Talk:Cree language

I'm not sure where this person got their information. No Plains dialect of Cree has an l or an r, and the ag ending is Eastern Algonquian. They also fail to realize that "Cree" is actually a name for a large dialect continuum that stretches 3,000 miles. "Dialects" are not mutually intelligible, in many cases.

I'll edit it.

Contributed by 134.87.58.19 on 03:54, 18 April 2004 (UTC)

Unicode Canadian Syllabics

For those that dont have a Cree keyboard, then following may be useful...

¢ NevilleDNZ 15:03, 15 September 2005 (UTC) ¢

Blackfoot letters shared by other languages added by Carl Kenner 18:15, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Tables moved to its own sub-page here. CJLippert 23:03, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Error on Cree Language Map

Thanks for everyone's work on the Cree page. The Western Montagnais and Eastern Montagnais dialect areas are switched. Please see: http://www.innu-aimun.ca/modules/map/Dialect%20Map.pdf. Also, apparently both Western Montagnais and Eastern Montagnais use the term "Innu", so it may be best to either label both dialects with ("Innu"), or neither. Travis Henry 06:53, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

I suggest changing the map to show that Eastern Innu covers all of Labrador. The langauge of both the Labrador Innu communities is n-dialect, and is not the same as the y-dialect of Kawawachikamach. The term Naskapi is not really appropriate when talking about language as it assumes a very close linguistic relationship between Kawawachikamach and Natuashish which doesn’t exist. Kawawachikamach Naskapi dialectically belongs with East-Cree, except that its orthography is significantly different. Also could we remove the Syllabics chart from this discussion page and provide a link instead. It kind of spoils the continuity of this page. Languagegeek 09:00, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

I agree. I'll take the initiative to move it to its own page. CJLippert 23:03, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Michif

Michif is not a Creole, but is a Mixed language. (Taivo (talk) 09:33, 12 March 2008 (UTC))

Bungee

Bungee is not a Mixed language based on all the published information. "Mixed language" has a very specific definition which all the scholarly information agrees is met by Michif. However, from everything published on Bungee that I've seen, it does not meet that definition and the only linguistic description of that speech variety calls it a dialect. Wikipedia cannot contain original research or opinion, so unless there is a scholarly linguistic work that can be used as a reference for the comment, Bungee cannot be called a "mixed language". Indeed, calling it a "pidgin" is still a stretch since the work I've seen seems to call it a Cree/Gaelic-influenced dialect of English. But "Cree/Gaelic-influenced dialect of English spoken by non-native speakers" is a very closer match to the linguistic definition of "Pidgin" then it is to the linguistic definition of "Mixed language". In fact, I even uncomfortable with the label "pidgin" for Bungee based on what I've seen. Pidgins don't have native speakers. But if Bungee is mostly mutually intelligible with English, then it's a dialect of English. The information is so sparse, however, that it's hard to tell. However, "mixed language" is a definition that is fraught with peril and linguists are generally agreed that a language must very clearly and unequivocally match the definition of "mixed language" before it can be called that. Michif has met the criteria, but Bungee has not at this time in the literature. The only true linguistic description that I can see in the bibliography calls it a "dialect". (Taivo (talk) 02:38, 26 March 2008 (UTC))

Please provide evidence for these claims that it is not a mixed-language, or a pidgin. "Based on what I've seen" is not an appropriate source. Based on what I've seen, Bungee appears to have been a mixed-language, although I don't think thats any basis to make a definitive conclusion. Wyldkat, June 16, 2008

Uh, you need to provide evidence that it IS a mixed language. Not-Mixed-Language is the default position for ALL human languages. You must prove that it IS a mixed language using the specific definition accepted by linguistic science. And just so you know the VERY SMALL SET of languages that linguists consider to be true mixed languages, you can find them at mixed languages. Please refer to that page for the specific definitions that Bungee does not meet in order to be called a true mixed language. And "the work I've seen" is the set of references provided in this very article's bibliography. Check them out--I did. And note that the ONLY true linguistic description of Bungee in the references calls it a dialect of English, NOT a mixed language. (Taivo (talk) 19:47, 16 June 2008 (UTC))

The sounds of cree

Since all of the "Important" languages have one, I shall tentativly add one of those cool sound demo charts, please, please check if it's right if you come here —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.161.236.125 (talk) 01:50, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Merge proposal

I came across an orphaned article called Cree Dictionary. It needs major clean-up, wikifying, etc. But as I was thinking about possible ways to clean the article up, it struck me that maybe a cleaned-up version would make more sense to be a section within the Cree language article discussing past and present literary efforts in Cree, including dictionary projects. Thoughts? Opinions? CJLippert (talk) 18:29, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

The orphaned article no longer exists. It is now a redirect to this article, with an added sentence about the present literary efforts. CJLippert (talk) 15:38, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Transduced category?

The article has a non-existing category called "Articles containing Cree language text" but I can't find that particular category in the article, which leads me to think that it is transduced from somewhere else from a possible template in the article. Would someone check to see which template may be responsible for this? Thanks. CJLippert (talk) 18:43, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Better example???

"A Cree word can be very long, and express something that takes a series of words in English. For example, the Plains Cree word for "school" is kiskinohamātowikamikw,...."

Can we provide an example that actually takes a series of words in English to express? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.88.170.40 (talk) 19:48, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

We already do. The English word "school" when translated into Cree and literally translated back into English is "knowing-it-together-by-example place". CJLippert (talk) 23:04, 15 November 2010 (UTC)