A Language of Our Own: The Genesis of Michif, the Mixed Cree-French Language of the Canadian Metis

Abstract

The Michif - 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 and how it came into being.