Contact Linguistics. Chap

NP elements.

Nouns 94% French; Rest from Cree, Ojibwe & English

;
Adjectives All from French, but Cree noun-modifying
strategies often used.

Articles French

Numerals Almost all French.

Demonstratives Almost all Cree.

Personal Pronouns Almost all Cree.

VP elements

Verbs 88 - 99% Cree. A few French verbs;

Some mixed Cree & French verbs.

Copulas Some French, but Cree copula constructions

predominate.

Negation. Roughly 70% French, 30% Cree.

Function Items

Question words Almost all Cree.

Postpositions Almost all Cree.

Prepositions 70-100% French; 5% English.

Coordinating conjunctions 55% Cree; 40% French; 5% English.

Adverbial particles 70% Cree; 30% French.

Discourse particles Mostly Cree.

4.3. Phonology:

The rough division between French NP and Cree VP structure in Michif is reflected in quite separate phonological systems associated with each component. The pronunciation of French NP elements is typically that of Michif French. On the other hand, Southern Plains Cree phonological units and rules are faithfully preserved in the Cree component. There are minor differences such as the presence of nasal vowels in Michif but not in Plains Cree, and the use of /c&/ and /∫/ in Michif where Plains Cree has /c/ and /s/. Fuller details can be found in Bakker (1997:80-86) and Bakker & Papen (1997:307-312). On the whole, the French and Cree phonological systems are independent of each other, though there is evidence of some Cree influence on the French system, involving mid-vowel raising, assimilation of sibilants and vowel length (Bakker & Papen 1997:311). The co-existence of two separate phonological systems parallels the co-existence of two distinct subsystems of grammar in Michif, making this language unique among contact vernaculars.

4.4. NP structure.

As Table 4 shows, Michif nouns, articles and quantifiers are mostly derived from French, though Cree has provided some quantifiers, while some nouns are from English, Ojibwe or Cree. Demonstratives all come from Cree (except for a few French demonstratives in frozen expressions). This is related to the fact that Cree demonstratives play a key role in the syntax, since they express distinctions between animate and inanimate gender. All French nouns in Michif are assigned to one or the other of these genders, and the demonstratives agree in gender and number with them, as in Cree. Interestingly, the French gender system is also preserved in the Michif NP, hence Cree demonstratives are accompanied by either a French possessive or article which must agree in French gender (masculine/feminine) and number with the noun. The following examples from Bakker & Papen (1997:328) illustrate (French items in italics):

(8) a. awa lÈ garsu$

DEM the-masc. boy "this boy"

b. awa la fij

DEM the-fem. girl "this girl"

c. u:ma la bwet

DEM the-fem. box "this box"

In addition, the verb is marked for agreement in animacy/inanimacy with its subject and/or object. Further details of Michif NP structure can be found in Bakker (1997).