Nouns: Inflectional Distinctions (Northern dialect)

Nouns in East Cree appear in various forms. This page is about Simulative nouns.

Simulative

Observation:

ᓈᐹᐦᒡ Click here to hear this word naapaahch ‘like a man’
ᐊᑎᐦᑯᐦᒡ Click here to hear this word atihkuhch ‘like a caribou’

To say that something or someone is like something or someone, the suffix -hch can be sometimes added to a noun. This suffix looks like the locative suffix but its meaning is different. Compare:

ᐊᑎᐦᑯᐦᒡ ᑖᐦᑎᐴ᙮ Click here to hear this word atihkuhch taahtipuu (LOCATIVE) ‘She sits on the caribou.’
ᐧᒫᐦᒡ ᐊᑎᐦᑯᐦᒡ ᐃᓯᓈᑯᓲ᙮ mwaahch atihkuhch isinaakusuu. (SIMULATIVE) ‘She looks like a caribou.’
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