Cree (including Montagnais and Naskapi)

• Marguerite MacKenzie & Bill Jancewicz, Lexique Naskapi. Société de developpement des Naskapis, 1994. 1800 pp, 3 volumes, US $75/CDN $100 (boxed hardcover). --- A lexicon of more than 10,000 Naskapi words, both in the syllabic orthography and in the Roman alphabet. (The head word is in syllabic orthography, the roman immediately below, but the words are ordered as in the English alphabet not as in the syllabic chart.) English and French translations are given for each word. The Naskapi dialect represented in this work is that of a single community, Kawawachikamach, near Schefferville, Quebec, one of two Naskapi dialects of Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi, and linguistically closest to the northern East Cree dialects of James and Hudson Bay (east coast), Quebec. Volume 1: Naskapi - English /French; Volume 2: English - Naskapi; Volume 3: French - Naskapi. Each volume also includes historical and linguistic information about the Naskapi and their language. The three volumes are available only as a set, not individually. --- Order from: Naskapi Development Corporation, P.O. Box 5023, Kawawachikamach, PQ, Canada, G0G 2Z0 (tel: 418/585-2612; fax: 418/585-3953) [April 1995]
  
  
  
• Sarah Whitecalf, kinêhiyâwiwininaw nêhiyawêwin / The Cree Language is Our Identity. The La Ronge Lectures. Edited, translated and with a glossary by H. C. Wolfart & Freda Ahenakew. Publications of the Algonquian Text Society 3. Univ. of Manitoba Press, 1994. 160 pp. $18.50. --- Lectures delivered by a Plains Cree elder, in Cree, to a group of Cree teachers. Drawing on her personal experiences, Whitecalf discusses various aspects of traditional life--crafts, medicine, spiritual beliefs--and stresses the importance of language as a vehicle of culture and identity. The Plains Cree text is printed in both roman orthography and syllabics, and a full English translation is provided. --- Order from: Univ. of Manitoba Press, 244-106 Curry Place, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada (tel: 204/474-9495). Add $3 for postage and handling. The price is in Canadian dollars to Canada, US dollars elsewhere. [Jan. 1994]
  
  
  
• Fifth House Publishers (Saskatoon) has published kôhko-minawak otâcimowiniwâwa - Our Grandmothers' Lives, As Told in Their Own Words, told by Glecia Bear, Irene Calliou, Janet Feitz, Minnie Fraser, Alpha Lafond, Rosa Longneck, and Mary Wells (408 pp., CDN $24.95). --- These are personal recollections (ranging from childhood memories to prophetic visions) narrated in Cree by older women from several communities in Saskatchewan. Six of the narrators are Plains Cree; the seventh, Janet Feitz, is a Woods Cree speaker from La Ronge. All of the texts were originally recorded by Freda Ahenakew, who sometimes prompts with questions and in one text engages in extensive dialogue with two narrators. Each narrative is closely transcribed in Roman orthography, with various typographical conventions to represent the texture of the original speech event (the editors call this a "critical edition"), and is printed with an English translation on the facing page. A syllabic "reading version" of the Cree-heavily standardized-is printed separately at the end. Probably the most valuable parts of the book (at least for those outside the families and communities described) are the extensive notes contributed by H. C. Wolfart (pp. 351-408). W.'s principal aim is philological -- to "draw the reader's attention to the linguistic and literary form of the texts" -- but he also provides important items of historical and ethnographic background. The scholarly attention lavished on this collection is a significant and welcome departure from the editorial minimalism so frequently found in Americanist work. -- Also available from the same publisher is wanisinwak iskwêsisak/Two Little Girls Lost in the Bush. A Cree Story for Children, Told by Nêhiyaw/Glecia Bear (1992, 40 pp., $14.95 CDN), a children's edition of one of the narratives from the larger volume, told by a 78-year old Cree woman from Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. It is presented in the original Cree and in English translation, and colorfully illustrated by Cree artist Jerry Whitehead. --- Order through: Univ. of Toronto Press, 5201 Dufferin St., Downsview, Ontario M3H 5T8. Telephone: (416) 667-7791; fax: (416) 667-7832. [Oct. 1992]
  
  
• Lynn Drapeau, Dictionnaire Montagnais-Français. Presses de l'Université du Québec, 1991. 904 pp. No price indicated. --- A full dictionary (approximately 22,000 entries) of Montagnais/Cree, based on the dialect spoken in the community of Betsiamites, Quebec. All entries are freely occurring words, hence fully inflected, and verbs are cited in the 3rd sg. indicative of the independent order. Words are given both in the standard Montagnais orthography now used in Quebec and in a phonetic transcription of Betsiamites pronunciation. No French-Montagnais index is included. This is a book primarily intended for the Montagnais people, and D. hopes "qu'il servira au développement et à la diffusion de l'écrit dans leur langue et qu'il permettra aux jeunes d'apprécier et de sauvegarder l'héritage lexical de leurs aînés." --- Order from: Presses de l'Université du Québec, C.P. 250, Sillery, Québec G1T 2R1, Canada. [Jan. 1992]
  
