Introduction

Abstract

Abstract The Michif language is spoken by Métis, the descendants of European fur traders (often French Canadians) and Cree-speaking Amerindian women. It is spoken in scattered Métis communities in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba in Canada and in North Dakota and Montana in the United States. There are also pockets of speakers in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories in Canada and in Minnesota and Oregon in the United States. It is spoken outside the French-speaking part of Canada and the Cree-speaking areas of North America. At present, the number of speakers is estimated at fewer than 1,000. It was probably double or triple this number around the tum of the century but never much higher. Michif is a rather peculiar language. It is half Cree (an Amerindian language) and half French. It is a mixed language, drawing its nouns from a European language and its verbs from an Amerindian language. It has been called the “nee plus ultra of grammars in contact” (Papen 1987c). Michif speakers, however, rarely know both Cree and French. No such mixture of two languages has been reported from any other part of the world. There are some other mixed languages, but these are all of a different type, dissimilar to Michif. Michif is unusual, if not unique, in several respects among the languages of the world. It poses challenges for all theories of language and of language contact.