Moose Cree First Nation has released the fourth edition of its community-developed dictionary.
This latest edition marks more than a decade of work to help revitalize the unique Moose Cree “L” dialect — a language now spoken fluently almost exclusively by elders.
The project, which began in 2012, has grown into a 34,000-word dictionary available both in print and online. The newest edition adds roughly 10,000 new entries, updated grammatical tables, additional sample phrases, and continues to be funded entirely by Moose Cree First Nation.
“We’re pretty proud of the fact that this initiative is fully funded by Moose Cree, with no outside funding,” said executive director Mark Butterfly. “We’re trying to re-establish our Cree language.”
Butterfly, who grew up speaking Cree on the land, said many community members lost the language over the generations as English became dominant in homes and in school.
“I can understand almost 90 per cent of Cree, but I can speak maybe 35 to 40 per cent,” he said.
Despite the decline in fluent speakers, he said interest among young people is growing. Community-led language circles often fill quickly, with residents gathering weekly on their own time to practice.
Built from scratch
Director of language and cultural programs Geraldine Govender has led the dictionary project since its inception. Speaking from Kapuskasing, where she had travelled for the northern book launch, she said the new edition reflects years of steady expansion.
“We started our dictionary project in 2012 with about 6,000 words,” Govender said. “Each edition grew from there.”
Govender was hired by Moose Cree in 2006 — even before funding existed — to begin building a language department. Over the years, she said she was unable to secure government support for core operations, leaving the community to finance salaries, editing, design, printing, and now digital development.
“That’s why Moose Cree continued to pay for the costs,” she said. “The leadership felt this was really important.”
The Moose Cree dialect is one of six major Cree dialects and is unique across Canada for its “L” pronunciation. In Moose Cree, “L” replaces sounds such as “th,” “y,” and “n” used in other dialects. This sound change is unique to Moose Cree and doesn’t appear across all Cree-speaking communities.
With most fluent speakers now over 65, Govender said the language is endangered.
“Our elders are the experts, and there are fewer and fewer fluent speakers every year,” she said. “That’s why we need to do whatever we can to revitalize the language.”
Govender said language instruction in schools is no longer intensive enough for students to become conversational speakers.
“Some classes only get half an hour a day,” she said. “Children are learning nouns, like the word for ‘goose,’ but they’re not learning how to use it in a sentence. They’re not learning to speak.”
To counter this, her department continues to develop tools, run immersion programs, and host language-learning circles.
With the newest edition out, work now shifts to producing audio files for every entry, an effort already 9,000 words in. The digital dictionary is being updated continuously, she said.
Govender said seeing the project continue for more than a decade has been personally meaningful.
“Our language defines who we are,” she said. “If you don’t have that part, there’s a void. People feel that.”
She highlighted the complexity and beauty of the dialect, describing Cree as a polysynthetic language where a single word can encapsulate a full English sentence.
“It’s a very descriptive language. One Cree word can take a whole sentence to say in English,” she said. “It’s special, but it can also be difficult to learn.”
Bringing the books to the people
The printed version of the fourth edition is heavy and expensive to ship, so the language team is travelling to Moose Cree communities across the region to distribute copies, Govender said.
“People are really happy and excited to get a copy,” she said. “Bringing the books directly to the communities helps reduce the cost.”
Launch events began last week in Moose Factory, with events also being held in Sudbury, North Bay and Timmins.
Butterfly said the dictionary represents a point of pride for Moose Cree, especially because it was achieved through community effort and community funding.
“Young people want to learn,” he said. “They’re pushing to learn it. That gives us hope.”
