Using a Unicode character is more reliable than using a formatted character because it stays the same everywhere. Formatting can disappear when you share, print, or open a file on a different device or program. A Unicode character, however, looks the same everywhere. Therefore, the Unicode raised ᵘ will always show up correctly, while the…. Read the full article

La suite historique « ua », encore aujourd’hui prononcée [ua] dans le dialecte de l’Est, est systématiquement prononcée [u] dans les dialectes de l’Ouest et du Centre. Suite aux décisions prises en 1997, on écrit « u » en orthographe standard. Ainsi, même si on prononce [uatshu] ‘montagne’, [uanitau] ‘il perd qqch’ et [uashkuai] ‘bouleau’, on écrit utshu, unitau…. Read the full article

Orders are characterized by sets of specific endings. There are three orders in Innu, as in other Algonquian languages: the Independent Order, used mainly for independent clauses and which has personal prefixes for the first and second persons; the Conjunct Order, without personal prefixes and with a different set of endings, used for subordinate or…. Read the full article

Les ordres se caractérisent par des ensembles de terminaisons particulières. Il y a trois ordres en innu, comme dans les autres langues algonquiennes : l’indépendant, utilisé surtout pour les propositions indépendantes et qui a des préfixes personnels aux premières et deuxièmes personnes; le conjonctif, sans préfixes personnels et avec autre ensemble de terminaisons, utilisé pour des…. Read the full article

Pour en savoir plus sur la langue innue et les dialectes innus, voir À propos de l’innu.

The Innu spelling of the place name (toponym) Matimekush reflects the common usage where people hear an i. However, the word is derived from the name of a fish: matamekᵘ as indicated by its etymology in the dictionary: matamekuss. It could therefore also be written Matamekush. The dictionary spelling reflects current habits, which are well…. Read the full article

And are there other words like this? Mitash is a dependent noun because it is formed with the prefix mi- and the stem -tash, which cannot exist on its own: mi+tash = mitash ‘sock’. It’s a dependent noun because we can’t say *nimitash (*ni+mitash), but instead say: nitash (ni+tash) ‘my sock’. Most dependent nouns are…. Read the full article

The distinction between the stems nekatsh- [nekâtsh-] meaning ‘misery’ and nikatsh [nîkâtsh-] meaning ‘slowness’ exists only for speakers of the MAMIT dialect. For speakers from Pessamit and Uashat (Western dialects), nikatsh- does not exist and its meaning is added to that of the stem nekatsh-. In the dictionary, for MAMIT, there are verbs with nikatsh-…. Read the full article

Historically, there was a short i (see East Cree ihtaau and ihtakun). The i reappears in some forms like nititan, tshititan or in the changed form (i>e) of the conjunct etat. [answer compiled by the Comité Tshakapesh-Innu Dictionary editorial team, 2022]

On this sign, where the word tshitassinat is in the locative, the word anite should have been added for the sentence to be correct: Uashkamitatau anite tshitassinat! Alternatively, the noun could have been left without the locative ending: Uashkamitatau tshitassinan! because it is the direct object of the verb uashkamitatau. The other sign illustrates a…. Read the full article