Talk:ᓃᔥᑕᒻᐹᔅᑌᒋᓂᑲᓐ

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Contents 1 standard dialect? 2 Dialect 3 About the Cree Wikipedia..... 4 Character Visibility 5 Temporary sysop 6 Encyclopedia update 7 Logo 8 ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ or ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ? 9 Help! 10 Standard Roman Orthography 11 Polish Wikipedia

[edit] standard dialect?

Why not attempt writing articles in some form ofa standardize dialect (an academic/educational Cree) based on a middle ground, not simply one dialect or another. For example, y-dialect speakers east of james bay have had access only to l-dialect bibles and religious materials for over 100 years until they finally translated one in the local dialect. However, an l-dialect is very easy to convert into a y, n, th, or r dialect, but the reverse is not true for a y or n dialect. Elders today still use the l-dialect material without a problem. Also, k- over palatalized ch- should be preferred since all cases of palatalization are predictable. Any idiosyncrasies found only in one dialect should be avoided, such as the vowel /e/ having changed to /aa/ in northern east cree and to /ii/ in woods cree. This would make the wikipedia articles much easier to read for all dialects. So to recap,

we should use the letter l, r, of th over y or n (so that all the dialects can easily replace the letter) we should use the k over palatalized -ch- since the palatized ch is always predictable and use the vowel e as opposed to "aa" or "ii"

For those who do not have any knowledge of where the l, k, an e go, we could agree to edit the pages to make them more comprehensible. Also, I suggested that we call the whole language Nehirawewin or Nehilawewin (which is the Historical form of the word (see sources from the 1600 hundreds) and also uses the r in line with the above ideas.

I will also start contributing using the above rules in the near futur (I didnt even know this wikipidiya existed!).

Kevin B. October 25, 2009

[edit] Dialect

This wikipedia is labelled as Nehiyawewin, the Plains or 'Y' dialect. As you move further east, the Cree dialects diverge a fair amount, though are still generally intelligible. However, if we start including Anishnabe or other Algonkian languages, we get further and further away from actual Nehiyawewin.

I'm suggesting we try to stick with Nehiyawewin in the main, either in RSO or in syllabics. Since it probably isn't feasible to have a separate wikipedia for every dialect of Cree (yet), then having articles in those other dialects would be fine...but what if we have a specific section for those articles? A section just for the TH, N etc dialects? Part of the benefit of developing this wikipedia is to provide language resources to those who are trying to gain more fluency. If we waffle between dialects we might harm more than we help.

I'm going to work on updating the main page to reflect a Nehiyawewin focus, and I'll reorganise the existing articles in other dialects so they can still be accessed. If later on, this is challenged, I have no problem with a reversion, but it's a discussion that needs more than one person to engage in :D Yiwahikanak 17:28, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] About the Cree Wikipedia.....

I think we should just close this down. No one ever contributes anything, and no one uses it.--68.170.86.111 01:23, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

There isn't any precedent of Wikimedia closing down a Wikipedia written in a legitimate natural language – the only ones closed so far are for constructed languages, namely Toki Pona and Klingon, and for languages that didn't turn out to be languages, such as Moldovan. There are language editions that have even fewer legitimate articles than this one does: see the complete list of Wikipedias. – Minh Nguyễn / Nguyễn Xuân Minh 20:31, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Well this wiki has been vandalized again and again something either needs to be done to prevent this or, as much as i hate to say this, this version of wikipedia should be shut down. Ryguy17 23:39, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I think maybe they should temporarily close this one down, and if they can get a group of people that actually speaks the language and another one, translate some articles and open it up again. It's the only way I can think of. The question is, is this version of wikipedia actually needed? 83.70.51.39 15:44, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

It really seems wrong to shut down an encyclopedia that's in a natural lanaguage. It's true that many languages with relatively few native speakers will have trouble getting a large encyclopedia written, but that shouldn't be reason to close it down. What's the cost to Wikipedia of keeping these pages here? Pennies? And perhaps in a few years someone will come and expand. Given the aggressive attempts to destroy indigenous languages in almost every country in the Americas, it doesn't seem to be asking to much for Wikipedia to keep this here. 68.252.162.9 23:11, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Althouĝ the main page has a link to a supposed discussion on closing the wiki at WikiMedia, it leads nowhere. I oppose closing the Cree Wikipedia but do not think it useful to raise the issue there if no formal proposal to close is on the table. --Dzidzelalic 16:26, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Bonjour, Goodday! I just discover this canadian native Wikipedia, and let me tell you something, I think it's great to have you around here! I will encourage you as much as I can. I don't read/write/speak Cree, I'm just a simple frenchy boy from Québec who speak a little english, but I'll give a hand if you guys need it. I encourage your initiative thumbs up. Hopefully, this wiki should expand a lot.

