"French of the Mountains" (BC)

[David D. Robertson]

LhaXayam,

Anyone heard of this language before?  It's new to me.

>From "Will to Power:  The Missionary Career of Father Morice" by David
Mulhill, UBC Press, 1986, page 53:

"Once at Hwotat [in Babine territory], Morice was eager to begin his
mission, but he was frustrated by his inability to communicate
effectively.  Convinced that his interpreter was giving a ridiculous
meaning to his French, he tried Chinook--but to no avail.  English was no
good either, because the interpreter did not know it well enough.
Reluctantly, but in desperation, Morice resorted to the 'French of the
Mountains', a pidgin French introduced as the lingua franca of the area by
the metis in the employ of the fur companies.  Its vocabulary was more or
less French, but its syntax came from the Indian languages.  When, for
example, Morice wanted to explain that the devil was the master of almost
the whole world when the son of God became man, he had to express himself
as follows:  'L'bon Dieu son garcon quand ca i devient la meme chose comme
nous autres, le Yable c'lui-la quasiment tout le monde son bourgeois.'
[diacritics omitted]  Finally able to make himself understood, he thundered
against the Babines' rampant 'paganism'."