East Cree
| East Cree | |
|---|---|
| Īyiyū Ayimūn (N), Īnū Ayimūn (S) | |
| Native to | Canada |
| Region | Quebec |
Native speakers | 13,000 (1997)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
Either: crl – Northern crj – Southern |
| Linguasphere |
62-ADA-af (northern) 62-ADA-ag (southern) |
 Linguistic subdivisions in Canada | |
East Cree, also known as (Eastern) James Bay Cree, and East Main Cree, is a group of Cree dialects spoken in Quebec, Canada on the east coast of lower Hudson Bay and James Bay, and inland southeastward from James Bay. Four dialects have been tentatively identified including the Southern Inland dialect (Iyiniw-Ayamiwin) spoken in Mistissini, Oujé-Bougoumou, Waswanipi, and Nemaska; the Southern Coastal dialect (Iyiyiw-Ayamiwin) spoken in Nemaska, Waskaganish, and Eastmain; the Northern Coastal Dialects (Iyiyiw-Ayimiwin), one spoken in Wemindji and Chisasibi and the other spoken in Whapmagoostui. The dialects are mutually intelligible, though difficulty arises as the distance between communities increases.
Phonology
The long vowels *ē and *ā have merged in the northern coastal dialects but remain distinct in the southern coastal and southern inland dialects; southern inland has merged *s with *š, which remain distinct in the coastal dialects. Neighboring Naskapi has both.
In East Cree there is 11 consonants. There are bilabials such as, [p],[b],[w]. There are alveolar such as, [t],[s],[n],[y]. There are post-alveolar such as, [ʃ ],[tʃ]. There are velar such as, [k],[kʷ]. And a glottal such as, [h]. (Swain 22).
Information derived from:
Swain, Erin. "The Acquisition of Stress in Northern East Cree: A Case Study." Order No. MR55290 Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada), 2008. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
References
- ↑ Northern reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
Southern reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
External links
- Eastcree.org
- Terry, Kevin. Thesis. The Emergence of Intransitive Verb Inflection in Northern East Cree: A Case Study. Memorial University of Newfoundland (St. Johns, Newfoundland: December 2009).
- Dyck, Carrie, Julie Brittain, Marguerite MacKenzie. "Northern East Cree Accent" in Proceedings of the 2006 annual conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association.
- OLAC resources in and about the Northern East Cree language
- OLAC resources in and about the Southern East Cree language