Editing Michif (section)

{{Short description|Mixed language of the Métis people}}
{{refimprove|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Michif
| nativename       = {{lang|crg|Michif}}
| states           = [[Canada]]
| region           = [[Métis]] communities in the [[Prairie Provinces|Prairies]]; mostly [[Manitoba]], [[Alberta]], [[Saskatchewan]] Northeastern [[British Columbia]] and Northwestern [[Ontario]], [[Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation]] in North Dakota
| speakers         = {{sigfig|1845|2}}
| date             = 2021 census
| ref              = e18
| familycolor      = Mixed
| family           = [[Mixed language|Mixed]] [[Plains Cree language|Plains Cree]]–[[Métis French]]
| iso3             = crg
| glotto           = mich1243
| script           = [[Latin alphabet]]
| glottorefname    = Michif
| notice           = IPA
| map              = Lang Status 20-CR.svg
| mapcaption       = {{center|{{small|Michif is classified as Critically Endangered by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]''}}}}
| image            = Engraving at Batoche Cemetery (Michif version).jpg
| imagecaption     = Michif engraving at [[Batoche, Saskatchewan]]
}}
{{Infobox ethnonym|root=[[Métis]]<br/><small>"mixed"</small>|people=[[Métis]]|language=[[Michif]]<br/>[[Métis French]]<br/>[[Plains Indian Sign Language|Hand Talk]]|country=Michif Piyii}}

'''Michif''' (also '''Mitchif''', '''Mechif''', '''Michif-Cree''', '''Métif''', '''Métchif''', '''French Cree''') is one of the [[languages]] of the [[Métis people (Canada)|Métis people of Canada]] and the [[Métis people (United States)|United States]], who are the descendants of [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] (mainly [[Cree]], [[Nakota]], and [[Ojibwe]]) and [[fur trade]] workers of white ancestry (mainly [[French Canadians|French]]). Michif emerged in the early 19th century as a [[mixed language]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://voices.yahoo.com/the-turtle-mountain-michif-people-their-language-418374.html|title=The Turtle Mountain Michif: A People and Their Language|author=L. Lee Scott|date=2007-07-02|work=Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729004358/http://voices.yahoo.com/the-turtle-mountain-michif-people-their-language-418374.html|archive-date=2014-07-29|access-date=2013-03-24}}</ref> and adopted a consistent character between about 1820 and 1840.

Michif combines [[Cree language|Cree]] and [[Métis French]] (Rhodes 1977, Bakker 1997:85), a variety of Canadian French, with some additional borrowing from [[English language|English]] and [[indigenous languages of the Americas]] such as [[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]] and [[Assiniboine language|Assiniboine]]. In general, Michif [[noun phrase]] [[phonology]], [[lexicon]], [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]], and syntax are derived from Métis French, while [[verb phrase]] phonology, lexicon, morphology, and syntax are from a southern variety of [[Plains Cree language|Plains Cree]] (a western dialect of Cree). Articles and adjectives are also of Métis French origin but demonstratives are from Plains Cree.

The Michif language is unusual among mixed languages, in that rather than forming a simplified grammar, it developed by incorporating complex elements of the chief languages from which it was born. French-origin noun phrases retain lexical [[grammatical gender|gender]] and adjective agreement; Cree-origin verbs retain much of their [[polysynthetic language|polysynthetic]] structure. This suggests that instead of haltingly using words from another's tongue, the people who gradually came to speak Michif were fully fluent in both French and Cree.

The Michif language was first brought to scholarly attention in 1976 by John Crawford at the [[University of North Dakota]].<ref>Michif: A new language. ''North Dakota English'' 4.1:3–10.</ref> Much of the subsequent research on Michif was also related to UND, including four more pieces by Crawford, plus work by Evans, Rhodes, and Weaver.