.. Glossary of terms

--------
Glossary
--------

.. glossary::
  :sorted:

  syllabics
  Canadian Aboriginal syllabics
    **Syllabics** is a writing system for nêhiyawêwin (in syllabics, ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ)
    that uses symbols to represent full syllables. Cree syllabics form a part of
    the **Canadian Aboriginal syllabics** writing system family.

  Cans
    The :term:`ISO 15924` code for :term:`Canadian Aboriginal syllabics`.

  Latn
    The :term:`ISO 15924` code for the Latin writing system, including
    :term:`Standard Roman Orthography`.

  SRO
  Standard Roman Orthography
    **Standard Roman Orthography** or **SRO** is a writing system for
    nêhiyawêwin that uses the Latin alphabet---the same alphabet as English and
    French. Initial attempts to write nêhiyawêwin in the Latin alphabet
    resulted in several different spellings, and several different ways to write
    the same thing [Okimāsis]_. **SRO** is a unified way to write nêhiyawêwin in
    Latin script. Even though **SRO** attempts to be consistent, there are still
    variations, such as the use of :term:`circumflexes<circumflex>` (âêîô) or
    :term:`macrons<macron>` (āēīō).

    See also, `Beginning to read Plains Cree in Standard Roman Orthography
    <http://creeliteracy.org/beginning-to-read-plains-cree-in-standard-roman-orthography/what-is-sro/>`_.

  ISO 15924
    The **ISO 15924** standard defines four letter codes for every writing
    systems in common use.

    See also:
    `ISO 15924 on Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15924>`_,
    `List of ISO 15924 codes <https://www.unicode.org/iso15924/iso15924-codes.html>`_.

  orthography
    **Orthography** is the set of rules for writing a certain language.
    **Orthography** is Greek for "correct writing".

  macron
    A **macron** is the little bar on top of a vowel (āēīō), sometimes used to
    represent long vowels in nêhiyawêwin.

  circumflex
    A **circumflex** is the little hat on top of a vowel (âêîô), sometimes used
    to represent long vowels in nêhiyawêwin.

  transliterator
  transcriptor
  converter
    A **transliterator** is a tool that converts between two different writing
    systems. Synonyms for "transliterator" include **converter** and
    **transcriptor**.

  Plains Cree
  Cree Y-dialect
  nêhiyawêwin
    **Plains Cree**, **Cree Y-Dialect**, or **nêhiyawêwin** is the most
    widely-spoken western Cree dialect. Notably, many words which have a "th" in
    :term:`Woods Cree` and words that have a "n" in Swampy Cree have a "y" in Plains
    Cree; this is why Plains Cree is also known as the Cree Y-dialect.

  Woods Cree
  Cree Th-dialect
  nīhithawīwin
    **Woods Cree**, **Cree Th-Dialect**, or **nīhithawīwin** is a Cree dialect
    spoken in Northern Saskatchewan and Northern Manitoba. It is distinct from
    :term:`Plains Cree` in that many words that have a "th" in them are spoken
    with a "y" in Plains Cree; this is why Woods Cree is also known as Cree
    Th-dialect.

  sandhi
    Changes to pronunciation across word and morpheme boundaries. In Cree,
    this may occur when two morphemes are joined such as *pîhc-* and *-âyihk*.
    Written in SRO, it's *pîhc-âyihk*. Sandhi in Cree means that the "c" in the
    first morpheme and the "â" in the next morpheme should be joined and
    pronounced as one syllable. Hence, it is pronounced as \*\ *pîh-câ-yihk*. The
    syllabics transliteration should be written as it is pronounced, thus
    *pîhc-âyihk* should be rendered as **ᐲᐦᒑᔨᕽ** and not as **ᐲᐦᐨ-ᐋᔨᕽ**.

    For a more thorough description of sandhi in Cree, see [Wolfart]_ and
    [Wolvengrey]_.


.. [Okimāsis] Okimāsis, Jean and Wolvengrey, Arok.
   |howtospell|_. Houghton Boston, 2008.
.. _howtospell: http://resources.atlas-ling.ca/media/How_To_Spell_It_In_Cree-Standard_Orthography-Plains-Cree.pdf
.. |howtospell| replace:: *How to spell it in Cree: the standard Roman orthography*
.. [Wolvengrey] Wolvengrey, Arok, ed.
   *ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ: ᐃᑗᐏᓇ / nēhiýawēwin: itwēwina/Cree: Words*.
   Canadian Plains Research Center, October 2001. pp. xvi–xviii.
.. [Wolfart] Wolfart, H. Christoph.
   |sketch|_.
   In Goddard, Ives (ed.), *Handbook of American Indians*.
   Washington: Smithsonian Institute, 1996. Volume 17: Languages, pp. 390-439.
.. _sketch: http://imp.lss.wisc.edu/~jrvalent/BackUps/NLIP_Year_4_2008_bu13jul08/attachments/wolfart-hb-cree_sketc.pdf
.. |sketch| replace:: *Sketch of Cree, an Algonquian Language*