Michif as Metis language

[Sally Thomason]

Michif the mixed language the (or rather some) Metis is also
spoken in North Dakota, especially or only on the Turtle
Mountain Reservation (Chippewa, Cree).

I don't think it's quite accurate to say that it's French vocabulary
and Cree grammar, though Peter Bakker (who wrote his dissertation
on the language a few years ago and published it as a book, a very
good book, more recently) would disagree.  The noun phrases are
French, including both roots and affixes, and syntax and phonology;
the verb phrases and sentence syntax are Cree, again including
roots and affixes.  There is leakage from the Cree parts into the
French parts, but not vice versa.  French grammar is active in the
noun phrases (gender agreement in adjectives, in particular); Cree
lexicon is certainly present in the verb phrases -- there are only
a couple of French verb roots, and the rest are Cree.

   -- Sally