Canadian census data does not identify specific dialects of Cree (all estimates now current rely on extrapolations from specific studies), and currently, no accurate census of any Algonquian language exists.
[4] The grammar and the examples used on this page are taken from Ellis's Second Edition (1983) of Spoken Cree.
A twelfth phoneme /l/ is not native but has entered the language via loanwords and influence from Moose Cree.
According to Ellis, however, stops often undergo voicing intervocalically when preceded by a stressed long vowel or nasal.
Similarly, word-final vowels are often followed by moderate aspiration, which does not mark any change in meaning.
In words such as ocawāšimiša, the [c] is actually an underlying /t/, assimilated by preparation for the articulation of the two [š].
Vowels in Cree can experience a great deal of variation but remain one phoneme.
Short /a/ has the widest variation, from [æ] to [ʌ] and [ɛ] as well, when it proceeds the approximant [j].
Nouns in Swampy Cree have both free and bound stems, the latter being used in combination with other morphemes.
Swampy Cree does not have gender in the Indo-European sense (masculine, feminine, and neuter).
They include relatives, body parts, and things that are regarded in Algonquian tradition as extremely personal items, such as hunting bags.
Both transitive and intransitive verbs in Swampy Cree change their endings (and occasionally even their stems) depending on animacy.
Also, Swampy Cree has suffixes for direct action as opposed to inverse.
In casual speech, it is often contracted with the person marker (e.g., nika- becomes n'ka-).
The prefix ati- indicates gradual onset (as opposed to sudden beginning).
These verbs are often the equivalent of the English construction that begins with the empty subject "it" (e.g., it is raining, it is snowing, it is day, it is poison, etc.
Ellis groups them with Type 2 transitive inanimate verbs because they also function like transitive inanimate verbs while taking animate intransitive endings (e.g., wāpahtam sīpīliw "he sees the river").
Preverbal particles can be added to already-independent verbs in order to add meaning.
Some particles can occur only as preverbal particles, others can occur only as independent words, and still others are preverbal with some verbs and independent with others: Verbs in their conjunct form are the equivalent of English dependent clauses.
Relative constructions are expressed by the completive aspect marker ka- with the verb in the Conjunct Order.
The Changed Conjunct alters the vowels of the first syllable of a verb as follows: It can be used to express the difference between Present General and Present-Time questions.
It can also be used in Vivid Narrative for effect, but it sounds outdated to modern-day speakers.
The vocative case remains as a form distinct from the nominative only for a few words, such as nōhtā ("(my) father").
The structure of the sentence then reads: question word - predicate (in conjunct form).
Because verbs in their conjunct form do not use prefixes but express the subject as part of the suffix, the form of the sentence can be described as Question word - Verb - (Object) - Subject (with VOS all one word).
Equational sentences often require no verb, but the verbalizer -iw, with the stem vowel -i (animate) or -a (inanimate) and the inflectional -w (animate) or -n (inanimate), can be added to nouns in order to express "He/she/it is a something" or "He/she/it displays the characteristics of a something".
[8] Most of these were reprinted by the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) in London: the Book of Psalms (David Oo Nikumoona),[9] the Gospel of Mark (Oo Meyo Achimoowin St Mark) and the Gospel of John (Oo Meyo Achimoowin St John) were published in 1876.
[10] Author David Robertson published a Swampy Cree version of his book, When We Were Alone.
[11] He also used Swampy Cree and inserted a glossary of the language in his book, The Barren Grounds, which is part of The Misewa Series.
[12] Author and poet jaye simpson writes in both English and Swampy Cree.