III. Dependent Nouns Stems
All examples of Nouns discussed thus far have been independent nouns, but another important subdivision among Cree nouns is that occurring between independent nouns (which can stand alone in singular or uninflected form) and dependent nouns. Dependent nouns are those which cannot stand alone as words but must be marked in some way for a possessive relationship. Most dependent nouns in Cree represent kinship terms and body parts, although some other special possessions also occur in dependent form. Dependent nouns can be either animate (e.g. kinship terms) or inanimate (e.g. most body parts), such that two further classes of nouns marked in the entries are Dependent Animate Nouns (NDA) and Dependent Inanimate Nouns (NDI). As with independent nouns discussed previously, all of the subclasses (regular, V-glide, Cw, and 1σ stems, and even the irregular NDI5) can occur, though some are particularly rare given the more restricted number of dependent nouns in Cree. Only about 10% of animate nouns and 5% of inanimate nouns in the current itwēwina database are dependent stems.
Below, each of the dependent animate and inanimate noun stem types will be introduced. NDA and NDI share considerable similarities, but marked differences are found between the paradigms of kinship terms (all NDA stems) and body part terminology (both animate and inanimate).
NDI – Dependent Inanimate Nouns