The Cree Syllabary and the Writing System Riddle

Cree
Spoken in	USA , Canada
Linguistic classification	Algonquian languages Central Algonquian languages Cree
Language codes
ISO 639 -1	cr
ISO 639 -2	cre
ISO 639-3	cre ( macro language )

Plains Cree inscription in Cree script in The Forks Park in Winnipeg

The Cree language ( Nēhiyawēwin ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ in Plains-Cree, other variants see below) belongs to the Algonquin language family and is spoken by around 100,000 people in several regional variants in large parts of Canada and a small group in Montana ( USA ). Of the indigenous languages ​​of English-speaking North America, it has the second most speakers.

Number of speakers

The Cree in Canada, the most widely used language of the First Nations designated Indians . According to official information, it was spoken there in 2006 by 87,285 Cree (plus 11,080 Montagnais-Naskapi and 5,320 Atikamekw, together 103,685; Census 2016: 116,585). If one adds the speakers who do not identify themselves as members of one of the Cree tribes, there are 99,950 speakers for 2006 (plus 11,815 Montagnais-Naskapi and 5,645 Atikamekw, altogether 117,410). In the United States, where Plains-Cree is spoken by around 100 old people on the Rocky Boy Reservation in Montana, the language is considered moribund.

distribution

The distribution area extends from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean , with up to nine dialects being distinguished. These are (from west to east) Plains or West-Cree ( Alberta , Saskatchewan ), Woods (Saskatchewan and Manitoba ) and Swampy Cree (Manitoba and Ontario ). Moose Cree joins it further east . In Québec there are Atikamekw , Eastern Cree , Eastern Montagnais and the Innu and Naskapi languages , which are mainly attributed to the Cree. This does not apply to the Oji-Cree , which is more of an Ojibwa language.

Phonology

Consonants

The following consonants can occur in the various Cree dialects taken together:

	labial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
nasal	m [m]		n [n]
Plosive	p [p]	t [t]	c [t͡s]	č [t͡ʃ]		k [k]
Fricative		ð [ð]	s [s]	š [ʃ]			h [h]
Approximant			r [ɹ]		y [j]	w [w]
Lateral			l [l]

Vowels

The Cree dialects have up to seven vowels, three short and four long:

	Short		Long
	Before the	Behind	Before the	Behind
Closed	i / i /	o / u /	ī / iː /	ō / oː /
Middle-closed			ē / eː /
Medium-open	a / a /
Open			ā / aː /

Regional variants (dialects)

Cree is a dialect continuum that can be divided according to many criteria. In northern Ontario and southern James Bay, Lanaudière and Mauricie in Québec , a distinction is made between / ʃ / ( sch ) and / s / , while west of it both like / s / and east of it both like / ʃ / or like / h / is spoken. In several dialects, including northern Plains Cree and Woods Cree , the long vowels / eː / and / iː / have coincided with / iː / . In Chisasibi , Whapmagoostui, and Kawawachikamach in Québec, the long vowels / eː / and / aː / have coincided with / aː / .

In particular, however, the dialects are subdivided according to the implementation of the assumed original Algonquian phoneme * r / * l and * k :

