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87-468: Michif combines Cree and Métis French (Rhodes 1977, Bakker 1997:85), a variety of Canadian French, with some additional borrowing from English and indigenous languages of the Americas such as Ojibwe and Assiniboine . In general, Michif noun phrase phonology , lexicon , morphology , and syntax are derived from Métis French, while verb phrase phonology, lexicon, morphology, and syntax are from

174-428: A consonant , can be written four ways, each direction representing its corresponding vowel . Some dialects of Cree have up to seven vowels, so additional diacritics are placed after the syllabic to represent the corresponding vowels. Finals represent stand-alone consonants. The Cree language also has two semivowels . The semivowels may follow other consonants or be on their own in a word. The following tables show

261-596: A combined area of 1,780,650.6 km (687,513.0 sq mi), consisting of 640,081.87 km (247,136.99 sq mi) in Alberta, 552,329.52 km (213,255.62 sq mi) in Manitoba, and 588,239.21 km (227,120.43 sq mi) in Saskatchewan. Some of the prairie region of Canada has seen rapid growth from a boom in oil production since the mid-20th century. According to StatsCanada,

348-465: A complex polysynthetic morphosyntax. A common grammatical feature in Cree dialects, in terms of sentence structure, is non-regulated word order. Word order is not governed by a specific set of rules or structure; instead, "subjects and objects are expressed by means of inflection on the verb". Subject, Verb, and Object (SVO) in a sentence can vary in order, for example, SVO, VOS, OVS, and SOV. Obviation

435-805: A full-stop glyph ( ⟨᙮⟩ ) or a double em-width space has been used between words to signal the transition from one sentence to the next. For Plains Cree and Swampy Cree , Standard Roman Orthography (SRO) uses fourteen letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet to denote the dialect's ten consonants ( ⟨p⟩ , ⟨t⟩ , ⟨c⟩ , ⟨k⟩ , ⟨s⟩ , ⟨m⟩ , ⟨n⟩ , ⟨w⟩ , ⟨y⟩ and ⟨h⟩ ) and seven vowels ( ⟨a⟩ , ⟨i⟩ , ⟨o⟩ , ⟨ā⟩ , ⟨ī⟩ , ⟨ō⟩ and ⟨ē⟩ ). Upper case letters are not used. For more details on

522-704: A sequence such as larb the meaning is not simply 'tree' but 'the tree', where initial l has the meaning of 'the', and /l/ is initial only in a phonetic sense, but not in a phonological one, since it represents a distinct morpheme from arb , and thus arb must be considered phonologically vowel-initial. The voiced alveolar stop /d/ in French-origin words is palatalized to /dʒ/ in Michif, as in Acadian French . This may occur word-initially or word-internally before front vowels. Michif lacks

609-578: A southern variety of 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 gender and adjective agreement; Cree-origin verbs retain much of their polysynthetic structure. This suggests that instead of haltingly using words from another's tongue,

696-519: A unified spelling standard. Aside from local language differences, lack of a uniform spelling system can be attributed to Michif’s history as an oral language. Generally, Michif-speaking communities spell words as they are pronounced in regional dialects, creating much variation in spelling. Some systems are phonetic, with each letter having only one sound (often based on English standards), while other are etymological, with French-derived words spelled by French standards , and Cree-derived words spelled using

783-517: A vowel in French now begin with a consonant, the latter resulting from a variety of sources, including a liaison consonant. Their arguments are based on the fact that the expected liaison consonant (for example, /n/ ) will not show up and instead, the consonant will be /z/ , as in in zur 'a bear' The above authors cite over a dozen words with an unexpected initial consonant. Papen (2003, 2014) has countered this argument by showing that, statistically,

870-593: A work. The vowel ē /eː/ , used in southern Plains Cree, is always long and the grapheme ⟨e⟩ is never used. In northern Plains Cree the sound has merged with ī , and thus ⟨ē⟩ is not used at all. The use of unmarked ⟨o⟩ and marked ⟨ō⟩ for the phonemes /u/ and /oː/ emphasizes the relationship that can exist between these two vowels. There are situations where o can be lengthened to ō , as for example in ᓂᑲᒧ! nikamo! 'sing (now)!' and ᓂᑲᒨᐦᑲᐣ! nikamōhkan! 'sing (later)!'. In alphabetic writing,

