Swampy Cree language

Swampy Cree
ᓀᐦᐃᓇᐍᐏᐣ / Nêhinawêwin
Native toCanada
RegionOntario
Ethnicity2,800 (2007)[1]
Native speakers
1,805 (2016 census)[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3csw
Glottologswam1239
Linguasphere62-ADA-ad 62-ADA-ac, 62-ADA-ad
Swampy Cree is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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Swampy Cree (variously known as Maskekon, Maskegon and Omaškêkowak, and often anglicized as Omushkego) is a variety of the Algonquian language, Cree. It is spoken in a series of Swampy Cree communities in northern Manitoba, central northeast of Saskatchewan along the Saskatchewan River and along the Hudson Bay coast and adjacent inland areas to the south and west, and Ontario along the coast of Hudson Bay and James Bay. Within the group of dialects called "West Cree", it is referred to as an "n-dialect", as the variable phoneme common to all Cree dialects appears as "n" in this dialect (as opposed to y, r, l, or ð; all of the phonemes are considered a linguistic reflex of Proto-Algonquian *r).

It had approximately 4,500 speakers in a population of 5,000 as of 1982 according to the 14th edition of the Ethnologue. Canadian census data does not identify specific dialects of Cree (all estimates now current rely on extrapolations from specific studies), and currently, no accurate census of any Algonquian language exists.[4]

The grammar and the examples used on this page are taken from Ellis's Second Edition (1983) of Spoken Cree.[5]

  1. ^ Swampy Cree language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics. "Language Highlight Tables, 2016 Census - Aboriginal mother tongue, Aboriginal language spoken most often at home and Other Aboriginal language(s) spoken regularly at home for the population excluding institutional residents of Canada, provinces and territories, 2016 Census – 100% Data". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2017-11-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2022-05-24). "Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi". Glottolog. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  4. ^ Keith Brown & Sarah Ogilvie, 2008, Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World, Elsevier, p. 26.
  5. ^ Ellis, C. D., 1983