Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics

Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics (or Great Lakes Aboriginal syllabics,^[1] also referred to as "Western Great Lakes Syllabary" by Campbell^[2]) is a writing system for several Algonquian languages that emerged during the nineteenth century and whose existence was first noted in 1880.^[3] It was originally used near the Great Lakes: Fox (also known as Meskwaki or Mesquakie), Sac (the latter also spelled Sauk), and Kickapoo (these three constituting closely related but politically distinct dialects of a single language for which there is no common term), in addition to Potawatomi. Use of the script was subsequently extended to the Siouan language Ho-Chunk (also known as Winnebago).^[4] Use of the Great Lakes script has also been attributed to speakers of the Ottawa dialect of the Ojibwe language, but supporting evidence is weak.^[1]

Consonant and vowel letters that comprise a syllable are grouped into units that are separated by spaces.^[5] The system is of interest to students of writing systems because it is a case of an alphabetic system acquiring aspects of a syllabary.^[6]

The Great Lakes script is unrelated to Cree syllabics, which was invented by James Evans to write Cree and extended to a number of other Canadian indigenous languages.^[7]