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 as of 2008 no accurate census of any Algonquian language existed.Keith Brown & Sarah Ogilvie, 2008, Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World, Elsevier, p. 26.

The grammar and the examples used on this page are unless otherwise stated taken from Ellis's Second Edition (1983) of Spoken Cree.Ellis, C. D., 1983

Dialects A division is sometimes made between West Swampy Cree and East Swampy Cree.

Communities recognized as West Swampy Cree include Shoal Lake, The Pas, Easterville, Chemawawin Cree Nation, Grand Rapids Barren Lands, Churchill, Split Lake, York Factory, Fox Lake, Shamattawa, and God's Lake Narrows (all in Manitoba) and Fort Severn, Ontario.

Communities recognized as East Swampy Cree are Weenusk, Attawapiskat, Albany Post, Kashechewan, and Fort Albany (all in Ontario).Rhodes, Richard and Evelyn Todd, 1981, p. 53, p. Fig. 1 The Cree spoken at Kashechewan also shows Moose Cree influence.Ellis, C. D., 1995, p. xiv

This page reflects the forms found in Albany Post (now Kashechewan).

Phonology Consonants

The consonant inventory for Swampy Cree contains 11 phonemes. A twelfth phoneme /l/ is not native but has entered the language via loanwords and influence from Moose Cree.

Bilabial Alveolar Postalveolar Velar GlottalNasal Plosive Fricative Affricate Semivowel Lateral

Voicing does not cause phonemic contrast in Swampy Cree. According to Ellis, however, stops often undergo voicing intervocalically when preceded by a stressed long vowel or nasal. For example, "māci" is pronounced [māːd͡zi], and "maci" is pronounced [mat͡si].

Preaspiration of stops creates a phonemic distinction. For example, (he brings it) is not the same as (he waits for it). However, in "many areas of Swampy Cree speech", /V(V)hC/ is becoming /VVC/; that is, /h/ is being lost before consonants, and if the preceding vowel is short then that vowel is lengthened.Jean Okimāsis and Arok Wolvengrey, How to Spell it in Cree (The Standard Roman Orthography) (miywāsin ink, 2008).

In emphatic words that contain an initial vowel, [h] is often inserted before the vowel. It is not a phonemic distinction but simply an indicator of stress. Similarly, word-final vowels are often followed by moderate aspiration, which does not mark any change in meaning. Postaspiration is not phonemically distinctive either.

The consonant /h/ is occasionally pronounced as [j] (as in English "yes") intervocalically.

When a short vowel is dropped, leaving a nasal next to a stop, the nasal assimilates to the same place of articulation as the stop. For example, "nipāskisikan" becomes "mpāskisikan".

In words such as ocawāšimiša, the [c] is actually an underlying /t/, assimilated by preparation for the articulation of the two [š]. In fact, pronunciation with a [t] is perceived as baby talk.

In word-final position, /t/ becomes [š].

Vowels

ShortLongFront BackFront BackHigh (close) Mid Low (open)

Vowels in Cree can experience a great deal of variation but remain one phoneme. Long /oː/ varies between [oː] and [uː]. Long /aː/ varies between approximately [æː] (as in "hat") and [ɑː] (as in "hall"). Short /i/ varies between [ɪ] and [ɛ]. Short /o/ varies between approximately [o] and [ʊ]. Short /a/ has the widest variation, from [æ] to [ʌ] and [ɛ] as well, when it proceeds the approximant [j].

Contractions /Cw/ + /i/ yields /Co/ /aw/ + /i/ yields /aː/

Stress Stress is not distinctive in Swampy Cree. In other words, there are no minimal pairs of words that are distinguishable only by stress. However, correct placement of stress is important to prounciation. In the analysis of Jean Okimāsis and Arok Wolvengrey, the underlying stress-system in Swampy Cree is like other Cree dialects: in words of two syllables, the primary stress falls on the final syllable; in words of three or more syllables, the primary stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable. However, since unstressed vowels are sometimes omitted, two-syllable words with the stress on the first syllable do occur in speech.

Morphology Swampy Cree is a polysynthetic language that relies heavily on verbs, so many things that would be expressed in English as nouns or adjectives are expressed as verbs. In fact, Swampy Cree has no adjectives at all. Instead, it has the intransitive form of verbs. For example, instead of saying "he is strong", in Cree, one says something like "he strongs".

Nouns Nouns in Swampy Cree have both free and bound stems, the latter being used in combination with other morphemes. Compounds are common and can be formed from other nouns, verb stems, and particles.

Swampy Cree does not have gender in the Indo-European sense (masculine, feminine, and neuter). Rather, it differentiates between animate and inanimate (see Animacy). While no living things are within the "inanimate" class, there are some nonliving things (socks, kettles, stones, paddles, etc.) within the "animate" class.

Personal possessor prefixes Possession is also expressed via affixation. The first- and second-person prefixes are the same as those for verbs.

