Michif (also Mitchif, Mechif, Michif-Cree, Métif, Métchif, French Cree) is one of the languages of the Métis people of Canada and the United States, who are the descendants of First Nations (mainly Cree, Nakota, and Ojibwe) and fur trade workers of white ancestry (mainly French).
In general, Michif noun phrase phonology, lexicon, morphology, and syntax are derived from Métis French, while verb phrase phonology, lexicon, morphology, and syntax are from a southern variety of Plains Cree (a western dialect of Cree).
This suggests that instead of haltingly using words from another's tongue, the people who gradually came to speak Michif were fully fluent in both French and Cree.
The Michif language was first brought to scholarly attention in 1976 by John Crawford at the University of North Dakota.
[3] Much of the subsequent research on Michif was also related to UND, including four more pieces by Crawford, plus work by Evans, Rhodes, and Weaver.
According to the Gabriel Dumont Institute (GDI), the word Michif, when used for a language, is used to describe at least three distinct types of speech.
Northern Michif (in Saskatchewan) is essentially a variety of Cree with a small number of French loanwords.
Michif used without any qualification can also describe the mixed language which borrows heavily from both Cree and French.
[4] The remainder of this article deals primarily with the mixed language that has many features from both French and Cree.
[5] The reasons are as follows: children tend to know their mother's language better;[dubious – discuss] in the case of the Métis, the men were often immigrants, whereas the women were native to the region.
Thus, the model of language-mixing predicts that Michif should have a Cree grammatical system and French lexicon.
Currently, Michif is spoken in scattered Métis communities in the Canadian prairie provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta, and in North Dakota in the U.S..
[11] There are some 230 speakers of Michif in the United States (down from 390 at the 1990 census),[12] most of whom live in North Dakota, particularly in the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation.
[14] In 2011, Statistics Canada reported 640 Michif speakers located mainly in Saskatchewan (40.6%), Manitoba (26.6%), and Alberta (11.7%).
Currently, Michif is spoken in scattered Métis communities in the Canadian prairie provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta, and in North Dakota in the U.S..
[17] There are some 230 speakers of Michif in the United States (down from 390 at the 1990 census),[18] most of whom live in North Dakota, particularly in the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation.
[28] Additionally, The Louis Riel Institute (LRI), which is the education department of the Manitoba Metis Federation in Winnipeg, is an adult learning center committed to the development of community based educational programs directed to adults and the whole family.
[29] As of 2013, the Northern Journal reports that "Aboriginal language and culture is becoming increasingly visible" in Alberta, as Alberta's Northland School Division, "serving mostly First Nations and Métis students in the northern part of the province" has expanded its community partnerships and culture camps.
Rosen (2007) states that since all French-derived vowel-initial nouns in Michif have been lexicalized as consonant-initial, the French rule of elision, which deletes certain vowels (particularly schwa) before vowel-initial words, for ex., le copain 'the friend' but l'ami 'the friend'), cannot apply in Michif.
Scholars such as Bakker (1997),[34] Rhodes (1986),[35] and Rosen (2007)[36] have suggested that liaison no longer exists in Michif and that all words that etymologically began with a vowel in French now begin with a consonant, the latter resulting from a variety of sources, including a liaison consonant.
[39] The government of Manitoba published a translation of its annual report on The Path to Reconciliation Act in Michif in June 2017.