  
• Lynn Drapeau, Lexique Montagnais de la Santé: Glossaire Montagnais-Français avec Index Français-Montagnais. Institut culturel et éducatif montagnais (ICEM), 1990. 201 pp. $20 (CDN). --- A lexicon of approximately 1750 terms in Montagnais relating to the domains of health and medicine, intended for medical personnel working with Montagnais speakers in the Province of Québec. Reflecting this practical purpose, all of the Montagnais forms are fully inflected words (most of them equivalent to French phrases or sentences), and no attempt is made to provide a linguistic analysis beyond identifying basic grammatical categories (transitive/intransi-tive, animate/inanimate/dependent). Of the two Montagnais dialects, the Western or Betsiamites dialect is taken as primary; Eastern or Mingan dialect variants are cited only where necessary. Forms in both dialects are given in their standard practical orthographies, supplemented by a broad phonetic transcription of the Betsiamites pronunciation. --- Order from: ICEM, 40 rue François Gros-Louis, Wendake (Village-des-Hurons), Québec G0A 4V0, CANADA. [April 1991]
  
  
• kiskinahamawâkan-âcimowinisa/Student Stories. Second edition, revised and enlarged. Edited, translated and with a glossary by Freda Ahenakew. Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics & Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre, 1989. 91 pp., $12. --- 8 stories written by students in A.'s intermediate Cree course at Saskatoon during the summer of 1982. Each story is given both in the Cree Syllabary and in a roman orthography, the latter printed with an English translation on the facing pages. This expanded edition includes a glossary of all noun and verb stems, pronouns, and indeclinable particles that occur in the texts. --- Order from: Linguistics Dept., Univ. of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2 CANADA. Orders should be prepaid (in either Canadian or US dollars), with checks made payable to "Voices of Rupert's Land Fund." [June 1989]
  
  
• H. C. Wolfart (editor & translator), pisiskiwak kâ-pîkiskwêcik / Talking Animals. Told [in Swampy Cree] by L. Beardy. Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics, Memoir 5, 1988. 90 pp. $12 (CDN). --- A brief collection of texts in Swampy Cree. The texts include animal stories -- with a special emphasis on animal calls --, anecdotes, and an autobiographical sketch. The Cree original (in roman orthography) and the English translation are printed on facing pages. Contractions, false starts and the like have been carefully preserved in the roman printing of the texts, but there is also a normalized version printed in syllabics. Besides a lengthy introduction the volume also contains a Cree-English glossary with an English index. --- Order from: Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics, 532 Fletcher Argue Bldg., Univ. of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2 CANADA. Checks should be made payable to "Voices of Rupert's Land Fund." Prices are in Canadian dollars and include postage. Individuals outside Canada may pay by personal check in US dollars (same dollar amount as Canadian price). [April 1989]
  
  
• Freda Ahenakew, Wâskahikaniwiyiniwâcimowina: Stories of the House People. Univ. of Manitoba Press, 1988. 224 pp. $24.95. --- Plains Cree stories, in Cree with English translations. The volume also contains a Cree-English/English-Cree glossary and an outline of the writing system. --- Order through: Univ. of Toronto Press, 5201 Dufferin St, Downsview, Ontario M3H 5T8, Canada, or 340 Nagel Dr, Cheektowaga, NY 14225. US purchasers must remit in US funds. Add $2 for postage and handling. [March 1988]
  
  
• A Practical Grammar of the Naskapi Indian Language, by Lana Martens & Carol Chase (SIL), is available on request from NAB, Box 188, Eastlake, CO 80614. The grammar, 44 pages in length, was prepared for the Schefferville (Quebec) Band of Naskapis. Photocopies will be made at cost. Call for information: 303-452-9211. [Dec. 1988]
  
  
• A brief description of the practical orthography in use for Atikamekw (Cree of C. Quebec) is available: L'Introduction à l'Orthographie Standardisée Atikamekw (27 pp., $5). Order from: Secrétaire, Education, Atikamekw Sipi, C.P. 848, La Tuque, Québec, Canada G9X 3P6. Make check out to "Atikamekw Sipi" and add $1 for postage. [Sept. 1988]
  
  
• Freda Ahenakew, Cree Language Structures: A Cree Approach. Pemmican Publications Inc., 1987. 170 pp. $14.95 (Can.) --- A fairly thorough classroom-oriented grammar of Cree, written in non-technical language by a native speaker/linguist. The numerous examples are mostly taken from the author's collections of Cree texts, thus avoiding the disjointed and unidiomatic sentences so often found in teaching materials. --- Order from: Pemmican Publications Inc., 411-504 Main St., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 1B8. [Oct. 1987]