I have 2 questions. First, do you know if there's another wiki in other natives language from Canada? Second, how would you spell "Antaya" in Cree? Thanks in advance and long life to you guys! --Antaya 07:15, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

One more thing, for interwiki on articles, the spelling of Cree appears : Nēhiyawēwin / ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ ... I think you guys should choose only ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ first it's shorter, doesn't write on 2 lines, and second the respect of your native's caracters. I'm about to interwiki everything I understand on your own wikipedia! Long life --Antaya 07:34, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Character Visibility

Some characters only show up as vertical rectangles. 69.151.144.43 10:53, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

That means that the computer you're using doesn't have a font that supports the Cree alphabet. See [1] for a fonts that you can install for free. – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 04:05, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Temporary sysop

I have been given temporary admin powers to delete the articles that had no useful content. If this project gets vandalised again, a trusted user can request temporary sysophood at m:Requests for permission. I will now be asking for a de-admin, because I won't be around to check things anyways. - Andre Engels 11:09, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Encyclopedia update

I have tried to update this encyclopedia and give it some allure. I have noticed that for some reason when linking these wikipedia pages with pages in other languages that I have been accused of being a vandal more than once :) I suppose people don't like being linked with this wikipedia, although I admit the articles are very small. I don't have time to write articles but I hope to awaken interest in what could be a vibrant Wikipidiya! ᓀᐦᐊᓂᒪᐤ 07:57, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Wow, I'm really happy to see that you and Nanamasu have woken this Wikipedia up! I'm surprised that others have called you a vandal for adding interwiki links, but an interwiki bot can add them for you automatically, as long as you place a link to the English version in the Cree version. This Wikipedia used to see a lot of real vandalism, so I hope that those vandals won't attack here as much, now that things look a little more developed. Unfortunately, since only you and Nanamasu seem to be actively contributing to this site, I think it'll take a while before others come and expand the articles you've written, so it'd be great if you could expand these articles sometime to have at least two or three sentences.

By the way, I think some of the articles listed under the ᐧᐁᒥᔥᑎᑯᔒᐅᔥᑌᐤ box on the Main Page would make for a good textbook on Cree at the English Wikibooks.

 – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 21:26, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Actually, Nanamasu and ᓀᐦᐊᓂᒪᐤ are one and the same. When I first made my user name as Nanamasu I did not know we could write our user name in syllabics. Although I have enough "classroom" knowledge of Cree to do the titles for articles (which are in Québec Bay James dialect by the way) I don't feel like I can write much more. I did try to write a little for the ᒨᔅ aritcle but it mostly just says what the moose eat, and says that the moose is a large wild animal. ᓀᐦᐊᓂᒪᐤ 05:55, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

That's fine. I basically did the same with the Vietnamese Wikipedia before others came along and turned the project into what it is today. As long as the articles doesn't look like someone pulled out a Cree dictionary and entered in every entry in the book verbatim, there shouldn't be any problem. :^) – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 09:10, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Ok. I don't know how much time i can devote to this but i thought at least to push it over 100 articles would be good. Don't worry, the info comes from a half dozen sources and basically the articles so far are the word in various dialects of Cree and Innu-aimun (which i find out by checking various separate sources, there is no source i know of with all this info) and then the translation of the word in english, french and ojibwe the second most spoken algonquian language (ojibwe info from yet other sources) and then whether the it is animate or inanimate (again different sources must be checked cause some words have different genders in different communities). ᓀᐦᐊᓂᒪᐤ 04:11, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Logo

This Wikipedia still uses the English version of the logo. Once we come up with a translation for "Wikipedia" and "The Free Encyclopedia", we can ask for a translation of the logo. I suppose ᐧᐃᑭᐱᑎᔭ means Wikipedia, right? – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 21:34, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Ya, ᐧᐃᑭᐱᑎᔭ is wikipidiya and the title << ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐧᐁᒧᐧᐃᓐ ᐧᐃᑭᐱᑎᔭ ᐄᔨᔫᔥᑌᐤ >> can translate as "Cree language wikipidiya in Cree" with "Cree language" in a western dialect and "in Cree" in an eastern (Quebec James Bay) dialect. Kind of like what canadian companies do with labels with english on one side and french on the other and company name in the middle. "Uikuepitiu innushteu" is in Innu-aimun which is one of the easternmost Cree languages. ᓀᐦᐊᓂᒪᐤ 06:08, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, we'd need a translation for "The Free Encyclopedia", for consistency's sake. Translating "free" is usually the hard part, since we're talking about free to use, not free of charge (which just happens to describe Wikipedia too). "Encyclopedia" might be hard to translate too, for that matter, but several Wikipedias have already translated it to mean something like "knowledge book". Hope that helps. – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 09:12, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

