Olympic Coverage in "Mechif".....

[Heather Souter]

Taanshi,

I am watching the Olympic coverage in "Mechif" as I write this....

It is in Ile la Crosse Michif, which is a unique Metis dialect of CREE,
which is not the same as Michif (aka Michif-Cree), the mixed language as
spoken in Manitoba, central and southern parts of Saskatchewan, North Dakota
and Montana.

There are three languages that our language/culture keepers--Elders from
different Metis communities-- call Michif.  One is Ile a la Crosse
(Metis-Cree dialect spoken in Northern Saskatchewan), another is Michif
French (a unique Metis dialect of French spoken in Metis communities in
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and perhaps elsewhere), and finally Michif (aka
Michif-Cree), the mixed language (well-known to linguists for being
typologically unique--with origins in both Algonquian and Indo-European
languages--mostly Cree and French).  The language called Michif and the two
dialects called Michif are all endangered and need support for their
revitalization.  However, Michif (aka Michif-Cree) is a language only spoken
by Metis people, is the most highly endangered (moribund) and if it
disappears it will be gone.  The situation is  unlike the dialects of Cree
or French called Michif.  We cannot go to our non-Metis relations (the Cree,
the Ojibwe, the French, or Scots, etc.) for help to try to reconstruct or
revive it.

Being that I live in a community that struggling to keep Michif
(Michif-Cree) alive, am an emerging speaker of Michif (Michif-Cree) and that
I am doing my MA on Michif (Michif-Cree) language and linguistics, I would
have wished that one of our fluent Michif (Michif-Cree) speakers (such as
Norman Fleury!)  would have been asked to announce....  Be that as it may,
at least the Olympics were announced in six languages and two Cree
dialects!

Just my two cents worth!

Eekoshi pitamaa.
Heather
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