Chicoutim

Chicoutim (also Cikutim) is a creole that arose of the contacts between French settlers and the indigenous Alimi and Halani tribes in the area of modern day Cikoutimi and some parts of western Jonquiere-Tadoussac.

Of all descendents of Akes Mersanint, Chicoutim is the most widely distributed and least likely to die out. More than 7 million people currently speak it as their mother language.

Phonology and Orthography

Chicoutim is written in a simplified version of the Latin alphabet; it mostly adheres to the rules of French orthography with only two exceptions:

• c is realised as [tS] - Cikoutimi [tSI.ku.tI.mI]
• j is realised as [dZ] - Jontadène [dZo~.ta.dEn]

Morphology

Of the complex morphology of both French and Akes Mersanint, only few aspects were continued into Chicoutim. Whereas a rather elaborate case system was developed, only three tenses survived, and Chicoutim has dropped all aspects, moods or voices.
Number and gender remains largely unexpressed in Chicoutim, as well.

Number and Gender

There is no grammatical number in Chicoutim; instead, if number should be expressed, some form of semantic number is used.

Something similar can be said of gender. Words such as ape (male) or lou (female) are sometimes used as adjectives to denote gender.

Cases

Morphosyntactic Alignment

Relation

Place

Tenses

Only three tenses are present in Chicoutim: the present, the future and the past. However, depending on their context, they can take additional meanings such as pluperfect or future perfect.
The three tenses are built by adding a suffix to the verb stem.

These suffixes are derived from three different verbs of Akes Mersanint, but have become the conjugated forms of the Chicoutim copula to be (no infinitive).

Pronouns

Syntax

Word Order

The standard word order of Chicoutim is Subject-Object-Verb. However, whereas moods are not expressed in a morphological way, they can be (and often are) expressed by word order.

• Indicative mood: Subject-Object-Verb
  • Tou kontent aille. - You are happy.

• Imperative mood: Verb-Subject-Object
  • Prennaille tou watourque! - Take the car!

• Interrogative mood: Subject-aille-Object-Verb
  • Tou aille watourque mese pretéosse? - Are you going to lend me your car?

• Conditional mood: Subject-Verb (past tense)-Object
  • Me lirgoure magazinque sile goure bon. : I would read the magazine if it were good.

• Optative mood: Subject-Verb (future tense)-Object
  • Tou alosse bon!" - May you be well / You may be well! / Hello!

• Negative mood: Subject-Object-Verb + pas
  • Ile daupauque awaille pas. - They don't have bread.
  • Pas ile daupauque awaille (mè ileque manjaille). - They don't have bread (but they eat it).
  • Ile pas daupauque awaille (mè outre ileque awaille). - They don't have bread (but the others do).
  • Ile daupauque pas awaille (mè fitanque). - They don't have bread (but apples).

Vocabulary

Origins

Words for moral concepts, plants and animals are commonly derived from Akes Mersanint, whereas words origining in the sciences or describing modern innovations are derived from French.

Useful Words & Phrases

IDU Country Names

Example Sentences

• Chicoutim: Woui men watoure ilenque mese pretégoure pas.
• English: My father did not lend me his car.
• Qi: Fau uyasi karuka sisa likagura.
• French: Mon père ne me prêta pas sa voiture.

• Chicoutim: Woukèilen nouwo odinatourque acetégoure.
• English: Their parents bought a new computer.
• Qi: Ukaipin ohokamputeuka siminagura.
• French: Leurs parents achetèrent un nouvel ordinateur.