Orthographies

The Dene Speech Atlas provides data using two writing systems: the orthography used in writing down a language (there may be more than one), and the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). These two writing systems may use different symbols to represent the same phoneme. Though Dene orthographies tend to be fairly consistent, no orthography is perfect. After all, othographies are only written representations of the sounds of the language.

Using both the speakers' orthography and the IPA allows the information on the Dene Speech Atlas to be accessible to both native speakers and linguists alike. Major differences between the two systems are listed in Table 1, which provides a list of commonly used Dene letters and their equivalents in the IPA. 

Table 1: Dene Orthography Versus IPA

The DSA does not intend to promote any orthography as the best or even the standard version of a writing system for a Dene language. The question of which orthography should be standard is a question that can only be answered by the native speakers of the language. Moreover, orthographies may change over time. In some Dene communities, more than one orthography is in use; other communities are currently in the process of developing a written system or changing the orthography they are using. 

The IPA is a type of orthography developed by linguists for a special use: to provide a single symbol for each sound that occurs in human languages. The IPA is helpful in representing the sounds of a language more accurately than a spelling orthography, and can be used to represent words in a way that better reflects the way they sound. 

Many IPA symbols are the same as the symbols that are used in English and other languages that use the modern Latin alphabet. Differences between the IPA and specific language's orthography occur mainly when the language's orthography uses two symbols to represent a single sound (th or sh, for instance); the IPA will use a single symbol (th = θ, sh = ʃ) to represent rhese sounds instead. Information about the IPA may be found at the website of the International Phonetic Association. 

A third type of writing system is the syllabic system, which uses a symbol to represent a whole syllable or part of a syllable, rather than having a symbol for each sound in a syllable. Some of the Dene language communities have developed syllabic writing systems for their languages. Currently, the DSA does not use syllabics. Information on Dene syllabics and examples of these writing systems can be accessed at:

• La Loche syllabic Prayer Book for Dene Sųłiné written by Rev. Pere Penard O.M.I. (website, WorldCat)
• The new methodical, easy and complete Dene syllabary produced by A.G. Morice in 1890. 
• Typography and Canadian Syllabics provides information on Dene syllabics and fonts.
• Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics, Omniglot

The website languagegeek.com has very good information on orthographies, including syllabics, and provides downloadable fonts and keyboards for Dene languages. 

2018-07-25