Nouns Inflected for Obviation

Observation

ᓂᐙᐸᐦᑌᓐ ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓐ᙮		niwaapahten ashtutin.	I see a hat.
ᐧᐋᐸᐦᑕᒻ ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓂᔫ᙮		waapahtam ashtutiniyuu.	She sees a hat.

Notice the suffix -iyuu on ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓂᔫ ashtutiniyuu. It is called OBVIATIVE. Obviative inflection happens when there are several third persons in a story. For example, a child and a hat or a frog.

ᐧᐋᐸᐦᑕᒻ ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓂᔫ ᐊᓐ ᐊᐧᐋᔥ᙮		waapahtam ashtutiniyuu an awaash.	That child sees a hat.
ᒌ ᐧᐋᐸᒣᐤ ᐊᔨᒃᐦ ᐊᓐ ᐊᐧᐋᔥ᙮		chii waapameu ayikh an awaash.	That child saw a frog/frogs.

The form awaash is called PROXIMATE, ayikh and ashtitiniyuu are called OBVIATIVE.

For animate nouns, the obviative suffix is -h, like in ayikh above. The number distinction is over-ridden. -h could mean one or many frogs.

For inanimate nouns, the obviative singular has a special suffix -iyuu. The obviative plural looks just like the proximate plural.

Animate Noun

	proximate			obviative
singular	ᐊᔨᒃ		ayik	ᐊᔨᒃᐦ		ayikh	frog
plural	ᐊᔨᑲᒡ		ayikach	ᐊᔨᒃᐦ		ayikh	frogs

Inanimate Noun

	proximate			obviative
singular	ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓐ		ashtutin	ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓂᔫ		ashtutiniyuu	hat
plural	ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓐᐦ		ashtutinh	ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓐᐦ		ashtutinh	hats

Because of the rule of obviation, a noun possessed by a third person carries the obviative marking.

ᐅᑖᐱᔥᑳᑲᓐᐦ		utaapishkaakanh	his/her scarf
ᐅᓇᒣᓯᒻᐦ		unamesimh	his/her fish

Obviation plays an important role in Cree, not just for nouns, and pronouns but also for verbs forms. It allows speakers to rank the importance of participants in a story in ways that are impossible to convey in English. The rule is that you can only have one proximate person or thing at a time in a story, all others must be marked obviative.

The proximate-obviative contrast works like a spotlight on the story participants. The spotlight is the proximate and it can only shine on one person or one group at a time, all the other story participants end up in the obviative. [see story analysis]

This is how proximate and obviative forms look in sentences.

	Proximate		Obviative
	singular	plural	singular	plural
Animate	ᓂᐧᐋᐸᒫᐤ ᐊᔨᒃ᙮	ᓂᐧᐋᐸᒫᐅᒡ ᐊᔨᑲᒡ᙮	ᐧᐋᐸᒣᐤ ᐊᔨᒃᐦ᙮	ᐧᐋᐸᒣᐤ ᐊᔨᒃᐦ᙮
	niwaapamaau ayik.	niwaapamaauch ayikach.	waapameu ayikh.	waapameu ayikh.
	I see a frog.	I see frogs.	She sees a frog.	She sees frogs.
Inanimate	ᓂᐧᐋᐸᐦᑌᓐ ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓐ᙮	ᓂᐧᐋᐸᐦᑌᓐ ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓐᐦ᙮	ᐧᐋᐸᐦᑕᒻ ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓂᔫ᙮	ᐧᐋᐸᐦᑕᒻ ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓐᐦ᙮
	niwaapahten ashtutin.	niwaapahten ashtutinh.	waapahtam ashtutiniyuu.	waapahtam ashtutinh.
	I see a hat.	I see hats.	She sees a hat.	She sees hats.