957-565: Is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 86,475 indigenous people across Canada in 2021, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to Labrador . If considered one language, it is the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. The only region where Cree has any official status is in the Northwest Territories , alongside eight other aboriginal languages. There, Cree

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1044-464: Is also a key aspect of the Cree language(s). In a sense, the obviative can be defined as any third-person ranked lower on a hierarchy of discourse salience than some other (proximate) discourse-participant. "Obviative animate nouns, [in the Plains Cree dialect for instance], are marked by [a suffix] ending –a , and are used to refer to third persons who are more peripheral in the discourse than

1131-541: Is an adult learning center committed to the development of community based educational programs directed to adults and the whole family. The Institute has released DVD beginner lessons for both Michif and Michif French, which are also available online. As of 2013, the Northern Journal reports that "Aboriginal language and culture is becoming increasingly visible" in Alberta, as Alberta's Northland School Division, "serving mostly First Nations and Métis students in

1218-421: Is at least partially stratified, contrary to what Rosen (2007) proposes. In French, a liaison is used to bridge the gap between word-final and word-initial vowel sounds. Whether liaison still exists in Michif is a much discussed theoretical issue. Scholars such as Bakker (1997), Rhodes (1986), and Rosen (2007) have suggested that liaison no longer exists in Michif and that all words that etymologically began with

1305-1177: Is basically that of Cree (relatively free). However, the more French-origin elements are used, the closer the syntax seems to conform to norms of spoken French. A comparison of some common words in English, French, Michif, and Cree: Nouns: 83–94% French-origin; others are mostly Cree-origin, Ojibwe-origin, or English-origin Verbs: 88–99% Cree-origin Question words: Cree-origin Personal pronouns: Cree Postpositions: Cree-origin Prepositions: French-origin Conjunctions: 55% Cree-origin; 40% French-origin Numerals: French-origin Demonstratives: Cree-origin The Lord's Prayer in English, French, and Michif: Cree language Cree ( / k r iː / KREE ; also known as Cree– Montagnais – Naskapi )

1392-467: Is central to nationhood" and that "A government cannot legislate this identity and nationhood; the government can only recognize what is already in existence." Michif was (and is) central to the independent culture and nationhood of the Métis people. The Métis community is working toward language revitalization to keep this connection to their independent culture and nationhood. Métis cultural centres such as

1479-435: Is dropped in Michif. Examples of this process are listed in the table below. Rosen (2007) states that since all French-derived vowel-initial nouns in Michif have been lexicalized as consonant-initial, the French rule of elision, which deletes certain vowels (particularly schwa) before vowel-initial words, for ex., le copain 'the friend' but l'ami 'the friend'), cannot apply in Michif. Curiously, she admits that elision

1566-530: Is essentially a variety of Cree with a small number of French loanwords . Michif French is a variety of Canadian French with some Cree loanwords and syntax (word order). Michif used without any qualification can also describe the mixed language which borrows heavily from both Cree and French. According to theories of self-determination and self-identification , the GDI refers to all of these speech varieties as Michif because many Métis community members use

1653-399: Is estimated that only 24% of the original mixed prairie grassland remains. Fescue prairie occurs in the moister regions, occupying the northern extent of the prairies in central and southwestern Alberta and west-central Saskatchewan. The southwestern Canadian prairies, supporting brown and black soil types, are semi-arid and highly prone to frequent and severe droughts. The zones around

1740-597: Is not included in political use of the term. The prairies in Canada are a temperate grassland and shrubland biome within the prairie ecoregion of Canada that consists of northern mixed grasslands in Alberta, Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, as well as northern short grasslands in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. The Prairies Ecozone of Canada includes the northern tall grasslands in southern Manitoba and Aspen parkland, which covers central Alberta, central Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba. The Prairie starts from north of Edmonton and it covers

1827-449: Is not phonologically transparent, which means gender must be learned along with the noun. As is common in polysynthetic languages, a Cree word can be very long, and express something that takes a series of words in English. For example: kiskinohamātowikamikw know. CAUS . APPL . RECP .place kiskinohamātowikamikw know.CAUS.APPL.RECP.place 'school' ( lit. 'knowing-it-together-by-example place') This means that changing

