Keyboards for Dene
(Chipewyan, Slavey, Dogrib, Beaver)

There are two types of Syllabics keyboards on this site:

• One-key, one-character. With one keystroke, one syllabic character appears, be it a full syllabic: like ᒧ,ᔦ, and ᒐ, or a final: like ᐤ, ᐨ, or ᐦ. Combining symbols, e.g. the mid-dot ᐧ, are typed separately. 
• Type in Roman. This follows the principle of typing finals and vowels separately. This is different from the first type of keyboard. To type ᐃ, simply use the i key, and ᑫ is generated by the sequence k then e.

Both systems have their advantages and disadvantages. The former takes some training to learn, but once your fingers know the keys, it’s certainly faster. The latter is simpler for the casual user, as the Roman orthography physically printed on the keyboard is a mnemonic device to remember the corresponding syllabic.

There is orthographical variation in Dene communities due to denominational differences amongst the missionaries as well as the phonology of the different languages. This is all taken account of in the specific keyboards. For more details, see the keyboard maps for each language. Writing systems used by French missionaries are lableled F-C, while English missionary systems are indicated with A-E.

One Key, One Character

Type in Roman – Syllabics Output

1. One keyboard functions for all F-C languages while there are several for A-E.
2. The key layout has been organised with ergonomics in mind, where the most common characters are on the most convenient keys. For example, the extremely prevalent vowel- and k‑series are typed using an index finger, whereas the significantly rarer p- and sh‑series employ the pinky.
3. Please see the keymap for specific instructions.

1. To produce a syllabic, type in the correct final + vowel, or if it is one of the vowel symbols, no final is required.
   • To get the word ᑌᓀ, type in d-e-n-e. The process on your keyboard or screen would look like this: ᐨ ᐁ ᐣ ᐁ. Each time a vowel follows a final, they are merged into a syllabic character automatically.
2. If you do not want the final to combine with the next vowel, hold down the shift key with the vowel. This will keep them separate.
   • (k-A) is ᐠᐊ, and (s-O) is ᐢᐅ
3. Some series have been mapped to multiple keystrokes because there is no single key on the Roman keyboard for them. Other sounds which are typically written with many letters in the Roman orthography have been assigned to a single key. See specific languages maps.
4. Occasionally, a syllabic series does not have an associated final. In these cases, when a consonant key is pressed, the Latin letter will appear. When a vowel key is typed after this Latin letter, the Dene syllabic character will appear.
5. Punctuation: Dene uses the Roman period (.). Because of keyboard remapping, some punctuation marks have been superceded. To access the English punctuation, type the “]” followed by the punctuation key. The Cree period ᙮ can be generated by typing shift-period (>).