MultiTree:

Name: Michif Type: Language Alternate Names: Plains Cree-French Mixed Language; French Cree; Mitchif; Cree Spoken in: USA, Canada Number of speakers: 230 in United States (2000 census), decreasing. Population total all countries: 830 (Ethnologue) Number of speakers: 990 (World Oral Literature Project) Code: crg Code Standard: ISO 639-3 Documentation: SIL Families: Algic (Algonquian-Wiyot-Yurok, Algonquian-Ritwan) Parent Subgroup: Cree (cree) Brief Description: "Michif (Mitchif) is a special variety of Plains Cree in which Cree and French are combined. It is spoken in some communities of Métis, descendants of Indian women and French fur traders who form a distinct ethnic group on the northern Great Plains. In Michif the words, grammar, and pronunciation of nouns and their modifiers are almost entirely those of a variety of Canadian French, while the verbs are the grammatically complex, fully inflected forms of Plains Cree, with minor differences. Although Michif is correctly called a mixed language, some have pointed out that the contributing languages are 'intertwined' rather than literally mixed together. Several hundred thousand Métis live in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and North Dakota, and Cree, Ojibwe, French, and more recently English have been widely spoken in Métis communities, which have typically been multi-lingual. Michif was spoken only by a small minority of Métis families, many of whom have now lost it. It is difficult to estimate the current number of speakers, but it is probably around 200, nearly all over 70 years old. The most detailed source on the language is Bakker 1997; a dictionary has been published by Laverdure & Allard (1983)." Victor Golla, Atlas of the World's Languages 2007 pg. 18

Endangerment Status

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UNESCO Status: Critically endangered Ethnologue Status: Not listed Sutherland's Red List: Vulnerable