Mi'kmaw hieroglyphs in the context of "Mi'kma'ki"

Play Trivia Questions online!

or

Skip to study material about Mi'kmaw hieroglyphs in the context of "Mi'kma'ki"




⭐ Core Definition: Mi'kmaw hieroglyphs

Mi'kmaw hieroglyphic writing or Suckerfish script (Mi'kmawi'simk: Gomgwejui'gasit) was a writing system for the Mi'kmaw language, later superseded by various Latin scripts which are currently in use. Mi'kmaw are a Canadian First Nation whose homeland, called Mi'kma'ki, overlaps much of the Atlantic provinces, specifically all of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and parts of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.

These glyphs, or gomgwejui'gaqan, although unrelated, followed a prior pictograph and petroglyph tradition, and are logograms, with phonetic elements used alongside, including logographic, alphabetic, and ideographic information. As petroglyphs and pictographs were the writing system of Hand Talk, a sign language that was the historically most spoken language on the continent, it is unknown to academia what, if any, connection there is between sign language and Suckerfish script. The gomgwejui'gasultijig take their name from the gomgwej (plural: gomgwejg) or sucker fish whose tracks are visibly left on the muddy river bottom. Mi'kmawi'sit uses several spelling systems, and the script is consequently sometimes called komqwejwi'kasikl or gomgwejui'gas'gl.

↓ Menu

In this Dossier

Mi'kmaw hieroglyphs in the context of Mi'kmaq

The Mi'kmaq (English: /ˈmɪɡmɑː/ MIG-mah, Mi'kmaq: [miːɡmaɣ]; singular: Mi'kmaw, also L'nuk and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as Native Americans in the northeastern region of Maine. The traditional national territory of the Mi'kmaq is named Mi'kma'ki (or Mi'gma'gi); it is one of the five confederated Wabanaki (or Dawnland) countries.

As of 2023, there are 66,748 Mi'kmaq people in the region; this includes 25,182 members in the more recently formed Qalipu First Nation in Newfoundland. According to the Canadian 2021 census, 9,245 people claim to speak Mi'kmawi'simk, an Eastern Algonquian language. Once written in Mi'kmaw hieroglyphic writing, it is now written using most letters of the Latin alphabet.

↑ Return to Menu