Michif

[Dr. John E. McLaughlin]

[Rick Mc Callister wrote]

	How does Michif compare to Chinook jargon?
	Many years ago I saw a small book on Chinook Jargon that explained
that the grammar was radically different from Chinook and that the
vocabulary was largely derived from French --somewhere around 40% if I
remember correctly. From what remember, French derived nouns included the
feminine article <<la>>.
	I have no idea how reliable the book was, but what I gather both
the grammar and vocabulary seemed to be a compromise between French,
Chinook and various other NW Native American languages.
	I don't think Chinook Jargon was used as anything other than a
trade language but I may be mistaken

[I respond]

Michif, unlike Chinook Jargon, became a mixed language or creole (depending
on your politics) rather quickly.  It didn't linger as a trade language
(pidgin) for very long.  Chinook Jargon never became any community's mother
tongue.  Unlike Chinook Jargon, which reduced the complex morphology of
Northwest Coast languages to a common and manageable subset with only very
basic communicative power, Michif retained the complexity of the Cree verbal
system, making very few (if any) compromises to French verb morphology.
Michif retained from its Cree parent the ability to discuss complex issues
needed in a mother tongue community.  Chinook Jargon never rose above a
strictly practically-oriented trade jargon.

John E. McLaughlin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, English
Utah State University

Program Director
USU On-Line Linguistics
http://english.usu.edu/lingnet

(435) 797-2738 (voice)
(435) 797-3797 (FAX)
mclasutt at brigham.net