{"id":902,"date":"2008-05-14T02:37:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-14T06:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=902"},"modified":"2010-08-14T23:06:49","modified_gmt":"2010-08-15T03:06:49","slug":"16217-%c2%a0-bonnie-murray-li-paviyon-di-michif","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=902","title":{"rendered":"16217. (Bonnie Murray) Li Paviy\u00f3\u00f1 di Michif"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a children\u2019s book pub\u00adlished in the Michif lan\u00adguage. It\u2019s quite a rar\u00adi\u00adty, since less than a thou\u00adsand peo\u00adple can speak the lan\u00adguage. But the M\u00e9tis com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty in Man\u00adi\u00adto\u00adba is deter\u00admined to pass the lan\u00adguage to the next gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion. Michif is one of the most pecu\u00adliar lan\u00adguages on the plan\u00adet. It devel\u00adoped in West\u00adern Cana\u00adda among the M\u00e9tis peo\u00adple, and it com\u00adbines a basi\u00adcal\u00adly Cree gram\u00admar and verb sys\u00adtem with many French nouns, adjec\u00adtives and prepo\u00adsi\u00adtions. A few stray Eng\u00adlish and Gael\u00adic terms are in there, too. It does not fol\u00adlow the pat\u00adtern of any oth\u00ader known cre\u00adole, pid\u00adgin, or trade lan\u00adguage. For exam\u00adple, it retains intact the extreme\u00adly com\u00adplex Cree verb mor\u00adphol\u00ado\u00adgy, which is the sort of thing that\u2019s usu\u00adal\u00adly the first to go in a mixed lan\u00adguage. Michif is a lin\u00adguis\u00adtic puz\u00adzle, with\u00adout obvi\u00adous par\u00adal\u00adlel in any oth\u00ader lin\u00adguis\u00adtic or social sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion. The only oth\u00ader lan\u00adguage that is sim\u00adi\u00adlar is Bungee, spo\u00adken by a very few M\u00e9tis, in which Gael\u00adic replaces French as the main source of nouns and adjec\u00adtives. There are some peo\u00adple known to have been per\u00adfect\u00adly flu\u00adent in both Michif and Bungee \u2014 for exam\u00adple, James Isbis\u00adter, a farmer in Saskatchewan who was select\u00aded as one of the four del\u00ade\u00adgates (along with Gabriel Dumont) to recall Louis Riel from Mon\u00adtana to rep\u00adre\u00adsent the M\u00e9tis, was known to be flu\u00adent in both Michif and Bungee, as well as Cree, Eng\u00adlish, French, Gael\u00adic, and the com\u00adplete\u00adly unre\u00adlat\u00aded (and noto\u00adri\u00adous\u00adly dif\u00adfi\u00adcult) Den\u00e9 language. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nei\u00adther Michif nor Bungee were ever spo\u00adken by a major\u00adi\u00adty of M\u00e9tis in Cana\u00adda. French remained the most wide\u00adly spo\u00adken lan\u00adguage among them through\u00adout most of their his\u00adto\u00adry, and it dif\u00adfers only mod\u00ader\u00adate\u00adly from the rather con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive form of Stan\u00addard Cana\u00addi\u00adan French spo\u00adken in North\u00adern Ontario or the West. But Michif is respect\u00aded as a dis\u00adtinc\u00adtive ele\u00adment of M\u00e9tis cul\u00adture, like the pecu\u00adliar M\u00e9tis flag, which dates from 1815.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, the book is about the flag:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>L\u00e9<\/em><\/span> Michif <\/em>ch\u00e9\u00f1 <\/em><\/span>kek\u00adwiy izhitw\u00e1win ay\u00e1wak?\u201d kak\u00adwetwew Thomas. <\/em>[Do the M\u00e9tis peo\u00adple have any\u00adthing cul\u00adtur\u00adal?\u201d asked Thomas.]
\n<\/em>\u201cW\u00e9<\/em><\/span>, Thomas\u201d itiko.<\/em> [\u201cYes, Thomas,\u201d she said.]
