General Introduction

Abstract

The Innu were known, up to a few decades ago, as Montagnais. They speak a number of dialects grouped together as “Innu-aimun” (henceforth Innu for short), itself part of a larger Cree-Innu-Naskapi dialect continuum spoken in Quebec and Labrador (Canada), with close ties to the other Cree dialects west of Quebec, across northern Ontario, and the Prairie Plains. The language is part of the Algonquian (Algic) family. Innu per se is spoken by roughly 13,000 people belonging to, but not necessarily residing in, eleven communities scattered over northeastern Quebec and Labrador in Canada. Although the Innu population is rising, the number of language speakers is on the decline in several communities. The texts presented in this series were collected orally during Drapeau’s periods of residence and fieldwork in the community of Pessamit. 1 This introductory chapter begins with an overview the Canadian Cree dialect continuum and more specifically of the Cree-Innu-Naskapi dialect group in Quebec. The salient aspects of dialectological variation between subdialects of Innu are also presented here. The subsequent sections are meant to provide information enabling the reader to understand the rationale behind the encoding in the interlinear format. The texts use a four-line format following IJAL style for interlinearization. The first line provides the standard orthography in use among the Innu and mandated by the Tshakapesh Institute. The second line provides a parsed phonemic transcription. The third line provides the glosses for the parsed items. The fourth line is a free translation in English. The phonemic transcription given in line 2 of the interlinearization uses symbols explained in the phonological sketch of Pessamit Innu provided in the phonological overview below. This is followed by a brief description of the origin and characteristics of the standard orthography used in line 1. The