Anishinaabemowin (and closely related languages) is the second most widely spoken Native language in the United States and Canada. The people and language go under many English names: Ojibway, Ojibwa, Ojibwe, Chippewa, etc. Anishinaabe is the appropriate Native name, although there are spelling and pronunciation variants. The language is spoken throughout Ontario, southern Manitoba, eastern Saskatchewan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Michigan, basically the area surrounding the Great Lakes, and west of that region. Ojibway is often grouped together with Odawa as well as other Algonquian languages which are quite similar, including: Potawatomi, Algonquin, and Oji-Cree.

Ojibwe Symbol

As our language crosses many different modern-day borders and jurisdictions, it is no surprise that there a variety of writing systems devised, by missionaries, linguists, educators, as well as Native speakers themselves. Over the years, several have become more commonly used, including the Nichols-Fiero Roman orthography, also know as the double vowel system, and Syllabics. Syllabics is restricted primarily to Saulteaux (Plains Ojibway) and dialects in Northern Ontario. The Nichols-Fiero writing system has become very wide-spread recently, and is currently used by many teachers and textbooks.

For information on Syllabics, please see our general Syllabics pages . The sounds of Ojibway can also be viewed on our Ojibwe double vowel page, using Nichols-Fiero orthography .