Southern East Cree

Southern East Cree is a dialect of the Cree language spoken by the Swampy Cree people in the southernmost part of East Cree territory. It is estimated that about 1,000 people speak Southern East Cree, making it one of the smaller Cree dialects. The Swampy Cree people have always been a nomadic people, moving from place to place to follow the caribou herds. As a result, the Southern East Cree dialect is heavily influence by the languages of the various regions the Swampy Cree have lived in. For example, Southern East Cree has borrowed words from Inuktitut, Ojibwe, and even English. Despite its small size, Southern East Cree is a very important dialect. It is the only dialect of Cree that is spoken in the province of Quebec. Southern East Cree is also the only dialect of Cree that is written down. A grammar and dictionary of Southern East Cree was published in the early 1970s, and there has been ongoing work to develop Cree language resources for Southern East Cree speakers.