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1914-838: Is potentially still active since vowel-initial English loanwords allow elision, as in un bol d'oatmeal 'a bowl of oatmeal'. Papen (2014) has countered that elision is, in fact, just as active in French-derived words as is liaison. For example, he examines Noun + di + Noun constructions (as in mwaa di zhanvjii vs. mwaa d'oktob 'month of January' vs. 'month of October') and finds that 100% of /i/ (from French schwa) are deleted before French-derived vowel-initial nouns. However, elision does not occur before Cree vowel-initial nouns. This strongly suggests that French phonological rules, such as liaison and elision still function in Michif, but that they apply only to French-derived words and not to Cree-derived ones, implying that Michif phonology

2001-470: Is shown that of these 640 speakers, only 30 are below 24 years of age. Furthermore, only 85 people declared Michif to be their main home language (45 their sole language); and of these, 65 were 50 or older. Unfortunately, these numbers do not reflect the actual number of speakers of the mixed variety of Michif in Canada, since the statistical survey did not differentiate between regional differences, including Michif Cree, Michif French, or mixed Michif. In 2021,

2088-698: Is spoken mainly in Fort Smith and Hay River . Endonyms are: Cree is believed to have begun as a dialect of the Proto-Algonquian language spoken between 2,500 and 3,000 years ago in the original Algonquian homeland , an undetermined area thought to be near the Great Lakes. The speakers of the proto-Cree language are thought to have moved north, and diverged rather quickly into two different groups on each side of James Bay . The eastern group then began to diverge into separate dialects, whereas

2175-488: Is synonymous with the genesis of the Michif language. Both the language and the nation are creations of the Creator/God— and are symbiotic to each other. The creation of a specific language for Metis people allowed for a collective identity, where Michif speakers could take action together to protect traditional territories and homelands, and share a collective history. In 2021, the number of Michif speakers in Canada

2262-539: Is used in Eastern dialects where s and š are distinct phonemes. In other dialects, s is used even when pronounced like [ʃ] . ⟨l⟩ and ⟨r⟩ are used natively in Moose and Attikamek Cree, but in other dialects only for loanwords. The stops, p , t , k , and the affricate, c , can be pronounced either voiced or unvoiced, but the symbols used for writing these sounds all correspond to

2349-790: Is used. John John cî Q kî-mîciso-w PST -eat- 3SG Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada . It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie provinces , namely Alberta , Saskatchewan , and Manitoba . These provinces are partially covered by grasslands , plains , and lowlands , mostly in

2436-687: The Conservative Party of Canada has widespread support throughout the region at both federal and provincial levels, the New Democratic Party holds seats at the provincial level in all three provinces, and takes turns with Conservatives or another right-wing party at provincial government. The NDP holds seats at the federal level in Alberta and Manitoba. The Liberal Party of Canada often holds seats in Alberta and Manitoba; it presently holds four federal seats in Winnipeg, while

2523-534: The Hudson Bay , the shield is predominantly forested. Three main grassland types occur in the Canadian prairies: tallgrass prairie , mixed grass prairie , and fescue prairie (or using the WWF terminology, northern tall grasslands , northern mixed grasslands , and northern short grasslands ). Each has a unique geographic distribution and characteristic mix of plant species. All but a fraction of one per cent of

2610-644: The fur trade posits that the Western Woods Cree and the Plains Cree (and therefore their dialects) did not diverge from other Cree peoples before 1670, when the Cree expanded out of their homeland near James Bay because of access to European firearms. By contrast, James Smith of the Museum of the American Indian stated, in 1987, that the weight of archeological and linguistic evidence puts

2697-469: The proximate third person". For example: Sam Sam wâpam- ew see- 3SG Susan- a Susan- 3OBV Sam wâpam- ew Susan- a Sam see-3SG Susan-3OBV "Sam sees Susan." The suffix -a marks Susan as the obviative, or 'fourth' person, the person furthest away from the discourse. The Cree language has grammatical gender in a system that classifies nouns as animate or inanimate. The distribution of nouns between animate or inanimate

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2784-492: The syllabaries of Eastern and Western Cree dialects, respectively: Speakers of various Cree dialects have begun creating dictionaries to serve their communities. Some projects, such as the Cree Language Resource Project, are developing an online bilingual Cree dictionary for the Cree language. Cree syllabics has not commonly or traditionally used the period ( ⟨.⟩ ). Instead, either

