Ottawa Dialect - Writing System

Writing System

Written representation of Ojibwe dialects, including Ottawa, was introduced by European explorers, missionaries and traders who were speakers of English and French. They wrote Ottawa words and sentences using the letters and orthographic conventions of their own languages, adapting them to the unfamiliar new language. Indigenous writing in Ottawa was also based upon English or French, but only occurred sporadically through the 19th and 20th centuries. Modern focus on literacy and use of written forms of the language has increased in the context of second language learning, where mastery of written language is viewed as a component of the language learning process. Although there has never been a generally accepted standard written form of Ottawa, interest in standardization has increased with the publication of a widely used dictionary in 1985 and reference grammar in 2001, which provide models for spelling conventions. A conference held in 1996 brought together speakers of all dialects of Ojibwe to review existing writing systems and make proposals for standardization.