I suggest changing the Western term for Cree to ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᒧᐏᐣ with the dots after the base syllabic and the western final ᐣ instead of ᓐ. Languagegeek 06:54, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Suggestions followed. Logo implemented. Now I recommend if there are any active Cree Wikipedians hanging around they should get to translating the interface. Best of luck adding a million articles, cheers, Nesnad 00:01, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

[edit] ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ or ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ?

When I look at the main-main page of wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org, I notice that the Cree language is labelled "Nēhiyaw / ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ". According to several Plains Cree dictionaries, Nēhiyaw / ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ means "a Cree person". The term for the language is Nēhiyawēwin / ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ. The dictionaries are: Wolfart & Ahenakew’s "The Student’s Dictionary of Literary Plains Cree” and LeClaire & Cardinal’s “Alberta Elders’ Cree Dictionary”. Can we change the language label to Nēhiyawēwin / ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ? Also, I wonder what the policy is for languages with no officially sanctioned dialect. Wikipedia’s using the Plains Cree name, but there are quite a few variants: ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᒧᐏᐣ, ᓀᐦᐃᖬᐍᐏᐣ, ᐃᓂᓃᒧᐏᐣ, ᐃᓂᓂᐎ ᐃᔑᑭᔗᐎᐣ, ᐃᓕᓖᒧᐎᓐ, ᐄᔨᔫ ᐊᔨᒨᓐ, ᐄᓅ ᐊᔨᒨᓐ. Languagegeek 06:51, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

I'm afraid this is partly my fault. I believe the label was originally "Nehiyaw", which I naïvely suggested should be rendered with proper diacritics and in the syllabary as "Nēhiyaw / ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ". I didn't think to actually use the correct term. (D'oh!) The proper place to report it is on Wikimedia's Bugzilla, and specifically at Bug 5452. I would do it myself now, but Bugzilla is currently down due to some technical problem. —ᓰᑯᓇᐅᐟ 23:06, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

OK, done. The language title is now fixed. —ᓰᑯᓇᐅᐟ 22:55, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

With respect to which dialect to use, for the article texts it doesn't matter so long as the dialects are mutually intelligible. (If they're not, then separate wikis are warranted.) For the user interface texts (including the logo), I don't know if there's a policy, but the best place to find out if there is one is to ask on Meta. I expect the most sensible thing to do is to choose the dialect which has the largest number of speakers, or the greatest amount of literature. —ᓰᑯᓇᐅᐟ 23:13, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

About the idea of a standard dialect, see the topic at the top of this page. It is important that dialects at the far ends of the continuum arent used since these are unintelligible to people at the other of end of the dialect continuum. I suggest above that a medium be used, a dialect similar to Moose Cree of Atikamekw for purposes of phonology, but supplanted with ones own vocabulary. This should be quite interesting in itself since it would encourage us all to learn vocabulary from various dialects. --Kuihkun 14:10, 26 October 2009 (UTC)kuihkun

[edit] Help!

I am interested in watching the cree language, but what I can only see are some squares.. I have a Windows XP PC, could somebody help me telling me how can I watch the letters? Thanks, --213.96.130.227 03:52, 26 February 2008 (UTC) The answers could be here: Epiovesan - (write)

[edit] Standard Roman Orthography

Ideally, contributors would be using both syllabics and standard roman orthography, but I know for myself, I don't yet have a grasp of the syllabics, so I'm going to be sticking with the SRO for now. I also think we need to be using both in any case, because depending on where you live, syllabics may or may not be used. I will be making contributions in the Y dialect, and using Albertan macrons (âîô) as well as 'h' joiners instead of hyphens. I realise that there is still no agreement on a standard method of writing Cree in SRO, but I think it's better to get some more content in here than wait:)Yiwahikanak 17:06, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Polish Wikipedia

From your main page you can not go to polish wikipedia it's pl.wikipedia.org . It's forth Wikipedia in the whole world, why it;s not linking with this??? Good luck for your Wikipedia. Szymon Żywicki 15:53, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Wszystko w porządku ?… --Budelberger 00:35, 4 July 2008 (UTC). ()

Now, yes. Thanks --Szymon Żywicki 07:56, 4 July 2008 (UTC)