Junker, Marie-Odile (2004). Les primitives sémantiques universelles en cri de l’Est [Universal semantic primes in East Cree]. In H.C. Wolfart (Ed.), Papers of the 35th Algonquian Conference (pp. 163-185). Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. PDF (open access)
The aim of this paper is to assess the theory of semantic primitives in the light of East Cree data and to illustrate the contribution this theory can make to the analysis and description of the language. East Cree is spoken in a region of Northern Quebec, by about 13,000 speakers. We first outline the theory and present the list of exponents of the primes in Cree. We then discuss the heuristic procedure used to identify the primes and provide illustration for the primes HAPPEN, BODY, WANT, THINK, KNOW, SOMEONE, SOMETHING, PART (OF), KIND (OF), and WHY. Finally, we demonstrate the usefulness of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage as a tool for linguistic descriptions, in particular in fieldwork with monolingual speakers.
