tansi ninôtemik,
Before European contact, 300 to 500 Indigenous languages were spoken across the land now known as Canada and the United States.[1] More than 200 of these languages are still spoken.[2] The survival of Indigenous languages illustrates the resilience of Indigenous peoples and cultures in Canada. Indigenous peoples have explained that colonial authorities perpetuated a cultural genocide by targetting Indigenous languages and Oral Tradition.[3] Indigenous languages are not simply becoming lost, they were attacked in a series of colonial calculations.
Marilyn Dumont, a Métis poet with Cree heritage, wrote about English and Cree in her poem entitled “The Devil’s Language.” [4] In her poem, she writes about the Cree language, which had been heavily stigmatized:
near the sound of horses and wind
where you sat on her knee in a canvas tent
and she fed you bannock and tea
and syllables
that echo in your mind now, now
that you can't make the sound
of that voice that rocks you and sings you to sleep
in the devil's language [5]
The contrast between the beauty of the Cree language and the language’s label as the devil’s language (from the colonizer’s perspective) exposes the cultural violence in language destruction. Other Métis people write about learning Cree as a way to heal from the evil that has been inflicted upon Indigenous peoples. [6] Scholars have identified language revitalization as essential to decolonization. [7] Learning Indigenous languages then, is activism in and of itself; it is healing from colonial trauma, resisting oppression, and so much more. [8]
While resources can be more difficult to access for Indigenous languages (there is no teacher for Cree through the online classes platform, italki, for example), the gaps in resources present opportunities to creatively engage with the language and empower others through community-building. Here are five Cree resources to help anyone begin their language-learning journey if they are interested in learning Cree:
Funny Little Stories, from the First Nations Language Readers. This short book features stories by Cree-speaking instructors, students, and Elders. Some of the stories are written in the Cree syllabics.
Beginning Cree and Let’s Keep Speaking Cree are Cree textbooks with workbook exercises written by Solomon Ratt, a Cree speaker and professor.
100 Days of Cree is a Cree vocabulary book with words grouped thematically. The author is Neal McLeod with Arok Wolvengrey.
Itwêwina: Plains Cree Dictionary is an online Cree dictionary with audio for many words.
Wapos Bay is an animated series in Cree about children exploring their Cree community in Saskatchewan. There are various avenues for accessing the show, one being through the University of Alberta library.
We hope this short blog post empowers you to continue learning Indigenous languages, begin learning an Indigenous language, or think about language revitalization in new ways.
ekosi.
The ReconciliACTION Team
Citations
[1] Teresa L. McCarty, Mary Eunice Romero, & Ofelia Zepeda, “Reclaiming the Gift: Indigenous Youth Counter-Narratives on Native Language Loss and Revitalization,” (2006) 30:1 American Indian Quarterly 28 at 29.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Judy M. Iseke-Barnes, “Politics and Power of Languages: Indigenous Resistance to Colonizing Experiences of Language Dominance,” (2004) 39:1 Journal of Thought 45 at 51-52.
[4] Ibid at 52.
[5] Ibid at 53.
[6] Ibid at 53-54.
[7] Ibid at 58-59.
[8] Ibid at 74-75.
Comments