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On the Animate Inanimate Distinction in Cree.

1979; Volume: 21; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

1944-6527

Brian D. Joseph,

Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

Like other Algonkian languages, Cree has a grammatical distinction, relevant for the selection of nominal and verbal inflectional endings, between two classes of nouns, generally referred to as animate and inanimate, respectively. This distinction overlaps in part with the distinction drawn in a Western language like English, for the purposes of pronoun selection for example, between nouns representing living objects versus those representing nonliving ones. The Cree distinction, however, does not correspond point for point with the English one while there are grammatically animate nouns in Cree which correspond exactly to 'living' nouns in English, e.g. Cree nipew = Eng. man, and inanimate Cree nouns which correspond exactly to English 'nonliving' nouns, e. g. Cree masinahikan = Eng. book, there are also many Cree nouns which pattern like nipew and hence are to be classed as grammatically animate but which represent objects that would be considered (biologically and grammatically) nonliving by Western standards, e. g. ospwdkan pipe, mihkwan spoon, apoy paddle, and others. The fact that the Cree animate-inanimate gender distinction does not correlate exactly with living versus nonliving does not mean, however, that the distinction between living and nonliving entities is not reflected in Cree at all. In fact, this latter distinction is necessary for correct generalizations regarding the distribution of two nominal suffixes in the language.1 Thus the distinction between living and nonliving cuts across the animate-inanimate distinction relevant for other aspects of nominal inflection. The first suffix of interest here is -ipan, which according to Wolfart (1973: 31) means former or absent and 'indicates that the denotatum of the noun no longer exists', e. g. kisEyiniw old man . kisayintpan old man no longer alive, nimos6m my grandfather N nimos6mipan my late grandfather. As these examples indicate, -ipan can be added to a variety of grammatically animate nouns (old man and grandfather are animate in Cree); moreover, for many speakers, -ipan cannot be used with grammatically inanimate nouns, e. g. *ntktpan my former home. The qualification 'for many speakers' is needed because although Wolfart (1973:31) confirms the facts reported here, in that speakers he consulted rejected -ipan added to inanimate nouns, nonetheless he notes that Lacombe (1874:18-19) 'gives an entire inanimate paradigm without even mentioning the problem'; thus this aspect of the use of -ipan may be subject to some dialectal or even diachronic variability.