2871-488: The y dialect, refer to their language as nēhi y awēwin , whereas Woods Cree speakers say nīhi th awīwin , and Swampy Cree speakers say nēhi n awēwin . Another important phonological variation among the Cree dialects involves the palatalisation of Proto-Algonquian *k : East of the Ontario–Quebec border (except for Atikamekw), Proto-Algonquian *k has changed into /tʃ/ or /ts/ before front vowels. See

2958-650: The " territories ." The first Europeans to see the Prairies were fur traders and explorers from eastern Canada (mainly present-day Quebec ) and Great Britain via Hudson Bay . They gave rise to the Métis , working class "children of the fur trade." During their settlement by Europeans, the prairies were settled in distinct ethnic block settlements giving areas distinctively British , Ukrainian , German , French , or Scandinavian Canadian cultures. Farm family operations predominate, where families supplement their cash income with home-grown farm produce. Grain crops are

3045-754: The "Standard Roman Orthography" system. In 2004, Robert Papen proposed a new system that was mostly phonetic. The government of Manitoba published a translation of its annual report on The Path to Reconciliation Act in Michif in June 2017. Its choice of spelling system can be seen in this extract: "Chimooshakinitoohk" aen itwayhk Kwaayeshchi Kanawaapinitoohk, chi nishtotaatoohk paarmii lii atoktonn pi lii blaan pour chi ooshitaahk chi li Trustiihk, mina kayaash chi nishtotamihk ka kii itawyhk mina chi kii kayhk pi mina kaahkiiyow chi maamoo atooshkayhk. Here, as in Papen's system, different vowel qualities are marked by writing

3132-578: The "prairie protest" movements. Radical solutions are sometimes considered sound in the more open western culture. Organized Farmer groups and politicized labour groups were a feature of the inter-war years. The One Big Union was founded on the Prairies; the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was the biggest general strike in Canadian history. The United Farmers of Alberta was the longest-lasting post-WWI Farmer government in Canada. Monetary reform (Social Credit) elected its first government in

3219-559: The 1880s. Canada's first rodeo, the Raymond Stampede , was established in 1902. These influences are also evident in the music of Canada's Prairie Provinces . This can be attributed partially to the massive influx of American settlers who began to migrate to Alberta (and to a lesser extent, Saskatchewan) in the late 1880s because of the lack of available land in the United States. The Prairie Provinces have given rise to

3306-399: The Canadian prairies are very important to study as these locations make up 80% of the country's agricultural production . On average, 454 mm of precipitation falls on the prairies each year. Out of the three prairie provinces, Saskatchewan obtains the least amount of precipitation annually (395 mm), with Manitoba receiving the most at 486 mm. Most rainfall typically happens in

3393-577: The Cree as far west as the Peace River Region of Alberta before European contact. The Cree dialect continuum can be divided by many criteria. Dialects spoken in northern Ontario and the southern James Bay, Lanaudière, and Mauricie regions of Quebec differentiate /ʃ/ (sh as in sh e ) and /s/ , while those to the west have merged the two phonemes as /s/ and in the east the phonemes are merged as either /ʃ/ or /h/ . In several dialects, including northern Plains Cree and Woods Cree,

3480-454: The Cree gender (animate or inanimate) is that of the corresponding Cree noun. Adjectives are French-origin (Cree has no adjectives), and as in French they are either pre- or postnominal. Prenominal adjectives agree in gender (like French), however, postnominal adjectives do not agree in gender (unlike French). The verb phrase is that of Plains Cree-origin with little reduction (there are no dubitative or preterit verb forms). Michif word order

3567-569: The European languages. Today, all Michif speakers are also fluent (if not dominant) in English, and Metis adult and youth speak English (or French and English) as their first language(s). The reason why Michif has so few speakers and is in need of active revitalization efforts is a direct result of colonization . Judy Iseke, an Albertan Metis scholar, argues that “language shift towards English and other colonial languages in Indigenous communities

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3654-622: The French elements were pronounced in ways that have distinctively Canadian French values for the vowels, while the Cree elements have distinctively Cree values for vowels. Nonetheless, there is some Cree influence on French words in the stress system (Rosen 2006). But by the year 2000 there were Michif speakers who had collapsed the two systems into a single system (Rosen 2007). Michif has eleven oral vowels and four nasalized vowels. The following four vowels are nasalized in Michif: A schwa /ə/ appearing between two consonants in French-origin words

