Cree
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- The title of this article is not correct because of technical limitations. The correct title is actually Cree#.
- This article is not detailed enough and needs to be expanded. Please help us by adding some more information.
Cree# is a C#-like imperative language by Jon Corbett, which allows programming in Cree keywords using Cree concepts and metaphors. In addition to this language, Corbett's PhD research has led to his Indigenous Coding Framework, a work-in-progress that will help other Indigenous communities bring to computation not only their languages but their cultural logic and values.
Language Features
Keywords
miyâhkasike, tisamân, smudge – the smudge command âcimowin, âtayôhkan – indicators for identifying/protecting story elements mînisiwat, maskihkîwiwat – variable declarations pipon, pipona, pipohki, awasipipon, mêsakwanipipon – winter(s) (loops) tahtwâw – each time awa, ôma – this and that sîpiy – river (if) kikway – what (if) kîsipayiw – end/terminate pîkiskwêw – say/talk (print/output text)
Operators (verbs)
asiwahew – populate [as in a variable] pîhciyihk – inside/contents akihtam – count something takwastâw – add mistahi- (as a prefix morpheme) – makes something bigger, increase by 1 kâwôtinikêwin – subtract –osis or –si (as suffix) – makes something smaller reduces something by 1 tâpiskôc – make something equal or same as something -wa and -wak – suffixes that pluralize a noun (making it an array) x – ends a statement (this is not a lowercase x it is a syllabic that looks like a lowercase x and is used as a full stop)
Actors
Common entities that are in stories and cannot be used as generic “noun” variable assignments
wîsahkecâhk – (Raven, trickster, a legendary spirit) maskwa – bear cihcipistikwân– a legendary spirit cahkâpes – a legendary spirit wîhtikôw – windigo môswa – moose mahihkan – wolf amisk – beaver
Numbers
The actual words for each number are reserved (there are 104)
makikway – null/zero, literally “not something” mihcecis; mihcet; mihcetinwa – fairly many; many; numerous misi- - a prefix for describing a massive amount of something akihtâson – literally means “a number”; used in conjunction with syllabic numerals to separate text syllabics from numbers such as: newinwa napewak ([there are] four men) ᐊᑭᐦᑖᓱᐣ lᐅ ᓇᐯᐘᐠ ([they] number 4 men)