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Cree ( ; also known as Cree–Montagnais–Naskapi language) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 86,475 people across Canada in 2021, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to Labrador. If considered one language, it is the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. The only region where Cree has any official status is in the Northwest Territories, alongside eight other aboriginal languages. There, Cree is spoken mainly in Fort Smith and Hay River.
A traditional view among 20th-century anthropologists and historians of the fur trade posits that the Western Woods Cree and the Plains Cree (and therefore their dialects) did not diverge from other Cree peoples before 1670, when the Cree expanded out of their homeland near James Bay because of access to European firearms. By contrast, James Smith of the Museum of the American Indian stated, in 1987, that the weight of archeological and linguistic evidence puts the Cree as far west as the Peace River Region of Alberta before European contact.
However, the most transparent phonological variation between different Cree dialects are the reflexes of Proto-Algonquian *l in the modern dialects, as shown below:
| kīya |
| kīða/kītha |
| kīna |
| kīla |
| kīr |
| čīy |
| čīy |
| čīy |
| čīl |
| čīn |
The Plains Cree, speakers of the y dialect, refer to their language as nēhi yawēwin, whereas Woods Cree speakers say nīhi thawīwin, and Swampy Cree speakers say nēhi nawēwin.
Another important phonological variation among the Cree dialects involves the palatalisation of Proto-Algonquian *k: East of the Ontario–Quebec border (except for Atikamekw), Proto-Algonquian *k has changed into or before front vowels. See the table above for examples in the * column.
Very often the Cree dialect continuum is divided into two languages: Cree and Montagnais. Cree includes all dialects which have not undergone the *k > sound change (BC–QC) while Montagnais encompasses the territory where this sound change has occurred (QC–NL). These labels are very useful from a linguistic perspective but are confusing as East Cree then qualifies as Montagnais. For practical purposes, Cree usually covers the dialects which use syllabics as their orthography (including Atikamekw but excluding Kawawachikamach Naskapi), the term Montagnais then applies to those dialects using the Latin script (excluding Atikamekw and including Kawawachikamach Naskapi). The term Naskapi typically refers to Kawawachikamach (y-dialect) and Natuashish (n-dialect).
| + ! rowspan=2 colspan=2 | Linguasphere code and nameLinguasphere code 62-ADA is called "Cree+Ojibwa net", listing four divisions of which three are shown here—the fourth division 62-ADA-d representing the Ojibwe dialects, listed as "Ojibwa+ Anissinapek". | additional comments | |||
| *ē | |||||
| In this dialect ē has merged into ī. | |||||
| Missinipi Cree (Nīhirawīwin). Also known as "Rocky Cree". Historical r have transitioned to ð and have merged into Woods Cree. While Woods Cree proper have hk, Missinipi Cree have sk, e.g., Woods Cree mihkosiw v. Missinipi Cree : 'he/she is red'. | |||||
| Divided to Southern Plains Cree (Nēhiyawēwin) and Northern Plains Cree (Nīhiyawīwin or Nīhiyawīmowin). In the Northern dialect, ē has merged into ī. | |||||
| (southern) | |||||
| Eastern Swampy Cree, together with Moose Cree, also known as "West Main Cree," "Central Cree," or "West Shore Cree." In the western dialect, š has merged with s. Western Swampy Cree also known as "York Cree;" together with Northern Plains Cree and Woods Cree, also known as "Western Woodland Cree." | |||||
| Together with the Eastern Swampy Cree, also known as "West Main Cree," "Central Cree," or "West Shore Cree." In Swampy Cree-influenced areas, some speakers use n instead of l, e.g., upland Moose Cree iniliw v. lowland Moose Cree ililiw: 'human'. Kesagami Lake Cree was an r dialect but has transitioned and merged with l dialect of Moose Cree. | |||||
| (upland) | |||||
| (Kesagami Lake) | |||||
| Also known as "James Bay Cree" or "East Main Cree". The long vowels ē and ā have merged in the northern dialect but are distinct in the southern. Southern East Cree is divided between coastal (southwestern) and inland (southeastern) varieties. Also, the inland southern dialect has lost the distinction between s and š. Here, the inland southern dialect falls in line with the rest of the Naskapi groups where both phonemes have become š. Nonetheless, the people from the two areas easily communicate. In the northern dialect, ki is found in situations were short unaccented vowel a transitioned to i without changing the k to č. | |||||
| (coastal) | |||||
| (inland) | |||||
| Western Naskapi (or simply referred to as Naskapi). Spoken in Kawawachikamach, Quebec. | |||||
| Eastern Naskapi; also known as Mushuau Innu. Spoken in Natuashish, Labrador. | |||||
| Western Montagnais (Lehlueun); also known as the "Betsiamites dialect" | |||||
| 62-ADA-bbd Escoumains | |||||
| 62-ADA-bbc Bersimis | |||||
| Part of Western Montagnais, but more precisely referred to as Central Montagnais. š is realized as h in intervocalic position, especially amongst middle-aged and young speakers. | |||||
| Eastern Montagnais (Innu-aimûn). š is mostly realized as h. | |||||
| 62-ADA-cb Wemotaci | |||||
| 62-ADA-cc Opitciwan | |||||
| +Consonant phonemes
!