3741-548: The French word Métis . Some Métis people prefer this word ( Michif ) to describe their nationality when speaking English and use it for anything related to Métis people, including any languages they happen to speak. According to the Gabriel Dumont Institute (GDI), the word Michif , when used for a language, is used to describe at least three distinct types of speech. Northern Michif (in Saskatchewan)

3828-785: The Michif Cultural and Métis Resource Institute in St. Albert, Alberta , the Métis Culture and Heritage Resource Centre in Winnipeg , and the Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research are attempting to revive the language through public outreach. Additionally, The Louis Riel Institute (LRI), which is the education department of the Manitoba Metis Federation in Winnipeg,

3915-778: The Plains Cree [j] that is [ð] in Rocky Cree as ⟨ý⟩ . Similarly, in dictionaries focused on Western Swampy Cree, Woods Cree may readily substitute ⟨ē⟩ with ⟨ī⟩ , while materials accommodating Woods Cree will indicate the Western Swampy Cree [n] that is [ð] in Woods Cree as ⟨ń⟩ . Atikamekw uses ⟨c⟩ [ ʃ ], ⟨tc⟩ [ t͡ʃ ], and ⟨i⟩ [ j ] (which also serves as ⟨i⟩ [ i ]). Eastern James Bay Cree prefers to indicate long vowels (other than [eː] ) by doubling

4002-611: The U.S.. There are about 50 speakers in Alberta , all over age 60. There are some 230 speakers of Michif in the United States (down from 390 at the 1990 census), most of whom live in North Dakota, particularly in the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation . There are around 300 Michif speakers in the Northwest Territories , northern Canada . In Metis communities’, there has been a clear shift towards

4089-428: The United States (down from 390 at the 1990 census), most of whom live in North Dakota, particularly in the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation . There are around 300 Michif speakers in the Northwest Territories , northern Canada . In 2011, Statistics Canada reported 640 Michif speakers located mainly in Saskatchewan (40.6%), Manitoba (26.6%), and Alberta (11.7%). In the cross-reference provided by Statistics Canada, it

4176-575: The area; The long daylight hours in this region during the summer are an asset despite having an even shorter growing season than central Alberta. In fact, agriculture plays a major economic role in the Peace Region. In the Canadian 2021 Census , the Canadian prairie provinces had a population of 6,737,293 consisting of 4,262,635 in Alberta, 1,342,153 in Manitoba, and 1,132,505 in Saskatchewan, up 4.6% from 6,443,892 in 2016. The three provinces have

4263-524: The case of the Métis, the men were often immigrants, whereas the women were native to the region. If the bilingual children need to use either of their parents' languages to converse with outsiders, it is most likely to be the language of their mothers. Thus, the model of language-mixing predicts that Michif should have a Cree grammatical system and French lexicon. Michif, however, has Cree verb phrases and French noun phrases. The explanation for this unusual distribution of Cree and French elements in Michif lies in

4350-469: The character doubled ("a" vs. "aa") instead of using diacritical marks as usual for Cree. For consistency, this system is also extended to the French-derived words so that French les bl a ncs ('whites') becomes lii bl aa n but les au tochtones ('the indigenous') becomes lii a toktonn . Nouns are almost always accompanied by a French-origin determiner or a possessive. Cree-origin demonstratives can be added to noun phrases, in which case

4437-400: The cities of Regina and immediately east of Calgary are also very dry. Most heavy precipitation quickly dissipates by the time it passes Cheadle on its way heading east. In an average year, southern Saskatchewan receives between 30–51 cm (12–20 in) of precipitation, with the majority falling between April and June. Frost from October to April (and sometimes even early May) limits

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4524-480: The creation of the Michif people and their language was told to Elder Brousse Flammand (currently the president of the Michif kaa-piikishkwaychik, or Michif Speakers Association) by his grandparents (born 1876 and 1886). The information he gives is also told by other Michif speakers, who agree that the language was given to the Michif peoples by the Creator/God. He states that the genesis of the Michif person/nation

