This article is about the dialect. For history of the ethnic group which speaks it, see Iron Confederacy.
Plains Cree
ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣnēhiyawēwin
Native to
Canada, United States
Region
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Montana
Native speakers
3,200 (2001–2016)[1]
Language family
Algic
Algonquian
Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi[2]
Cree
Plains Cree
Official status
Official language in
Northwest Territories (Canada), as "Cree"[3]
Language codes
ISO 639-3
crk
Glottolog
plai1258
ELP
Nēhiyawēwin
Linguasphere
62-ADA-aa
Plains Cree is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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Poundmaker (c. 1842–1886), a leader of the Plains Cree and adopted by Crowfoot, chief of one of the Blackfoot[4] Nations
Plains Cree (endonym: ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣnēhiyawēwin; alternatively: ᐸᐢᑳᐧᐃᐧᓃᒧᐃᐧᐣpaskwâwinîmowin "language of the prairie people"[5]) is a dialect of the Algonquian language, Cree, which is the most populous Canadian indigenous language. Plains Cree is considered a dialect of the Cree-Montagnais language or a dialect of the Cree language that is distinct from the Montagnais language. Plains Cree is one of five main dialects of Cree in this second sense, along with Woods Cree, Swampy Cree, Moose Cree, and Atikamekw. Although no single dialect of Cree is favored over another, Plains Cree is the one that is the most widely used. Out of the 116,500 speakers of the Cree language, the Plains Cree dialect is spoken by about 34,000 people primarily in Saskatchewan and Alberta but also in Manitoba and Montana.
The number of people who can speak an Aboriginal language, such as Plains Cree, has increased. For example, in the 2016 census, 263,840 people could speak an Aboriginal language well enough to conduct a conversation. From 1996 to 2016, the total number of people who were able to speak an Aboriginal language went up by 8%. The number of Plains Cree speakers similarly has increased along with population increases over the past 20 years.[6]
^Plains Cree at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (24 May 2022). "Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi". Glottolog. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
^"Official Languages of the Northwest Territories" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 December 2013.
^Cite error: The named reference esask was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Algonquian language, Cree, which is the most populous Canadian indigenous language. PlainsCree is considered a dialect of the Cree-Montagnais language or a...
languages. There, Cree is spoken mainly in Fort Smith and Hay River. Endonyms are: nêhiyawêwin ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ (PlainsCree) nīhithawīwin ᓃᐦᐃᖬᐑᐏᐣ (Woods Cree)...
Montana. Due to the many dialects of the Creelanguage, the people have no modern collective autonym. The PlainsCree and Attikamekw refer to themselves using...
Western Cree syllabics are a variant of Canadian Aboriginal syllabics used to write PlainsCree, Woods Cree and the western dialects of Swampy Cree. It is...
branches of the Cree that moved onto the Great Plains around 1740 (the southern half of this movement eventually became the "PlainsCree" and the northern...
into Cree can be subdivided by dialect of the Creelanguage. The main dialects are PlainsCreelanguage, Woods Creelanguage, Swampy Creelanguage, Moose...
Moose Cree is a dialect of the Creelanguage spoken mainly in Moose Factory, Ontario. As a dialect of the Creelanguage, Moose Cree is classified under...
Members of the Nation are of Cree ancestry and speak the PlainsCree dialect of the Creelanguage group. The band is a signatory of Treaty 6 and is a member...
The Red Pheasant Cree Nation (Cree: ᒥᑭᓯᐘᒌᕽ, mikisiwacîhk) is a PlainsCree First Nations band government in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The...
the Canadian prairies, of Algonquian origin. It is derived from the PlainsCree name for them, Cīpwayān (ᒌᐘᔮᐣ), "pointed skin", from cīpwāw (ᒌᐚᐤ), "to...
variety of PlainsCree (a western dialect of Cree). Articles and adjectives are also of Métis French origin but demonstratives are from PlainsCree. The Michif...
šahíya iyéskabina ('PlainsCree-Speakers', also known as Cree-Assiniboine / Young Dogs, built up from a number of bands of PlainsCree and Assiniboine. They...
-wese- passivizer, -w third-person subject) or (PlainsCree) kāstāhikoyahk "it frightens us". These languages have been extensively studied by Leonard Bloomfield...
of the Creelanguages from Naskapi (spoken in Quebec) to the Rocky Mountains, including Eastern Cree, Woods Cree, Swampy Cree and PlainsCree. They are...
Swampy Cree (variously known as Maskekon, Maskegon and Omaškêkowak, and often anglicized as Omushkego) is a variety of the Algonquian language, Cree. It...
used by Plains Tribes to refer to the Shoshone. They called the Shoshone "snake" referring to the Shoshone sign in Plains Indian Sign Language for the...
'chief') while Káína translates directly to 'many chief people'. The enemy PlainsCree call the Kainai mihkowiyiniw, 'stained with blood', thus 'the bloodthirsty...
any native language north of Mexico. The word Athabaskan is an anglicized version of a Creelanguage name for Lake Athabasca (Moose Cree: Āðapāskāw '[where]...
The Chippewa Cree Tribe (Officially in Cree: ᐅᒋᐻᐤ ᓀᐃᔭᐤ, romanized: ocipwêw nêiyaw) is a federally recognized tribe on the Rocky Boy Reservation in Montana...
its course and acted as a natural boundary between plains Blackfoot of the south and woodland Cree of the north for thousands of years. Archaeologists...
neighbouring PlainsCree call them the Nahkawiyiniw (ᓇᐦᑲᐏᔨᓂᐤ), a word of related etymology. Their form of Anishinaabemowin (Anishinaabe language), known as...
Wičháȟpi Owáŋžila stared down from "waŋkátu" (the above land) forever. The PlainsCree call the star in Nehiyawewin: acâhkos êkâ kâ-âhcît "the star that does...
The Sakāwithiniwak or Woodland Cree, are a Cree people, calling themselves Nîhithaw in their own dialect of the language. They are the largest indigenous...
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