\n<\/em>\u201cAe\u00f1 paviy\u00f3\u00f1 <\/em><\/span>kitay\u00e1n <\/em>li bleu pi li bl\u00e1\u00f1 <\/em><\/span>n\u00e1k\u00adwan ekwa <\/em>ae\u00f1 sin\u00e9 k\u00e1<\/em><\/span> nash\u00adpi\u00adtak <\/em>da\u00f1 la mid\u00adjeu <\/em><\/span>ahtew,\u201d O<\/em>mama<\/em><\/span>wa itik\u00f3. <\/em>[\u201cWe have our own flag. It\u2019s blue and white and has an infin\u00adi\u00adty sym\u00adbol in the mid\u00addle,\u201d his mom explained.]<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>L\u00e9 <\/em><\/span>Michif t\u00e1p\u00adwe\u00adta\u00admok<\/em> <\/span>la sin\u00e9 k\u00e1<\/em><\/span> nash\u00adpi\u00adtak <\/em>da\u00f1 li paviy\u00ado\u00f1<\/em><\/span> itwe makan <\/em>deu l\u00e9 m\u00f3nd<\/em><\/span> ozhitw\u00e1 wini\u00adw\u00e1wa e mamaw\u00adinakik ekwa ak\u00e1 w\u00e9k\u00e1ch chi ishkochimikoshichik, \u201c o<\/em>mama<\/em><\/span>wa w\u00e9tam\u00e1ko.<\/em> [\u201cThe M\u00e9tis peo\u00adple believe that the infin\u00adi\u00adty sym\u00adbol on the flag stands for the join\u00ading of two cul\u00adtures and the exis\u00adtence of a peo\u00adple for\u00adev\u00ader.\u201d his mom explained.]<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The words in red are clear\u00adly (at least to me) French-derived. Oth\u00ader French ele\u00adments may be there, but less obvi\u00adous. For exam\u00adple, the West\u00adern Cree for \u201chis moth\u00ader\u201d should be \u201cokaya<\/em>\u201d. But Cree speak\u00aders often say \u201comam\u00admawa<\/em>\u201d. The French \u201cmam\u00adman<\/em>\u201d may have been bor\u00adrowed into Cree before the for\u00adma\u00adtion of Michif, or after, or at the same time. Some speak\u00aders of Michif would use the French word \u201cpuis<\/em>\u201d rather than the Cree word \u201cekwa<\/em>\u201d [\u201cand now\u201d or \u201calong with\u201d] in this sen\u00adtence. Note that the Michif word for \u201cflag\u201d does not derive from the French word for flag (\u201cdra\u00adpeau<\/em>\u201d) but from \u201cpavil\u00adlon<\/em>\u201d, a more archa\u00adic word for a bat\u00adtle stan\u00addard or a cloth ban\u00adner. Many of the French ele\u00adments dif\u00adfer con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adably from the French which is simul\u00adta\u00adne\u00adous\u00adly spo\u00adken by the same peo\u00adple. The words of Cree deriva\u00adtion are not iden\u00adti\u00adcal to those used in speak\u00ading Cree, even though most Michif speak\u00aders are per\u00adfect\u00adly famil\u00adiar with that lan\u00adguage. [Com\u00adpare Cree \u201cnakatew<\/em>\u201d (to go away) with Michif \u201d ship\u00adway\u00adtay<\/em>\u201d, Cree \u201cnikamew<\/em>\u201d (to sing) with Michif \u201cnakamouw<\/em>\u201d.] These fea\u00adtures are among the most puz\u00adzling in the lan\u00adguage, since they don\u2019t fol\u00adlow the pat\u00adtern found in oth\u00ader mixed lan\u00adguages, and cre\u00adoles. Michif is def\u00adi\u00adnite\u00adly a true lan\u00adguage, not a pid\u00adgin (a pid\u00adgin is nev\u00ader used domes\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly, can\u00adnot express a full range of ideas and feel\u00adings, and is lim\u00adit\u00aded to for\u00admal exchanges between dif\u00adfer\u00adent lan\u00adguage com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties). It\u2019s sta\u00adtus as a liv\u00ading lan\u00adguage, no mat\u00adter how small the num\u00adber of speak\u00aders, is exem\u00adpli\u00adfied by the expres\u00adsion \u201cT\u00e1p\u00adwe\u00adsa miy\u00adon\u00e1k\u00adwan<\/em>\u201d for \u201cwow, this is cool\u201d [from Cree: \u201cTap\u00adwe miy\u00adon\u00adakwan<\/em>\u201d (\u201ctru\u00adly beau\u00adti\u00adful\u201d)] and by words bor\u00adrowed from Zati\u00adlyea\u00f1<\/em> (Ital\u00adian) such as \u201cpiz\u00adza<\/em>\u201d and \u201cspaghette<\/em>\u201d, or from Sh\u00e9n\u00adwe <\/em>(Chi\u00adnese).<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

The flag they are talk\u00ading about first appeared in 1815, when it was tak\u00aden up by M\u00e9tis who worked for the North\u00adwest Com\u00adpa\u00adny. It is assumed to be the \u201cinfin\u00adi\u00adty\u201d sym\u00adbol, which is open to all sorts of abstract inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtions, though there is no way of know\u00ading exact\u00adly what peo\u00adple meant by it at the time. Some claim that it incor\u00adpo\u00adrates the Scot\u00adtish flag of St. Andrew\u2019s Cross, with the bars fold\u00aded around each oth\u00ader. Scot\u00adtish names were more com\u00admon among Michif speak\u00aders than French ones. A vari\u00adant with the same sym\u00adbol on a red, rather than a blue field, was some\u00adtimes flown by M\u00e9tis who worked for the rival Hudson\u2019s Bay Com\u00adpa\u00adny. The blue one, which was car\u00adried at the Bat\u00adtle of Sev\u00aden Oaks in 1816, seems to have always been more pop\u00adu\u00adlar. It was not used dur\u00ading the upris\u00adings of 1869\u201370 and 1885, where Louis Riel\u2019s \u201cbuf\u00adfa\u00adlo\u201d flag was employed. But it remained in folk mem\u00ado\u00adry until revived in the mod\u00adern resur\u00adgence of M\u00e9tis culture. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a children\u2019s book pub\u00adlished in the Michif lan\u00adguage. It\u2019s quite a rar\u00adi\u00adty, since less than a thou\u00adsand peo\u00adple can speak the lan\u00adguage. But the M\u00e9tis com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty in Man\u00adi\u00adto\u00adba is deter\u00admined to pass the lan\u00adguage to the next generation. \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bs-reading-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=902"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1532,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902\/revisions\/1532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}