than in Cree: ki resembles Latin "P". The c series has been reassigned to dh. There are additional series: a regular ch series (ᗴ cha, ᗯ che, ᗰ chi, ᗱ cho), graphically a doubled t; and an irregular z series, where ze is derived by counter-clockwise rotation of za, but zi by clockwise rotation of zo:

Other series are formed from dh or t. A mid-line final Cree t preceding dh forms th, a raised Cree final p following t forms tt, a stroke inside t forms tth (ᕮ ttha), and a small t inside t forms ty (ᕳ tya). Nasal vowels are indicated by a following Cree final k.

Pollard script

The Pollard script, also known as Pollard Miao, is an abugida invented by Methodist missionary Samuel Pollard. Pollard credited the basic idea of the script to the Cree syllabics, saying, "While working out the problem, we remembered the case of the syllabics used by a Methodist missionary among the Indians of North America, and resolved to do as he had done".

Current usage

At present, Canadian syllabics seems reasonably secure within the Cree, Oji-Cree, and Inuit communities. They appear somewhat more at risk among the Ojibwe, and seriously endangered for Athabaskan languages and Blackfoot.

In Nunavut and Nunavik, Inuktitut syllabics have official status. In Nunavut, laws, legislative debates and many other government documents must be published in Inuktitut in both syllabics and the Latin script. The rapid growth in the scope and quantity of material published in syllabics has, by all appearances, ended any immediate prospect of marginalisation for this writing system.

Within the Cree and Ojibwe language communities, the situation is less confident.

Cree syllabics use is vigorous in most communities where it has taken root. In many dialect areas, there are now standardised syllabics spellings. Nonetheless, there are now linguistically adequate standardised Roman writing systems for most if not all dialects.

Ojibwe speakers in the U.S. have never been heavy users of either Canadian Aboriginal syllabics or the Great Lakes Aboriginal syllabics and have now essentially ceased to use either of them at all. The "double vowel" Roman orthography developed by Charles Fiero and further developed by John Nichols is increasingly the standard in the U.S. and is beginning to penetrate into Canada, in part to prevent further atomisation of what is already a minority language. Nonetheless, Ojibwe syllabics are still in vigorous use in some parts of Canada.

Use in other communities is moribund.

Blackfoot syllabics have, for all intents and purposes, disappeared. Present day Blackfoot speakers use a Latin alphabet, and very few Blackfoot can still read—much less write—the syllabic system.

Among the Athabaskan languages, syllabics are still in use among the Yellowknives Dene in Yellowknife, Dettah, and Ndılǫ, Northwest Territories. Recently, two major reference works on the Tetsǫ́t'ıné language were published by the Alaska Native Language Center, using syllabics: a verb grammar and a dictionary. Syllabics are also still in use at Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Church in Dettah, where they use a revised version of the 1904 hymnbook. Young people learn syllabics both in school as well as through culture camps organized by the Language, Culture, and History Department.

No other Athabaskan version of the syllabics is known to be in vigorous use. In some cases, the languages themselves are on the brink of extinction. In other cases, syllabics has been replaced by a Latin alphabet. Many people—linguists and speakers of Athabaskan languages alike—feel that syllabics is ill-suited to these languages. The government of the Northwest Territories does not use syllabic writing for any of the Athabaskan languages on its territory, and native churches have generally stopped using them as well. Among Dakelh users, a well-developed Latin alphabet has effectively replaced syllabics. Very few people can read syllabics and none use them for routine writing. Syllabics are however popular in symbolic and artistic uses.

In the past, government policy towards syllabics has varied from indifference to open hostility. Until the late 20th century, government policy in Canada openly undermined indigenous languages, and church organisations were often the only organised bodies using syllabics. Later, as governments became more accommodating of indigenous languages, and in some cases even encouraged their use, it was widely believed that moving to a Latin alphabet was better, both for linguistic reasons and to reduce the cost of supporting multiple scripts.

At present, at least for Inuktitut and Algonquian languages, the Canadian government tolerates, and in some cases encourages, the use of syllabics. The growth of Aboriginal nationalism in Canada and the devolution of many government activities to native communities has changed attitudes towards syllabics. In many places there are now standardisation bodies for syllabic spelling, and the Unicode standard supports a fairly complete set of Canadian syllabic characters for digital exchange. Syllabics are now taught in schools in Inuktitut-speaking areas, and are often taught in traditionally syllabics-using Cree and Ojibwe communities as well.

Although syllabic writing is not always practical (for example, with computer hardware or software limitations), and in many cases a Latin alphabet would be less costly to use, many native communities are strongly attached to syllabics. Even though it was originally the invention of European missionaries, many people consider syllabics a writing system that belongs to them, and associate Latin letters with linguistic assimilation.

Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics in Unicode

The bulk of the characters, including all that are found in official documents, are encoded into three blocks in the Unicode standard:

• Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics (U+1400–U+167F)
• Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Extended (U+18B0–U+18FF)
• Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Extended-A (U+11AB0–U+11ABF)

These characters can be rendered with any appropriate font, including the freely available fonts listed below. In Microsoft Windows, built-in support was added through the Euphemia font introduced in Windows Vista, though this has incorrect forms for sha and shu.