ISO 639-3	dialect	Language area	Proper name	Reflex of * r / * l	Reflex of * k	Word for "human", "Indian" ← * elenyiwa	Word for "you" ← * kīla	Number of speakers	dictionary
crk	Plains Cree	Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories	Nēhiyawēwin ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ	y / j /	k / k /	iyiniw ᐃᔨᓂᐤ	kīya ᑮᔭ	29900	[1] , [2]
cwd	Woods Cree	Manitoba, Saskatchewan	Nīhithawīwin ᓀᐦᐃᖬᐍᐏᐣ	ð / th / ð, θ /	k / k /	iðiniw / ithiniw ᐃᖨᓂᐤ	kīða / kītha ᑫᖬ	14500
csw	Swampy Cree	Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan	Nêhinawêwin ᓀᐦᐃᓇᐍᐏᐣ	n / n /	k / k /	ininiw ᐃᓂᓂᐤ	kīna ᑮᓇ	21300	[3]
crm	Moose Cree	Ontario	Nēhinawēwin	l / l /	k / k /	iliniw	kīla	150	[4]
atj	Atikamekw	Quebec	Nēhinawēwin, Nehirâmowin	r / ɹ /	k / k /	iriniw	kīr	5400	[5]
crl	Northeast Cree	Quebec	Īyiyū Ayimūn ᐄᔨᔫ ᐊᔨᒨᓐ	y / j /	č / tʃ /	īyiyiw ᐄᔨᔨᐤ	čiy	11500	[6]
crj	Southeast Cree	Quebec	Īnū Ayimūn ᐄᓅ ᐊᔨᒨᓐ	y / j /	č / tʃ /	īyiyū ᐄᔨᔫ	čiy	4455
nsk	Kawawachikamach Naskapi	Quebec	Iyuw iyimuun ᐃᔪᐤ ᐃᔨᒧᐅᓐ	y / j /	č / tʃ /	iyyū	čiy	700	[7]
moe	West Innu	Quebec	Ilnu-aimun	l / l /	č / tʃ /	īlnu	čīl	3900
	East Innu	Québec, Newfoundland and Labrador	Innu-aimun	n / n /	č / tʃ /	innu	čīn	6500	[8th]

font

The variety in pronunciation is also reflected in the spelling of the word Kitchi-Manitu (God) in Cree syllabary : Kicemanito (New Testament on Cree 1876), Kisemanitô (Bible on Cree 1862), Kisemanitow (New Testament on Cree 1908) , Chisamanitu (New Testament on Naskapi 2007)

While Cree is almost always written with Latin letters in eastern Québec and Labrador , the other parts of the country use the Cree script , a syllabary , although Latin script is also used in parallel. Cree is written horizontally from left to right. The phonetic values ​​of the syllable characters, adapted to the phonetics of the dialects, differ according to two major regions: The dialects Plains Cree, Woods Cree and Swampy Cree use the Western Cree script , while the dialects East Cree, Moose Cree and Naskapi use the Eastern Cree- Font . The vowel is determined by the alignment of the syllable sign, which is usually sufficient for the four Algonquian vowel values, while Naskapi even gets along with three vowel values. But since some dialects have up to seven vowels, diacritical marks are also used here.

Cree literature

The Methodists -Missionar James Evans developed the Cree writing from 1840 to 1846 in collaboration with converted to Christianity indigenous to the Cree and Ojibwe in Norway House on the Hudson Bay . A large part of the cree-language literature that has emerged since then consists of Bible translations, hymn books and other Christian texts. As early as 1862 the complete Bible appeared in Cree syllabary on Plains-Cree (West-Cree, Old Testament 1861, New Testament 1862), translated by the Methodist, later Anglican pastor William Mason and Sophia Thomas Mason, which was the second translation of the Bible into an indigenous language the American double continent was. A translation of the New Testament into Moose-Cree by the Anglican Bishop John Horden came out in 1876. In 1908 the New Testament was revised on Plains-Cree by John A. MacKay (new edition, inter alia, 1990) and more recently a translation into Naskapi 2007. The New Testament has also been published in Latin. The Canadian Bible Society is currently planning, in collaboration with the Wycliffe Bible translators, to publish a new revision of the Bible in Plains-Cree, which will appear in both syllabary and Latin script.

The limited possibilities for printing due to the lack of printing types made it difficult to publish other types of publications in Cree syllabary. More recently, syllable typewriters and finally word processing with syllabary ( Canadian syllable character set ) have also been developed, so that since then textbooks, newspapers and even official documents in this language have appeared in syllabary.

Derived Languages

The Michif der Métis is a mixed language in which the nominal system is French and the verbal system is Cree.

