Cape Breton's Magazine

by Maillard in his own manu? script prayer book and grammar designed for the missionaries (now in the Ar? chives of the Archbishops of Quebec). The al? phabet uses only five vowel sym? bols (a, e, i, o, o) and eight consonants (p, t. g, tj, s, 1, m, n). Most mod? ern writers of the language use some modified and improved form of this traditional al? phabet, which under- differentiates (i.e., it does not represent clearly all the phonemic diffe? rentiations of the language). The alphabet is described in Pacifique (Tri pratique de la langue micmaque) 1939. (Pac? ifique learned the script from the Indians. It is not his creation, although it is usu? ally assumed to be his. It seems, instead, to be an indigenous development based on French spelling.) Fr. Pacifique, Big Peter Paul, Mrs. Catherine Sack ''? Maloney, Judge Christopher Paul, Mrs. John Jadis, and Stephen John, at Shubenacadie in 1891. ' edition being lost in a shipwreck. The sto? ry of this first edition is told in full in the preface to the second (and last) edi? tion, reprinted at Quebec in 1922 under the auspices of Father Pacifique, author of the A Protestant missionary from Nova Scotia, Rev. Silas Tertius Rand, developed in the nineteenth century a more elaborate orthog? raphy which over-differentiates. This was never adopted by the Indians, but it is used in Rand's two published dictionaries (1888, 1902), the only dictionaries of the language until recently. Rand also used an alphabet specially designed by Isaac Pitman (the inventor of shorthand) for writing Micmac, and published parts of the Old and New Testaments in it. A complete list of these publications by Rand may be found in Filling's Bibliography (1891). As the Micmac were devoted to their hiero? glyphic text, a European-born priest by the name of Christian Kauder, through the in? tervention of influential friends in Eu? rope, was instrumental in having printed in hieroglyphic characters at Vienna in 1866 the Micmac's treasured religious book (i.e., the one reported by Midshipman Thompson in his letter quoted above). The total number of types, specially cast, was 5703, and they were never used again! Un? luckily for the instigators of this remark? able production, only the first shipment of the books reached America, the bulk of the OUnUTV!!! BPETON WINDOWS 189 Townsend St., Sydney We at Breton Windows invite you to compare our "Tilt & Turn" window to any ottier casement for QUALITY OF W60D -QUALITY OF HARDWARE - QUALITY OF GLASS - QUAL? ITY OF SCREEN -QUALITY OF FUNCTION - and just as important COMPARE PRICE and GUARANTEE! Call our office and make an ap? pointment to vi? sit us with your plans or just to view. We are available nights and Saturdays. PHONE ... 538-6533 breton windows doors