Swampy Cree Language
Swampy Cree (variously known as Maskekon, Omaškêkowak, and often anglicized as Omushkego) is a variety of the Algonquian language, Cree. Swampy Cree 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", meaning that the variable phoneme common to all Cree dialects appears as "n" in this dialect (as opposed to y, r, l, or ð; all of these phonemes are considered a linguistic reflex of Proto-Algonquian *r).
It had approximately 4500 speakers in a population of 5000 as of 1982 according to the 14th edition of the Ethnologue. Canadian census data does not identify specific dialects of Cree (i.e., all estimates now current rely on extrapolations from specific studies), and, currently, no accurate census of any Algonquian language exists.
The Grammar and examples used on this page were taken from Ellis's Second Edition (1983) of "Spoken Cree."
Read more about Swampy Cree Language: Dialects of Swampy Cree, Morphology
Famous quotes containing the words swampy and/or language:
“These boys who love their mother
who loves men, who passes on
her sons to other women;
The cloud across the sky. The windy pines.
the trickle gurgle in the swampy meadow
this is our body.”
—Gary Snyder (b. 1930)
“Like the train’s beat
Swift language flutters the lips
Of the Polish airgirl in the corner seat.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)