!Bilabial
!Dental consonant
!Alveolar
!Post- alveolar !Palatal !Velar consonant !Glottal |
| + Vowels ! ! colspan="2" | Front vowel ! colspan="2" | Central vowel ! colspan="2" | Back vowel |
In dictionaries focused on Eastern Swampy Cree, Western Swampy Cree may readily substitute with , while Lowland Moose Cree may readily substitute with their . In dictionaries focused on Southern Plains Cree, Northern Plains Cree may readily substitute with , while materials accommodating Rocky Cree will indicate the Plains Cree that is in Rocky Cree as . Similarly, in dictionaries focused on Western Swampy Cree, Woods Cree may readily substitute with , while materials accommodating Woods Cree will indicate the Western Swampy Cree that is in Woods Cree as . Atikamekw uses , , and (which also serves as ). Eastern James Bay Cree prefers to indicate long vowels (other than ) by doubling the vowel, while the western Cree use either a macron or circumflex diacritic; as is always long, often it is written as just without doubling or using a diacritic. While Western Cree dialects make use of and either or , Eastern Cree dialects instead make use of and either , , or .
Obviation is also a key aspect of the Cree language(s). In a sense, the obviative can be defined as any third-person ranked lower on a hierarchy of discourse salience than some other (proximate) discourse-participant. "Obviative animate nouns, in, are marked by a ending –a, and are used to refer to third persons who are more peripheral in the discourse than the proximate third person".Dahlstrom pp. 11 For example:
The suffix -a marks Susan as the obviative, or 'fourth' person, the person furthest away from the discourse.
The Cree language has grammatical gender in a system that classifies nouns as animate or inanimate. The distribution of nouns between animate or inanimate is not semantically transparent, which means gender must be learned along with the noun.
As is common in polysynthetic languages, a Cree word can be very long, and express something that takes a series of words in English. For example:
This means that changing the word order in Cree can place emphasis on different pieces of the sentence.Wolfart, H. C., & Carroll, J. F. (1981). Meet Cree: A guide to the Cree language (New and completely rev. ed.). Edmonton: University of Alberta Press. Wolfart and Carroll give the following example by transposing the two Cree words:
The following tables show the syllabaries of Eastern and Western Cree dialects, respectively:
| * Used only in foreign sounds |
Speakers of various Cree dialects have begun creating dictionaries to serve their communities. Some projects, such as the Cree Language Resource Project, are developing an online bilingual Cree dictionary for the Cree language.
Cree syllabics has not commonly or traditionally used the Full stop (). Instead, either a full-stop glyph () or a double em-width space has been used between words to signal the transition from one sentence to the next.
The sound of Woods Cree is written , or in more recent material. Plains and Swampy material written to be cross-dialectical often modify to and to when those are pronounced in Swampy. is used in Eastern dialects where s and š are distinct phonemes. In other dialects, s is used even when pronounced like .
and are used natively in Moose and Attikamek Cree, but in other dialects only for loanwords.
The stops, p, t, k, and the affricate, c, can be pronounced either voiced or unvoiced, but the symbols used for writing these sounds all correspond to the unvoiced pronunciation, e.g. not , not , etc. The phoneme is represented by , as it is in various other languages.
Long vowels are denoted with either a macron, as in , or a circumflex, as in . Use of either the macron or circumflex is acceptable, but usage should be consistent within a work. The vowel ē , used in southern Plains Cree, is always long and the grapheme is never used. In northern Plains Cree the sound has merged with ī, and thus is not used at all.
The use of unmarked and marked for the phonemes and emphasizes the relationship that can exist between these two vowels. There are situations where o can be lengthened to ō, as for example in ᓂᑲᒧ! 'sing (now)!' and ᓂᑲᒨᐦᑲᐣ! 'sing (later)!'.
