Wəlastəkwey/Wolastoqey Alphabets
Teeter Alphabet
The Teeter alphabet or Maliseet system was developed in the 1960s by Karl Teeter, a linguistics professor from Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he collected stories from elders in several of our communities. It uses the standard English alphabet and the upside down e (b) also known as a schwa, which is a universal symbol used in English dictionaries to help with pronunciation. In English the sound is represented by different letters (a in above, the first e in event, the i in sentiment, the second o in opposite, and the u in upon), but in the Maliseet writing system the same sound is always represented by the schwa or ə.
Students attending immersion programs throughout Wəlastəkok are taught in this writing system however, are also taught how to convert over into the Leavitt system. Some successful students can read and write in both.
In conclusion, the only difference between these two alphabet systems are 3 letters; the q, u, and o are represented in the Teeter alphabet as kw, o, and ə.
We have a special font called Maliseet Times New Roman which produces a schwa/ə when a “b” is typed. (The letter “b” was used since there are no “b’s” used in writing in either alphabet.) This font can be easily installed on any computer, but if a computer does not have our font, a schwa may be taken from the list of unicode symbols on most computers and manually entered as needed. The above Maliseet word will be written as W∂last∂kok using this avenue.
Note by Andrea Bear Nicholas, Professor Emerita, St. Thomas University, May 2015
Newell-Hale Alphabet
The Newell-Hale writing system used for Passamaquoddy-Maliseet in the online dictionary of the language (pmportal.org) grew out of spelling developed by linguist Karl Teeter in his work with Maliseet speakers in 1963. In the early 1970s, with Teeter’s permission, Passamaquoddy speaker Wayne Newell, working with linguist Kenneth Hale modified this system slightly for practical typewriting. Teeter’s original schwa (Ə) was replaced with o; and his letter o was replaced by u, to represent the sound found in words like uten (town) and otuhk (deer). As the spelling was used in the creation of books and teaching materials, it was further refined by native speakers and linguists to represent accurately the sounds of spoken Passamaquoddy-Maliseet. Additional contributors included David Francis, of Sipayik; teachers Anna Harnois and Mary Ellen (Stevens) Socobasin, at Motahkomikuk; linguist Philip LeSourd, then a student of Kenneth Hale’s, working in Maine and New Brunswick; and materials and curriculum developer Robert Leavitt. The result of this truly collaborative effort is a straightforward and elegant writing system, widely used today by speakers of Passamaquoddy and Maliseet, in both Maine and New Brunswick.
Note by Robert M. Leavitt, Professor Emeritus, University of New Brunswick, August 2019
Maliseet Times New Roman Font
Click here to download this font.
*CAUTION: Using this font in Microsoft Word and sharing it with other people that do not have it installed will revert all schwas to the letter b. Documents must be sent in PDF form to avoid this conversion.