Thank you to Robin Mitchell Cranfield for permission to share her 2022 journal article about the late Daisy Turner’s contribution to literacy at Moose Factory through her primer, Moose Factory Cree. Robin is an illustrator and graphic designer who teaches typography at Emily Carr University. Through her frequent collaboration with illustrator Julie Flett on kids’ books with Cree content, readers may already know her work, without even knowing it!
I’m a particular fan of Robin’s recent research regarding Cree syllabic fonts. It seems to be quite rare for a typographer to reach beyond the pure elements of design to engage with actual speakers and practical users (even linguists!) about what they really need from fonts to support day-to-day communication and contemporary literacy. In this article, it’s a pleasure to see her document her interactions with Dr Kevin Brousseau and the Cree Literacy Network and to put her own refreshing design spin on the various charts and graphics. It’s also intriguing to see her flex her grasp of the technical fundamentals of printing: so central to her own work, yet so far from the ordinary realm of literacy in Cree and linguistics.
Two important notes about Daisy Turner’s spelling:
The Cree Literacy Network absolutely, unequivocally celebrates this telling of Daisy Turner’s story and her personal commitment to Cree language maintenance at Moose Factory, but we cannot endorse her roman spelling, because it is is based on English sound equivalents (not SRO). Not all spelling that uses roman letters is SRO. The best contemporary example of Moose Cree spelling is found in Kevin Brousseau’s Dictionary of Moose Cree.
Readers of western Cree syllabics should also be aware that Moose Cree uses “reduced” finals (that is, smaller, superscript versions of regular syllabics, like ᑉ, ᑦ, ᒃ), and it also places the w-dot on the left (so western ᐻ appears as ᐺ).
Read or download Robin’s article here:
https://course-journals.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/wwa/article/view/428