See also

• Cree font

Examples of Cree literature in syllabary

• Hymn Book . (By James Evans ) Norway House, 1841.
• Catechism . (Translated by James Evans) Rossville, É. N.
• The Holy Bible . (Transl. John Sinclair , Henry Steinhauer ) London, 1861.
• Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress . (Transl. John Sinclair) Toronto, 1900.
• Cree Hymn Book. (By John McDougall) Toronto, 1888.
• Cree Hymn Book. (By Robert Steinauer, Egerton Steinauer) Toronto, 1920.
• The Epistle of Paul The Apostle To The Galatians . (Translated by Joseph Reader) Oonikup (Northwest Territory), SA
• The Acts of The Apostles And The Epistles . London, 1891.
• The Books of The New Testament . London, 1859.
• The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians; the Epistle of Jacob; the First Epistle General of John. (Translated by Thomas Hullburt) Rossville, 1857.
• The Travelers' Spiritual Provision (Calendar) SL, SA
• The Handbook to Scripture Truth: Words of Admonition, Counsel and Comfort. Toronto, 1893.
• Prières, Cantiques, Catéchisme Etc. En Lanque Crise . Montreal, 1886.
• The Book of Common Prayer , (Translated by John Horden) London, 1889 (Addl. Printings Through 1970).

Other literature

Ellis, C. Douglas: Spoken Cree, Level I (West Coast of James Bay ) , Edmonton: The University of Alberta Press, 2000. (In Latin script.)

Web links

• Nehiyaw Masinahikan / Online Cree Dictionary
• Cree Culture
• CREE at languagegeek
• East Cree language web ( Memento of June 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
• Languages ​​of Alberta
• Languages ​​of Quebec
• Languages ​​of Manitoba
• Languages ​​of Ontario

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Aboriginal languages ​​indicators for First Nations people, Canada, 2001 and 2006
2. ^ Knowledge of Aboriginal Languages, 2016
3. ↑ Various Languages ​​Spoken, 2006
4. ↑ Ethnologue: crk - Cree (Plains)
5. ^ ^{A b} H. Christoph Wolfart, Janet F. Carroll: Meet Cree. A guide to the Cree language . University of Alberta Press, Edmonton 1973.
6. ↑ total: 98,305; Source: UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages ​​in Danger based on 2006 Census data
7. ↑ Ager, Simon: Omniglot, Cree Syllabary  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1 @ 2 Template: Dead Link / www.omniglot.com
8. ↑ Oski testement ketipeyichikeminow mina kipimachiyiweminow Chisas Knist . Kanachi | kichi masinaikan, | kayasi testement | mina | oski testement | ketipeyichikeminow mina kipimachiyiweminow | Chisas Knist. | Emiskochiitasinahat neiyawewinik isei | William Mason | ayamiewikimaw. Old Testament 1861, New Testament 1862. Printed for the British and Foreign Bible Society, London. Bible in Cree syllabics.
9. ↑ The New Testament, translated into the Cree language, by the Right Rev. John Horden, DD, Bishop of Moosoner (PDF; 41.3 MB). London: Printed for the British and Foreign Bible Society, Queen Victoria Street, EC, 1876.
10. ^ The New Testament in Plains Cree. Gilbert & Rivington Ltd., London. For The British & Foreign Bible Society, London 1904. 453 p. William Mason's version, revised by John A. McKay, CMS See also The Gospel of John in Cree language (PDF; 1.6 MB). Revised version, first published in 1904 by British & Foreign Bible Society, London
11. ↑ John 1: 1-8 on Worldscriptures.org from a 1990 edition , Canadian Bible Society, Toronto.
12. ↑ God's Word in Naskapi. New Testament (PDF; 2.4 MB). The New Testament in Naskapi of Quebec. Naskapi Development Corporation and Wycliffe Bible Translators, 2007.
13. ↑ Gospelgo.com: Romanized version of the Gospel of John in Western Cree ; (PDF; 2.5 MB).
14. ↑ Kiply Lukan Yaworski: New translation of Gospel of Mark published in Plains Cree . Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, May 2010.
15. ↑ John Nichols: The Cree Syllabary . In: Peter Daniels: The World's Writing Systems . Oxford University Press, New York 1996. pp. 599-611.

The Cree Syllabary and the Writing System Riddle

Source: https://de.zxc.wiki/wiki/Cree_(Sprache)

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