"French of the Mountains" (BC)

[Ross Clark (FOA DALSL)]

In his book on Michif*, Bakker briefly mentions "Métis French" (pp.72-3).
One of the features he notes is a possessive construction of the type
exemplified here by "l'Bon Dieu son garçon" and "tout le monde son
bourgeois".

*Peter Bakker, A Language Of Our Own. Oxford University Press, 1997.

Ross Clark

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David D. Robertson [mailto:ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU]
> Sent: Tuesday, 27 August 2002 2:46 a.m.
> To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Subject: "French of the Mountains" (BC)
> 
> 
> 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'."
>