Nouns: Inflectional Distinctions (Southern dialect)

Nouns in East Cree appear in various forms. This page is about
Gender Nouns. Back to the main Nouns page.

Gender

Observation:

ᓂᐧᐋᐸᒫᐅᒡ ᐊᓂᒋ ᐊᐧᐊᔕᒡ᙮		niwaapamaauch anichi awaashach.	‘I see those children.’
ᓂᐧᐋᐸᐦᑌᓐ ᐊᓂᔫᐦ ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐᐦ᙮		niwaapahten aniyuuh maschisinh.	‘I see those shoes.’

In the examples above, ᐊᐧᐊᔕᒡ awashach ‘children’
and ᐊᐧᐊᔕᒡ maschisinh ‘shoes’ do not have the
same plural endings: -ach and -h. Notice
also that different verb forms are used.

Nouns in East Cree fall into two classes: ANIMATE (children) and INANIMATE
(shoe).

Noun Animate (na)

ᐯᔭᒄ ᐊᐧᐋᔥ		peyakw awaash	‘one child’
ᓃᔓ ᐊᐧᐋᔕᒡ		niishu awaashach	‘two children’

(Noun Inanimate (ni)

ᐯᔭᒄ ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐ		peyakw maschisin	‘one shoe’
ᓃᔓ ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐᐦ		niishu maschisinh	‘two shoes’

The plural ending -ach is used with the animate stem
ᐊᐧᐊᔥ awaash and the plural ending -h
is used with the inanimate stem ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐ maschisin.

Animate nouns are for humans, animals, and in general all living creatures,
including trees and some plants. Also included are some personal belongings
such as pants and sleds.

(animate)

ᐸᐃᒌᔅ		paichiis	‘pair of pants’
ᐸᐃᒌᓴᒡ		paichiisach	‘pair(s) of pants’
ᒥᔥᑎᒄ		mishtikw	‘tree’
ᒥᐦᑎᑯᒡ		mishtikuch	‘tree(s)’
ᐅᑖᐹᓈᔅᒄ		utaapaanaaskw	‘sled’
ᐅᑖᐹᓈᔅᑯᒡ		utaapaanaaskuch	‘sled(s)’

However, unless you are a fluent speaker, you can never know for sure if something
is going to be animate or inanimate in the language. This is why we
say that GENDER is a grammatical distinction. It is a distinction made
in the language, not necessarily always in the outside world.

Animate and inanimate nouns are used with different verbs:

ᓂᐧᐋᐸᒫᐤ ᐊᐧᐋᔥ		niwaapamaau awaash	(animate)	‘ I see a child’
ᓂᐧᐋᐸᐦᑌᓐ ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐ		niwaapahten maschisin	(inanimate)	‘ I see a shoe’

Animate and inanimate nouns also have their own sets of demonstratives:

ᐊᓂᒌ ᐊᐧᐋᔕᒡ		anichii awaashach	(animate plural)	‘those children’
ᐊᓂᔫᐦ ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐᐦ		aniyuuh maschisinh	(inanimate plural)	‘those shoes’

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