TWO RELATED INDIGENOUS WRITING SYSTEMS: CANADA'S SYLLABIC AND CHINA'S A-HMAO SCRIPTS.
Author(s):
Lewis, R. Alison; Dorais, Louis-jacques
Format:
Journal article
Citation:
Canadian Journal Of Native Studies, Volume 23, Issue 2 (2003-12). pp. 277-304.
Language:
English
Abstract:
Around 1840, a team of Ojibwa and Cree speakers working with James Evans, a British Wesleyan missionary, developed a syllabic writing system, which disseminated rapidly among the Cree and other northern Canadian Aboriginal nations. Some 65 years later, in 1904, another Methodist, Samuel Pollard, who also worked in close collaboration with local people, supervised the development of a script for transcribing the language of the A-hmao (Hmong), an aboriginal minority in southwestern China. The article describes the development of these two writing systems, discusses the evidence of a connection between them, and describes their similar educational role in terms of social empowerment.