Cree language
| Cree | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Canada; United States (Montana) |
| Ethnicity | Cree |
|
Native speakers
|
120,000 (2006 census) (including Montagnais–Naskapi and Atikamekw) |
| Latin, Canadian Aboriginal syllabics (Cree) | |
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
Northwest Territories |
|
Recognised minority
language in |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | cr |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 |
Individual codes: crk – Plains Cree cwd – Woods Cree csw – Swampy Cree crm – Moose Cree crl – Northern East Cree crj – Southern East Cree nsk – Naskapi moe – Montagnais atj – Atikamekw |
| Glottolog | cree1271 |
A rough map of Cree dialect areas
|
|
Cree /ˈkriː/ (also known as Cree–Montagnais–Naskapi) is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. Despite numerous speakers within this wide-ranging area, the only region where Cree has any official status is in the Northwest Territories, alongside eight other aboriginal languages.
Endonyms are Nēhiyawēwin ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ (Plains Cree), Nīhithawīwin (Woods Cree), Nehirâmowin (Atikamekw), Nehlueun (Western Montagnais, Piyekwâkamî dialect), Ilnu-Aimûn (Western Montagnais, Betsiamites dialect), Innu-Aimûn (Eastern Montagnais), Iyiniu-Ayamiwin (Southern East Cree), Iyiyiu-Ayamiwin (Northern East Cree), Ililîmowin (Moose Cree), Inilîmowin (Eastern Swampy Cree), and Nēhinawēwin (Western Swampy Cree).
Cree is believed to have begun as a dialect of the Proto-Algonquian language spoken 2,500 to 3,000 years ago in the original Algonquian homeland, an undetermined area thought to be near the Great Lakes. The speakers of the proto-Cree language are thought to have moved north, and diverged rather quickly into two different groups on each side of James Bay, after which time, the eastern group began to diverge into separate dialects, whereas the western grouping probably broke into distinct dialects much later. After this point it is very difficult to make definite statements about how different groups emerged and moved around, because there are no written works in the languages to compare, and descriptions by Europeans are not systematic; as well, Algonquian people have a tradition of bilingualism and even of outright adopting a new language from neighbours.
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Wikipedia