Introduction to the Carrier Syllabics

Carrier, known to its speakers as Dakelh, is the native language of a large portion of the Central Interior of British Columbia. The Carrier Syllabics was the first writing system used to write Carrier. Although in limited use today, for several decades after its introduction in 1885 it was widely used, and it is experiencing a resurgence today. This book is the first textbook of this interesting writing system. After a systematic introduction, it presents a variety of real texts, including excerpts from the prayerbook, newspaper articles, gravestones, and graffiti. A small vocabulary and several reading passages are also provided for practice. Ancillary material includes an exposition of the differences between the Carrier Syllabics and the historically related but very different Cree Syllabics, an explanation of the Carrier Linguistic Committee writing system, syllabics charts arranged both by shape and alphabetically, and character outlines useful for learning to write the characters.