Michif language

Michif (also Mitchif, Mechif, Michif-Cree, Métif, Métchif) is the language of the Métis people of Canada and the northern United States, who are the descendants of First Nations women (mainly Cree, Nakota and Ojibwe) and fur trade workers of European ancestry (mainly French Canadians). Michif emerged over two hundred years ago as a mixed language (not to be confused with a creole). The language solidified sometime between 1820 and 1840.

Michif combines Cree and Canadian French, with some additional borrowing from English and First Nation languages such as Ojibwe and Assiniboine. In general, Michif noun phrase phonology, lexicon, morphology, and syntax are derived from Canadian French, while verb phrase phonology, lexicon, morphology, and syntax are from a southern variety of Plains Cree. (Plains Cree is a western dialect of Cree.) Articles and adjectives are also Canadian French, but demonstratives are Plains Cree.

The Michif language is unusual (and possibly even unique) among contact languages, in that, rather than choosing to simplify its grammar, it chose the most complex and demanding elements of the chief languages that went into it. French noun phrases retain lexical gender and adjective agreement; Cree verbs retain much of their polysynthetic structure. This suggests that, instead of haltingly using words from another's tongue, the people who devised Michif were fully fluent in both French and Cree.

Once widely spoken, the language is endangered with under 1000 native speakers reported in 1997.

Bibliography

Evans, Donna. 1982. "On coexistence and convergence of two phonological systems in Michif."

Bakker, Peter: 1997. A language of our own: The genesis of Michif, the mixed Cree-French language of the Canadian Métis. New York, Oxford University Press

Weaver, Deborah. 1982. Obviation in Michif.

Weaver, Deborah. 1983. "The effect of language change and death on obviation in Michif."

External links

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Michif language

See also

Bibliography

External links