A Language of Our Own: The Genesis of Michif, the Mixed Cree-French Language of the Canadian MétisThe Michif language -- spoken by descendants of French Canadian fur traders and Cree Indians in western Canada -- is considered an "impossible language" since it uses French for nouns and Cree for verbs, and comprises two different sets of grammatical rules. Bakker uses historical research and fieldwork data to present the first detailed analysis of this language and how it came into being. |
Contents
| 3 | |
2 EuropeanAmerindian Contact in the Fur Trade | 28 |
Origin and Culture | 52 |
4 Grammatical Sketch of Michif | 78 |
5 Variation in Michif | 118 |
Types and Origin | 161 |
A Model | 192 |
8 The Intertwining of French and Cree | 214 |
French Cree and Ojibwe | 248 |
10 The Genesis of Michif | 277 |
Notes | 281 |
References | 287 |
Index of Languages Personal Names and Geographical Names | 305 |
Subject Index | 312 |
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A Language of Our Own: The Genesis of Michif, the Mixed Cree-French Language ... Peter Bakker No preview available - 1997 |
Common terms and phrases
adjectives Algonquian languages Assiniboine bilingual borrowing Camperville Canada Canadian French Chapter Chipewyan code mixing component of Michif consonants Cree affixes Cree and French Cree component Cree dialects Cree nouns Cree verbs Cree words derived discussed English ethnic group European example forms Fort Qu'Appelle François French and Cree French Canadians French component French nouns French verbs French words French-Cree fur trade gender Giraud grammatical system guage Ile-a-la-Crosse inanimate Indian inflectional Lac La Biche Lakes language intertwining lexical lexicon lingua franca linguistic Manitoba marker Métis Métis community Métis French Michif language Michif speakers mixed language mixture of Cree mixture of French Montagnais morphemes morphology Native nominal North noun phrase obviative Ojibwe percent phonological pidgin Plains Cree plural polysynthetic languages prairies prefixes prepositions Qu'Appelle Valley Red River settlement Romani Saint Lazare Saskatchewan Saulteaux source languages stems suffix Turtle Mountain vowels whereas Wolfart women
Popular passages
Page 70 - There was never much love lost between Indians and Halfbreeds. They were completely different from us - quiet when we were noisy, dignified even at dances and get-togethers. Indians were very passive— they would get angry at things done to them but would never fight back, whereas Halfbreeds were quick-tempered - quick to fight, but quick to forgive and forget. The Indians' religion was very precious to them and to the Halfbreeds, but we never took it as seriously. We all went to the Indians' Sundances...
Page 295 - HOWSE. — A GRAMMAR OF THE CREE LANGUAGE. With which is combined an analysis of the Chippeway Dialect. By Joseph Howse, FRGS 8vo, pp.
Page 70 - They laughed and scorned us. They had land and security, we had nothing. As Daddy put it, "No pot to piss in or a window to throw it out." They would tolerate us unless they were drinking and then they would try to fight, but received many sound beatings from us. However, their old people, our "Mushooms" (grandfathers) and "Kokums
Page xii - I was a fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Page 193 - ... come for we yard. Me take one gun and shoot for him. Me look he can die one time and we all Kruboy take him and put him for outside for them fence. For true, Massa, him be them palaver. But me no go pay...
Page 272 - ... Their manners and customs are nearly the same as those of all the other Meadow Indians. They are a hard people to deal with; the most arrant beggars known. A refusal makes them sullen and stubborn; for being, as they term themselves, our real friends, they imagine we should refuse them nothing. Most of them have a smattering of the Cree language, which they display in clamorous and discordant strains, without rule or reason.
Page 269 - In such a mass of diverse elements the French language, the Algonquin, in several dialects, and the English, are employed. And among the uneducated, no small mixture of all are brought into vogue in the existing vocabulary. To fouchet, and to chemai, were here quite common expressions.
Page 34 - Our young men will marry your daughters and we shall be one people...
Page 58 - Half-breeds in the territories are of three classes — 1st, those who, as at St. Laurent, near Prince Albert, the Qu'Appelle Lakes and Edmonton, have their farms and homes ; 2nd, those who are entirely identified with the Indians, living with them, and speaking their language ; 3rd, those who do not farm, but live after the habits of the Indians, by the pursuit of the buffalo and the chase.