Métis French (
French: français métis) is one of the traditional languages of the
Métis people along with
Michif and
Bungi, and is the
French-dialect source of Michif.[3]
Features
Métis French is a variety of
Canadian French with some added characters such as
Ññ,
Áá,
Óó, and
Ææ (from older French spellings) (example, il ñá ócun nævus sur ce garçon English: "there is no birthmark on this boy") and words loaned from indigenous languages such as
Ojibwe,
Beaver and
Cree.
Like Michif, Métis French is spoken in Manitoba and North Dakota and adjacent provinces or states. As a general rule, Métis individuals speak one or the other, rarely both. Métis French and Michif share a common
phonology and
morphosyntax for the
noun phrase but differ as to their sources for the
verb phrase which is
Ojibwe-
Cree based in Michif,
French-based in Métis French. Examples of this loaning can be found in words such as cacúareFrench pronunciation:[qɑˈkwɑʁ] from the Cree word, kakwe "to try/attempt" which maintains its Cree meaning with the additional colloquial use of "to wander" as in il á cacúu là English: "he wandered there" which suggests that the subject wandered with little control of his own feet; in the word ttonneFrench pronunciation:[tʼɔn] meaning "wolf" or "loyal" (in a pack-like sense) when used as an adjective from the word for wolf in Beaver, ch'one or in the words jaganacheFrench pronunciation:[ʒagɑ̃ʃ] meaning "white/non-Métis" person from the Ojibwe word zhaganash and minapæFrench pronunciation:[mɛ̃nape] from the Cree word for "good person", miyo-nâpêw though in Métis French it is closer to the word "mec" (guy) and implies that the word refers someone that the speaker knows personally.
Douaud, Patrick C. (January 1983). "An example of suprasegmental convergence". International Journal of American Linguistics. 49 (1): 91–93.
doi:
10.1086/465770.
Jackson, Michael (1974). "Aperçu de tendances phonétiques du parler français en Saskatchewan". Revue canadienne de linguistique (in French). 19 (2): 121–133.
doi:
10.1017/S0008413100007714.
Lincoln, Neville J. (1963). Phonology of the Métis French dialect of St. Paul, Alberta (Thesis). University of Alberta in Edmonton.
Lussier, Antoine S. (1980). "Un métis écrit une lettre". In Lussier, A.; Sealy, B. (eds.). The other natives: Les Métis (in French). Vol. 3. Winnipeg: Manitoba Métis Federation Press. pp. 167–70.
Papen, Robert (1979), Le parler français des métis de Batoche (in French), Département de linguistique, Université du Québec à Montréal
Papen, Robert (1984). "Quelques remarques sur un parler français méconnu de l'Ouest canadien: le métis". Revue québécoise de linguistique (in French). 14 (1). Université du Québec à Montréal: 113–139.
doi:
10.7202/602530ar.
Papen, Robert (1993). "La variation dialectale dans le parler français des Métis de l'Ouest canadien". Francophonies des Amériques (in French). 3 (3): 25–38.
doi:
10.7202/1004439ar.
Papen, Robert (1998). "Le parler français des Métis de l'Ouest canadien". In Brasseur, P. (ed.). Français d'Amirique: Variation, criolisation, normalisation (in French). Avignon: Centre d'études canadiennes, Université d'Avignon. pp. 147–161.
ISBN9782951196308.
Papen, Robert (2004). "Sur quelques aspects structuraux du français des Métis de l'Ouest canadien". In Coveney, A.; Sanders, C. (eds.). Variation et francophonie (in French). Paris: L’Harmattan.
ISBN9782747568043.
Papen, Robert (2004). "Les troub' : une analyse linguistique d'un texte oral en français des Métis". Cahiers franco-canadiens de l'Ouest (in French). 14 Numéro spécial sur les Métis.
Préfontaine, R. (1980). "Le parler métis". In Lussier, A.; Sealy, B. (eds.). The other natives: Les Métis (in French). Vol. 3. Winnipeg: Manitoba Métis Federation Press. pp. 162–66.
Thogmartin, Clyde (1974). "The phonology of three varieties of French in Manitoba". Orbis. 23 (2): 335–49.
Wittmann, Henri (1995). "Grammaire comparée des variétés coloniales du français populaire de Paris du 17e siècle et origines du français québécois". In Fournier, Robert; Wittmann, Henri (eds.). Le français des Amériques (in French). Trois-Rivières: Presses universitaires de Trois-Rivières. pp. 281–334.