Singular Plural 1st person ni-......-(a) ni-......-inām 2nd person ki-........-(a) ki-.....-iwāw 3rd person o- ....... -(a) o- ....... -iwāw(a) Obviative o- ....... -iliw

There are groups of nouns that have a dependent stem and must occur with some sort of possessor. They include relatives, body parts, and things that are regarded in Algonquian tradition as extremely personal items, such as hunting bags. Possession is also occasionally marked by the suffix -im (known as the possessed theme), which appears inside the suffix for plurality when it occurs. The -(a) suffix is added when the possessed item is animate.

With plural nouns (as opposed to the possessors), the suffix -ak (for animate) or -a (for inanimate) is added after all other suffixes.

Obviative is marked on animate nouns with the suffix -a and on inanimate nouns with the suffix -iliw. Animate obviative nouns do not mark number, so it is unknown whether an obviative noun is singular or plural. Inanimate obviative nouns are marked for plurality. Surobviative nouns show neither the number of the noun itself nor the number of the possessor.

Pronouns While person and possession are often expressed by affixation in Cree, there are separate personal pronouns, which are often used for emphasis.

singular plural 1st person exclusive nīna nīnanān inclusive kīnanānāw (kīnānaw) 2nd person kīna kīnawāw 3rd person wīna wīnaww

Demonstratives Third Person Obviative animate inanimate animate inanimate singular plural singular plural singular plural singular plural This one awa ōko ōma ōho ōho ōmēliw ōho That one ana aniki ani(ma) anihi anihi animēliw anihi This/that selfsame ē'ko (for ēwako) ~rarely occurs~ Another one kotak kotakiyak kotak kotakiya kotakiya kotakīliw kotakiya

There is a further distinction in the Fort Albany region between kotak ("another") and kotakīy ("another one of two").

Verbs As stated above, Swampy Cree relies heavily on verbs to express many things that are expressed in other ways in languages like English. For example, noun incorporation is quite common in Cree.

Both transitive and intransitive verbs in Swampy Cree change their endings (and occasionally even their stems) depending on animacy. Intransitive verbs rely on the animacy of their subjects, while transitive verbs rely on the animacy of their objects.

There are multiple forms of the verbs. The Independent Order of the verb is the set of verb forms that are used in the main clause. The Conjunct Order consists of the forms used in other types of clauses. Also, Swampy Cree has suffixes for direct action as opposed to inverse. The labels refer not to the quality of the action but to which person is acting on which other grammatical person (see Direct–inverse alignment). For example, "I see him/her" (ni...wāpam...ā...w) is a direct action because the first person is acting upon the third and "He/she sees me" (ni...wāpam...ikw...w) because it is the third person acting upon the first. In Cree, the order of "directness" is second person, first person, third person.

Transitive Inanimate Verbs and Animate Intransitive Verbs also have the option of relational or non-relational forms. Relational forms are used when the verb is carried out in relation to another person. A famous example from the translation of the Pilgrim's Progress is kici-pēci-itohtē-w-ak, which comes from "evangelist bid me come hither" but literally translates to "that I come hither (in relation to him)".

Swampy Cree has two types of imperatives: Immediate Imperative and Future Imperative. As the name implies, the Immediate Imperative is for actions that should be carried out immediately, and the Future Imperative is for actions that should be carried out after a lapse of time.

Order of affixes 1) Person: There are two "subject" prefixes for Cree Verbs for first person (ni(t)-) and second person (ki(t)-). The third person is unmarked. The prefixes are used simultaneously with suffixes that express number, animacy, and transitivity.

2) Tense: Future tense is expressed by a prefix -ka- in the first and second person and ta- in the third person. The future tense marker is inserted after the person marker (if any). In casual speech, it is often contracted with the person marker (e.g., nika- becomes n'ka-).

3) Completed action is often expressed by a prefix kī- (in affirmative utterance) and ohci- (in negative utterances) and is commonly used to refer to the past. For example, itohtēw means "he goes (there)" but kī-itohtēw means "he went (there)".

4) Aspect

There is a potential prefix kī- (can, be able to) that precedes the root but follows both person and tense prefixes.

The prefix ati- indicates gradual onset (as opposed to sudden beginning).

4*) Some prefixes have more freedom in where they go, such as pēci- (in this direction, towards the speaker).

5) Location emphasis: When a locating expression is used at the beginning of a sentence, the verb contains a prefix iši- as a sort of emphasis and agreement (approximately "thus" or "so"). Ellis describes it as being approximately "At the store do you there work?" If the locating expression does not precede the verb, iši- is not used because it is a relative root (so it refers to something that precedes it in the phrase).

6) Root

7) Reciprocal action

Reciprocal action is expressed by the suffix -ito-, occurring between the stem and the normal inflection.

8) Inflectional suffix

9) Causative: The causative suffix -hēw can be added to verbs in order to change it to a causative verb. For example, means "he goes there", and means "he takes him there".

Animate intransitive verbs Animate intransitive verbs are intransitive verbs that have an animate subject.

+ Independent Indicative singular plural 1st person exclusive -n -nān inclusive -nānaw 2nd person -n -nāwāw 3rd person -w -wak Obviative -liwa indefinite, passive -(nā)niwan