Language Change, Variation, and Universals

This volume is about how human languages get to be the way they are, why they are different from one another in some ways and not others, and why they change in the ways that they do. Given that language is a universal creation of the human mind, the puzzle is why there are different languages at all, why we don’t all speak the same language. And while there is considerable variation, there are ways in which grammars show consistent patterns. The solution to these puzzles, the author proposes, is a constructional one. Grammars consist of constructions that carry out the function of expressing universal conceptual structure. While there are in principle many different ways of accomplishing this task, the constructions that languages actually use are under pressure to reduce complexity. The result is that there is constructional change in the direction of less complexity, and grammatical patterns emerge that reflect conceptual universals. The volume consists of three parts. Part I establishes the theoretical foundations: situating universals in conceptual structure, formally defining constructions, and characterizing constructional complexity. Part II explores variation in argument structure, grammatical functions, and A′ constructions, drawing on data from a variety of languages, including English and Plains Cree. Part III looks at constructional change, focusing primarily on English and German. The study ends with some observations and speculations on parameter theory, analogy, the origins of typological patterns, and Greenbergian ‘universals’.

Nihkitimahkinawow ekwa Nihkitimahkisin: Pity and Compassion in Cree Law

In Nêhiyawêwin (Plains Cree language), kitimahkinawaw translates as “to takepity on someone”. Kitimahkinawaw describes the quality of a person’s actions when theyshow kindness, pity, and compassion towards others. Cree law includes a responsibilityto treat others with kitimahkinawaw, which encompasses a duty to care for the elderly,poor, homeless, and sick. Further, it requires us to treat people who are harmful withfairness and compassion. The purpose of kitimahkinawaw is to mitigate suffering,especially the struggles experienced by marginalized people. Kitimahkisin means “apitiful person”. Kitimahkisin includes a recognition that we are dependent uponpakwataskamik (the land), Kisemanito (Creator), and each other for our sustenance.Each person has a gift and we have a responsibility to use these gifts to benefit society,for we are all kitimahkisin. The author argues that kitimahkinawaw and kitimahkisin arelegal principles within the Cree legal order which guide relationships between the manyanimate beings within Cree epistemology. The author draws upon âtayôhkêwin (stories),Nêhiyawêwin, and Indigenous legal theory to illustrate the complexities and nuanceswithin the principles of kitimahkinawow and kitimahkisin. Kitimahkinawow andkitimahkisin are living laws which obtain meaning through the practice of caring for thepoor and marginalized.

Miskâsowin—Returning to the Body, Remembering What Keeps Us Alive

The nêhiyawêwin (Plains Cree language) Cree word, miskâsowin, relates to the sacred teachings of Treaty Elders of Saskatchewan as a concept pertaining to wellness of “finding one’s sense of belonging”—a process integral in the aftermath of colonial disruption. Métis educator and performance artist Moe Clark offers an approach to healing and well-being, which is imparted through movement, flux and through musical and performance-based engagement. Moe works with tools of embodiment in performance and circle work contexts, including song creation, collaborative performance, participatory youth expression and land-based projects as healing art. She shares her process for re-animating these relationships to land, human kin, and other-than-human kin through breath-work, creative practice and relationality as part of a path to wholeness. The authors document Moe’s approach to supporting the identity, growth, healing and transformation of others.

Computational Analysis versus Human Intuition: A Critical Comparison of Vector Semantics with Manual Semantic Classification in the Context of Plains Cree

A persistent challenge in the creation of semantically classified dictionaries and lexical resources is the lengthy and expensive process of manual semantic classification, a hindrance which can make adequate semantic resources unattainable for under-resourced language communities. We explore here an alternative to manual classification using a vector semantic method, which, although not yet at the level of human sophistication, can provide usable first-pass semantic classifications in a fraction of the time. As a case example, we use a dictionary in Plains Cree (ISO: crk, Algonquian, Western Canada and United States)

Plains Cree animacy–inanimacy hierarchy

Like all Algonquian languages, Cree distributes its stock of nouns over two classes: animate and inanimate. While this distinction is firmly based on different agreement rules, and is to a large extent (but not completely) backed up by semantic differences, Cree nouns can also be put on a 4-level hierarchy scale, depending on their morphological valence with regard to whether or not they allow markers for the plural, obviative, vocative/honorific, absentative or which one of the two types of locatives. In addition, in a few recorded cases an inanimate noun may be reclassified, or “promoted”, as an animate noun, but rarely vice versa. Although this paper concentrates on Plains Cree, and examples are from that dialect unless otherwise noted, some observations are also made on (in)animacy in East Cree and in a wider Algonquian context.

A Research Journey with Plains Cree Elders Regarding Their Image of the Child

To develop culturally appropriate education for Indigenous children in Canada, knowledge of childhood in Indigenous contexts is needed. This article focuses on the author’s learning journey during a community-based participatory research project regarding two Plains Cree Elders’ images, or understandings, of the child. To situate the study, the author revisits her research with Elders while exploring some epistemological, ontological,and axiological considerations of Indigenous research and then shares how she employed cultural protocols and forged relationships. Next, the author shares and reflects on the Elders’ understandings of childhood and the ways in which she cared for the Elders’ knowledge.