Dubitative Pronouns

Use a dubitative pronoun to wonder about:

• people or things
• places

Dubitative pronouns for people or things

Observation

ᒉᐧᑳᒉ ᑳ ᒦᒋᔮᓐ᙮		chekwaache kaa miichiyaan.	Whatever could I be eating?
ᐊᐧᐁᒉ ᐅᔫ ᐅᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐ᙮		aweche uyuu umaschisin.	Who’s shoe could this be?

ᐊᐧᐁᒉ aweche and ᒉᐧᑳᒉ chekwaache are made up of the pronouns ᐊᐧᐁᓐ awen and ᒉᐧᑳᓐ chekwaan plus the dubitative inflection. They are used when there is doubt about the person or the thing being discussed. They correspond to English ‘whoever / whatever could she/he/it be’.

Note that we can sometimes hear the trace of a syllable which used to be there but is no longer pronounced. All we hear today is a a little break before the -che, called a glottal stop,  which is not written in Southern East Cree (In the Northern dialect these pronouns are written with an extra -chi).

	Dubitative
	Proximate				Obviative
	singular		plural		singular		plural
Animate		ᐊᐧᐁᒉ		ᐊᐧᐁᒉᓂᒌ		ᐊᐧᐁᔨᒉᓐᐦ		ᐊᐧᐁᔨᒉᓐᐦ
Whoever		aweche		awechenichii		aweyichenh		aweyichenh
Who on earth?				ᐊᐧᐁᒋᒉᓂᒡ		ᐊᐧᐁᔨᒉᐦ		ᐊᐧᐁᔨᒉᓂᐦᐄ
				awechichenich		aweyicheh		aweyichenihii
		ᒉᐧᑳᓃᒉ		ᒉᐧᑳᒉᓐᐦ		ᒉᐧᑳᔨᒉ		ᒉᐧᑳᔨᒉᓐᐦ
Inanimate		chekwaaniiche		chekwaachenh		chekwaayiche		chekwaayichenh
Whatever?		ᒉᐧᑳᒉ		ᒉᐧᑳᒉᓂᐦᐄ				ᒉᐧᑳᔨᒉᓂᐦᐄ
		chekwaache		chekwaachenihii				chekwaayichenihii

Examples:

ᐊᐧᐁᒉ ᐊᓂᔫ ᑳ ᐃᐦᑑᑕᐦᒃ᙮		aweche aniyuu kaa ihtuutahk.	Whoever can have done it?
ᐊᐧᐁᒉ ᐊᓂᔫᐦ ᐅᑖᐹᓈᔅᒄ᙮		aweche aniyuuh utaapaanaaskw.	Whoever can that toboggan belong to?
ᒉᐧᑳᒉ ᑳ ᐃᔑᓈᑯᐦᒡ᙮		chekwaache kaa ishinaakuhch.	Whatever can it be?
ᒉᐧᑳᔨᒉ ᐊᓂᔫ ᑳ ᐋᔨᒨᑕᐦᒃ᙮		chekwaayiche aniyuu kaa aayimuutahk.	Whatever can he be talking about?