Essays & Poems

Unless indicated otherwise, the following essays and poems are written by the author of this blog.

ᐁ ᐯᒋ ᐱᒥᔥᑳᔮᐦᒡ is a poem by Louis Bordeleau translated at his request into Cree by the author of this blog. It was originally written in French and titled Voyage dans le temps.

ᐴᑑ ᑳ ᒌ ᐃᔑᓂᐦᑳᑖᑲᓂᐎᑦ ᓈᐯᔑᔥ is a comical anecdote my mother tells of her late father. It is written in southern East Cree and was published on August 25, 2016.

ᓂᑖᓂᔅ ᐁ ᐐᒋ ᓇᑕᐎᐦᔦᐌᒥᑦ is a reminiscence about an autumn day spent grouse hunting with my daughter. It is written in southern East Cree and was published on December 4, 2014. An earlier version in Moose Cree (published on July 24, 2014) is available here.

A Cree Knock-knock Joke is a short anecdote about code-switching and childish humour. It was published on March 23, 2018.

Cree Folk Etymologies explores a few false word origins in four different Cree dialects. It was published on March 29, 2020.

Cree Goodbyes is a short review of dialectal and historical sources for the Old Cree salutation niyâ. It was published July 7, 2022.

Cree Months is a comparison of the names of the months from six different Cree dialects. It was published here on June 25, 2020.

Cree Names of French or English Origin is a complementary section to Iyiniw Names for Your Baby. It was published on February 8, 2021.

Cree Notions of Manhood is a short anecdote concerning the birth of children and traditional notions of manhood. It was told to me by George Quachegan of Moose Factory and was published on February 25, 2016.

Geraldine Govender: Heritage Award for Excellence is a short post commemorating the reception of a Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for the publication of the Moose Cree dictionary. It was published on February 25, 2018.

Homesick is a letter written by an unnamed woman from Winisk while admitted to the Moose Factory hospital in the summer of 1935. It was written for Truman Michelson during his linguistics fieldwork in that community. Its presentation here is a faithful transcription of the original wording, but edits to make the text clearer include the addition of vowel lengths, pre-aspirates, and punctuation.

Iyiniw Names for Your Baby is a revised version of a book published in 2010 by the author of this blog. It was published on March 28, 2021.

The Jimiken Report is an essay dedicated to the late Lawrence Jimiken and his contributions to the Cree Nation. It was published on July 7, 2015.

Kôhkom vs Nôhkom is an linguistic discussion of the vocative case in Cree. It was published on January 4, 2018.

Lost in Translation: Prostate Exams is a comical anecdote told to me by George Quachegan of Moose Factory. It was published on November 13, 2016.

Mišihyew is a post about the turkey, a bird indigenous to the Americas, and its presence in Cree country. It was published on October 12, 2020.

Moose Factory Cree: In Memory of Daisy Turner is an essay dedicated to the late Daisy Turner and her contributions to our language. It was published on December 23, 2018.

Namekos is a short essay on the use of Cree in a scientific binomial. It was published on November 26, 2017.

Nôhtâwînân is a history of the Our Father‘s translation into Cree. It was published on May 25, 2015.

An Oral History with a Written Past is an essay about historical documents written in the Cree language. It was published on January 12, 2016.

Otters and Clouds is a post about Cree grammar and polysynthesis. It was published on May 23, 2018.

Polysynthesis & the Longest Cree Word Ever is an exercise in parsing a word reputed to be the longest in the Cree dialect spoken along the eastern coast of James Bay. It was published on March 8, 2018.

Rapping in Cree is a short essay about a rap performed in Cree by Gary Jolly from Nemaska. I took it upon myself to transcribe the rap as well, for the benefit of the reader. This essay was published on April 9, 2016.

Strengthening our Language & Culture Through Literacy is the keynote address presented by Dr. Kevin Brousseau at the Cree School Board’s Annual General Assembly on February 26, 2020.

Syllabics and the Unicode Consortium is an essay about errors in the syllabic typefaces based on the Unicode Standard that have been rectified by the Unicode Consortium. It was published on May 27, 2016.

The Stooping Tree is a short poem written in Moose Cree and published here on May 6, 2018.

Thorny Translations is an essay on the difficulties occasionally encountered when translating English or French signage into Cree. It was published on May 2, 2020.

Towards a Standard Orthography (Part 1) is an introduction to the issues facing the development of a Cree orthography. It was published on February 27, 2021.

Towards a Standard Orthography (Part 2) explores the history of the various orthographies used across Cree country. It was published on March 5, 2021.

Typing in Cree is an essay about errors in more commonly used syllabic typefaces commonly used such as BJ Cree and Euphemia. It was published on March 26, 2020.

Waswanipi is an essay on the etymology of Waswanipi, the name of a Cree community in Quebec. It was originally published on October 13, 2014 on another blog. Save for a few typographical modifications, the post is presented here in its original form.

What Cheers? is an essay about Cree salutations. It was published on October 27, 2018.

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