Michif

[Mikael Parkvall]

John McLaughlin wrote:

>Michif retained the complexity of the Cree verbal
>system, making very few (if any) compromises to French verb morphology.

There aren't really any _compromises_, but one interesting aspect of Michif
(as if there were any uninteresting ones!) is that the few French verbs
that there are in the language (including "avoir" and "être") basically
retain French, rather than Cree, flexional paradigms. And let's not forget
that most Michif speakers do not speak neither French nor Cree.

>Chinook Jargon never rose above a strictly practically-oriented trade jargon.

This is almost correct, but I apparently need to repeat what I wrote the
other week -- it did nativise! In the Grand Ronde reservation of Oregon,
Chinook Jargon was used as a home language and a mother tongue, though,
admittedly, usually not people's _only_ mother tongue.

/MP

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Mikael Parkvall
Institutionen för lingvistik
Stockholms Universitet
SE-10691 STOCKHOLM

+46 (0)8 16 14 41, +46 (0)8 656 68 24 (home)
Fax: +46 (0)8 15 53 89

parkvall at ling.su.se

Creolist Archives: http://www.ling.su.se/Creole