In alphabetic writing, the use of punctuation has been inconsistent. For instance, in the Plains Cree dialect, the interrogative enclitic cî can be included in the sentence to mark a yes–no question such that this is sometimes considered to be sufficient without including a question mark (?). However, in many modern publications and text collections ( cf. The Counselling Speeches of Jim Kâ-Nîpitêhtêw (1998)Ahenakew, Freda, and H.C. Wolfart, eds. 1998. ana kâ-pimwêwêhahk okakêskihkêmowina / The Counselling Speeches of Jim Kâ-Nîpitêhtêw. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. ) full punctuation is used.Okimâsis, Jean, and Arok Wolvengrey. 2008. How to Spell it in Cree. Regina: miywâsin ink.
Additionally, other interrogatives ( where, when, what, why, who) can be used, as in other languages, and questions marks can thus be used for such questions in Cree as well.
Hyphenation can be used to separate a particle from the root word that it prefixes, especially particles that precede verbs ("preverbs" or "indeclinable preverbs") or nouns ("prenouns" or "indeclinable prenouns"). One example is ('start speaking!'), derived from . Note that can neither stand alone as a separate word, nor is it an essential part of a stem. There are some more complex situations where it is difficult to determine whether an element is a particle. Some frequently used compound words can be written as unhyphenated. Stress can be predicted in some cases based on hyphenation.
Vowel reduction or vowel dropping, as is common of unstressed short i , is not denoted in order to be more cross-dialectal—instead of using apostrophes, the full unreduced vowels are written.
Representation of sandhi (such as → ) can be written or not written, as sandhi representation introduces greater complexity. There are additional rules regarding h and iy that may not match a given speaker's speech, to enable a standardized transcription.
Michif language is a mixed language which combines Cree with French language. For the most part, Michif uses Cree verbs, question words, and while using French nouns. Michif is unique to the Canadian prairie provinces as well as to North Dakota and Montana in the United States.Bakker and Papen p. 295 Michif is still spoken in central Canada and in North Dakota.
Bungi creole is a creole based on Scottish English, Scots language, Scottish Gaelic, Cree, and Ojibwe language.Bakker and Papen p. 304 Some French words have also been incorporated into its lexicon. This language flourished at and around the Red River Settlement (the modern-day location of Winnipeg, Manitoba) by the mid- to late-1800s.Carter p. 63 Bungi is now virtually extinct language, as its features are being abandoned in favour of standard English.Blain. (1989: 15)
Cree has also been incorporated into another mixed language within Canada, Nehipwat, which is a blending of Cree with Assiniboine. Nehipwat is found only in a few southern Saskatchewan reserves and is now nearing extinction. Nothing is known of its structure.Bakker and Papen p. 305
Cuthand also argues that the loss of the Cree language can be attributed to the migration of native families away from the Indian reserve, voluntarily or not. Oftentimes, the elders are left on the reserve. This breaks up the traditional intergenerational flow of lingual knowledge from elder to youth.
The third point Cuthand argues is that Cree language loss was adopted by the speakers. Parents stopped teaching their children their native language in the belief that doing so would help their children find economic success or avoid discrimination.
Robert Falcon Ouellette, a Cree Member of Parliament, played a pivotal role in promoting Indigenous languages especially Cree within the Canadian Parliament and Canadian House of Commons. He was instrumental in obtaining unanimous consent from all political parties to change the standing orders to allow Indigenous languages to be spoken in the House of Commons, with full translation services provided. This historic change enabled Ouellette to deliver a speech in Cree with interpretation supported by language educator Kevin Lewis, marking the first use of an Indigenous language in the House of Commons on Jan 28, 2019.
Furthermore, Bill C-91, the Indigenous Languages Act passed in 2019, was enacted to support and revitalize Indigenous languages across Canada. This legislation, aims to reclaim, revitalize, and maintain Indigenous languages through sustainable funding and the establishment of the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages. Ouellette was the chair of the Indigenous caucus in the House of Commons and helped ensure it passage before the election of 2019.
The Mistissini council decided to require their employees to learn Cree syllabics in 1991.
The Cree School Board now has its annual report available in both English and Cree.
There is a push to increase the availability of Cree stations on the radio.
In 2013, free Cree language electronic books for beginners became available for Alberta language teachers.
The Government of the Northwest Territories releases an annual report on First Nations languages. The 2016–2017 report features successes they have had in revitalizing and supporting and projects they are working on. For example, they released a Medicinal Plant Guide that had information in both Cree and English. An important part of making the guide was input from the elders. Another accomplishment was the dubbing of a movie in Cree. They are working on broadcasting a radio station that "will give listeners music and a voice for our languages".
Joshua Whitehead is one writer who has used the Cree language as part of his poetry.
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