The language of the Mi'gmaq or Mi'gmaw people is spoken throughout eastern Canada in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Quebec. There are also speakers in New England. Because of the nation’s extensive territory, there is some dialect diversity.

There is a very long history of literacy in the Mi'gmaq nation. In the 1600’s, a “hieroglyphic” (ideographic) system was already in use. This form of writing was documented by French missionaries who then began publishing prayer books in the orthography. There is some question as to the complexity of the original Native script: did the missionary La Clerq adopt the mnemonic pictures of the Mi'gmaq into a language-based orthography, or is this orthography indeed much older than its “discoverer” claims? I have not built a Mi'gmaq ideographic font for the languagegeek website, and will not discuss the subject further until I have learned more.

There have also been several Roman orthographies developed over the centuries. Three are discussed below, each of which is in current or recent use by speakers: the Listuguj, Francis-Smith, and Lexicon orthographies.

Note:  There are several Roman Orthography conventions on this site that may require further explanation.  On the charts below, there is lots of phonetic terminology that may not be familiar to everyone.

• Stops and fricatives sound voiceless in combination with another stop or fricative. Between vowels or after a resonant, the consonant sounds voiced.
• The central vowel is often written with an apostrophe.
• Long vowels are typically written with a straight-apostrophe ‹a'›, but can also appear with an acúte accent ‹á›.

Last Update: December 12, 2007