Cree Literacy Network

Alternating between dialects is not always straightforward. Last week, we published a list of examples of regular and irregular dialect changes. This meme captures yet another example of the kinds of dialect variation that can occur within a single sentence:

• The word for “wind” changes from yôtin to thôtin to nôtin
• kiyâm remains unchanged
• The word for “whispers” also varies:
  • kimwêw (y-dialect),
  • kîmôcayamiw (th-dialect),
  • kîmôci-ayamiw (n-dialect), which is really the form as in th-dialect, but with less contraction

Photo credit: Solomon Ratt. n-dialect information, Cameron Adams.

(The header for this post referred initially to the moon, but is now corrected; the “permalink” preserves the error. In my defense, the wind was whispering: it was hard to hear!)