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Nahentah! Cree

© Robert Henderson

"Be satisfied!" commands this Cree expression. It's a fine example of a strength noted in many North American aboriginal languages: the ability to express a range of complex concepts with minimal effort. (I have often wondered if English and French-speaking aboriginals' customary pithy economy of words might not be rooted in this aspect of their native tongues.) In this case, the three syllables in question can mean "stop whining," "don't be greedy," "count your blessings," or even "materialism sucks," depending on context. Spoken in every province and territory of Canada except the Maritimes, Cree enjoys robust health and quasi-official status across its range. In fact, it is one of just a handful of North American aboriginal languages that is not endangered.

The Cree are part of the Algonkian tradition, the great umbrella culture that once dominated most of the northeast half of North America. A fundamentally Woodland culture, the Cree also boast substantial presence on the plains and along the icy fringes of the tundra. The sheer scope of Cree territory, coupled with forbidding geography and Canada's historic law-first approach to white settlement, has helped the Cree hang on to their culture and language to a greater degree than other First Nations. Today they are an intrinsic part of Canadian society and politics at both the regional and national levels. The fact that CanTalk, a Canadian translation service, lists Cree as one of its "core" (i.e., bread-and-butter) languages, reflects the political and economic clout that Cree speakers wield, particularly in rural areas.

Cree-language radio and television programmes are a fixture of Canadian media. Readers with livestream capability can savour the (untranslated) barbs that Jasper Friendly Bear and Gracie Heavy Hand, characters on the CBC Radio One comedy Dead Dog Cafe, regularly trade in the course of their otherwise English-language broadcast. The Northern Service transmits AM and shortwave programming in Cree and other native languages to communities across the Great White North. (They are livestreamed as well.) Cree television programmes, most produced for the northern viewer, sometimes play on the national CBC network and local access cable.

Judging from these sources, some Cree traditions are remarkably free of anglicisms. I've listened to Cree media for minutes on end without catching a single English word, a feat that other non-anglophone communities in Canada can only dream of. On the other hand, I once listened to what I believe was a Cree newscast from Winnipeg, and was interested to note that all the large numbers were reported in English. However, it's not uncommon for bilingual communities to adopt features of one language to circumvent wordiness in the other. (For example, I've heard Welsh speakers insert English conjunctions into their speech.) Perhaps a Cree-literate reader can clear up this mystery for me.