December Reflections

This month, in my Contemporary Indigenous Studies class at school, I had the opportunity to research the impact of language on gender. Hence, I thought that it would be relevant for me to share some of my work and key findings.

The research question I decided to investigate was: using the Cree language as an example, to what extent do the Western languages brought to Canada through colonization limit diversity in gender identities? I examined this topic through the lenses of personal pronouns, gender-related vocabulary as well as grammatical gender.

Firstly, I noted that while English and French differentiate their third-person singular pronouns based on gender, such as “she” or “he” and “elle” or “il,” Cree only uses a gender-neutral pronoun “wiya” when referring to another person. The use of this non-gendered pronoun pre-supposes that defining gender is not critical in Cree culture. In an article published by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, Indigenous Cree physician Dr. James Makokis describes how this means Cree speakers “often misgender people in English,” which he thinks is “a beautiful ‘mistake’.” This positive attitude arises from the lack of necessity to define gender in everyday conversation in Cree, which allows for self-identification rather than imposing a specific gender upon individuals. However, determining gender is necessary for Western languages due to their pronoun system, which in itself is restricting and prevents fluidity.

Additionally, in English and French, terms for discussing gender beyond the traditional vocabulary are relatively new and evolving. Meanwhile, Cree has historically encompassed more nuanced gender-related language, even making a distinction between “a man who dresses as a woman” and “a man who dresses, lives or is accepted as a woman.” There is also the word “tasta-ee-iniw” to represent being “in-between.” These complex descriptions allow people to capture their true gender identities in ways that Western languages do not. More significantly, the vocabulary of Western languages lacks the positive connotations associated with diverse genders in Cree, which is a result of the historical use of terms. For example, Benny Michaud, a “tasta-ee-iniw” individual, describes in a CBC article that this word helps them to be known as “somebody that is not a woman and not a man, but someone that is sacred … and deserves to be respected.” This observation illustrates the historical regard for gender diversity in Cree culture and how it is directly reflected in the language.

Lastly, there is a major difference between the noun classification system of French and Cree. While French focuses on separating masculine and feminine, with determinants like “le” and “la,” Cree’s system is based on animacy, instead differentiating living and non-living. This is significant because a language’s grammatical system is somewhat a reflection of the culture’s broader value system and also affects future perspectives due to the consistent usage of the language. Melody Wood, a Cree person, believes “our cultures, our way of life is embedded in the language,” as stated in a CBC article. Therefore, the system used by the French language of purely gendered classification instills a far more binary mindset regarding gender as a whole than Cree.

Overall, I believe that the Western languages brought to Canada through colonization limit diversity in gender identities to a significant extent, especially when compared to the Indigenous Cree language. However, it is important to note that, as someone who is an active user of English and French but not of Cree, I would need to do more exploration and research in order to fully capture the complex manner in which the Cree language approaches the issue of gender diversity.

Credit: Sam Quillen (Medium)

Works Cited

BigEagle, Louise. “Beyond two-spirit: Indigenous people look to revive traditional LGBTQ terms.” CBC, 7 September 2023, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/indigenous-lgbtq-words-1.6953445. Accessed 28 December 2024.

de Groot, Scott. “What Is Two-Spirit? Part One: Origins.” Canadian Museum for Human Rights, 26 March 2024, https://humanrights.ca/story/what-two-spirit-part-one-origins. Accessed 28 December 2024.

Makokis, James. “Understanding Sexuality and Gender from a Nehiyô maskihkiwiyiniw (Plains Cree Physician) Perspective within Treaty Number Six Territory.” CPSA, 31 August 2021, https://cpsa.ca/news/understanding-sexuality-and-gender-from-a-nehiyo-maskihkiwiyiniw-plains-cree-physician-perspective-within-treaty-number-six-territory/#:~:text=Nehiyawewin%20. Accessed 28 December 2024.

Ogg, Arden, and Dorothy Thunder. “Grammatical gender in the Cree language.” The Our Languages Blog | Government of Canada, 28 October 2019, https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/en/blogue-blog/genre-grammatical-gender-eng. Accessed 15 December 2024.

“Personal Pronouns.” Plains Cree, 9 April 2019, https://plainscree.algonquianlanguages.ca/grammar/words/pronouns/personal-pronouns/. Accessed 28 December 2024.