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<TITLE>Re: [ILAT] Olympic Coverage in "Mechif".....</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14pt'>How lovely! I am so glad it has happened. One step.<BR>
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MJ<BR>
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Dr. MJ Hardman<BR>
Doctora Honoris Causa UNMSM, Lima, Perú <BR>
website: <a href="http://at.ufl.edu/~hardman-grove/">http://at.ufl.edu/~hardman-grove/</a><BR>
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On 2/20/10 9:53 PM, "Heather Souter" <<a href="hsouter@GMAIL.COM">hsouter@GMAIL.COM</a>> wrote:<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14pt'>Taanshi, <BR>
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I am watching the Olympic coverage in "Mechif" as I write this.... <BR>
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It is in Ile la Crosse Michif, which is a unique Metis dialect of CREE, which is not the same as Michif (aka Michif-Cree), the mixed language as spoken in Manitoba, central and southern parts of Saskatchewan, North Dakota and Montana. <BR>
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There are three languages that our language/culture keepers--Elders from different Metis communities-- call Michif. One is Ile a la Crosse (Metis-Cree dialect spoken in Northern Saskatchewan), another is Michif French (a unique Metis dialect of French spoken in Metis communities in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and perhaps elsewhere), and finally Michif (aka Michif-Cree), the mixed language (well-known to linguists for being typologically unique--with origins in both Algonquian and Indo-European languages--mostly Cree and French). The language called Michif and the two dialects called Michif are all endangered and need support for their revitalization. However, Michif (aka Michif-Cree) is a language only spoken by Metis people, is the most highly endangered (moribund) and if it disappears it will be gone. The situation is unlike the dialects of Cree or French called Michif. We cannot go to our non-Metis relations (the Cree, the Ojibwe, the French, or Scots, etc.) for help to try to reconstruct or revive it. <BR>
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Being that I live in a community that struggling to keep Michif (Michif-Cree) alive, am an emerging speaker of Michif (Michif-Cree) and that I am doing my MA on Michif (Michif-Cree) language and linguistics, I would have wished that one of our fluent Michif (Michif-Cree) speakers (such as Norman Fleury!) would have been asked to announce.... Be that as it may, at least the Olympics were announced in six languages and two Cree dialects! <BR>
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Just my two cents worth!<BR>
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Eekoshi pitamaa.<BR>
Heather<BR>
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