4611-508: The dialects which use syllabics as their orthography (including Atikamekw but excluding Kawawachikamach Naskapi), the term Montagnais then applies to those dialects using the Latin script (excluding Atikamekw and including Kawawachikamach Naskapi). The term Naskapi typically refers to Kawawachikamach (y-dialect) and Natuashish (n-dialect). The Cree dialects can be broadly classified into nine groups. Roughly from west to east: This table shows

4698-470: The economy took another turn with technological advancements that allowed for the discovery of uranium, oil, and potash. The Prairies are distinguished from the rest of Canada by cultural and political traits. The oldest influence on Prairie culture are the First Nations , who have inhabited this region for millennia. This region has the highest proportion of Indigenous people in Canada , outside of

4785-412: The energy industry, causing the jobs supporting this industry to grow as well. It was through the steady economic growth that followed this explosion that the prairies region began to switch from an agriculture-based job sector to one with services included. In 2014, the global market for oil fell and led to a recession, impacting the economy dramatically. Alberta still has an oil-dominant economy even as

4872-491: The growing season for certain crops. The eastern section of the Canadian prairies in Manitoba is well watered with several large lakes such as Lake Winnipeg and several large rivers. The area also gets reasonable amounts of precipitation. The middle sections of Alberta and Saskatchewan are also wetter than the south and have better farmland, despite having a shorter frost-free season. The areas around Edmonton and Saskatoon are especially notable as good farmland. Both lie in

4959-407: The language phonetically. Cree is always written from left to right horizontally. The easternmost dialects are written using the Latin script exclusively. The dialects of Plains Cree, Woods Cree, and western Swampy Cree use Western Cree syllabics and the dialects of eastern Swampy Cree, East Cree, Moose Cree, and Naskapi use Eastern Cree syllabics . In Cree syllabics, each symbol, which represents

5046-457: The long vowels /eː/ and /iː/ have merged into a single vowel, /iː/ . In the Quebec communities of Chisasibi , Whapmagoostui , and Kawawachikamach , the long vowel /eː/ has merged with /aː/ . However, the most transparent phonological variation between different Cree dialects are the reflexes of Proto-Algonquian *l in the modern dialects, as shown below: The Plains Cree, speakers of

5133-400: The main cash crop, but mixed farming had natural advantages in the wooded areas of the parkland and boreal forest to the north. Local conditions attrracted particular ethnicities. Those of Ukrainians and Polish heritage were drawn to the parkland of east north-central Alberta. Southern Alberta is renowned for its cowboy culture, which developed when real open range ranching was practiced in

5220-507: The northern area of the Palliser's Triangle, and are within aspen parkland a transitional prairie ecozone. Further north, the area becomes too cold for most agriculture besides wild rice operations and sheep raising, and it is dominated by boreal forest . The Peace Region in northwestern Alberta is an exception, however. It lies north of the 55th Parallel and is warm and dry enough to support extensive farming. Aspen parkland covers

5307-446: The northern part of the province" has expanded its community partnerships and culture camps. Michif as recorded starting in the 1970s combined two separate phonological systems: one for French origin elements, and one for Cree origin elements (Rhodes 1977, 1986). For instance, /y/ , /l/ , /r/ and /f/ exist only in French words, whereas preaspirated stops such as /ʰt/ and /ʰk/ exist only in Cree words. In this variety of Michif,

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5394-473: The number of Michif speakers in Canada was reported to be 1,845. However, the number of fluent Michif speakers is estimated at fewer than 1,000. It was probably double or triple this number at the close of the 19th century, but never much higher. Currently, Michif is spoken in scattered Métis communities in the Canadian prairie provinces of Saskatchewan , Manitoba , and Alberta , and in North Dakota in

5481-473: 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 . 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. The word Michif is from a variant pronunciation of

5568-494: The phonetic values of these letters or variant orthographies, see the § Phonology section above. The /ð/ sound of Woods Cree is written ⟨th⟩ , or ⟨ð⟩ in more recent material. Plains and Swampy material written to be cross-dialectical often modify ⟨y⟩ to ⟨ý⟩ and ⟨n⟩ to ⟨ñ⟩ when those are pronounced /ð/ in Swampy. ⟨š⟩

5655-429: The polysynthetic nature of Cree morphology. In Cree, verbs can be very complex with up to twenty morphemes, incorporated nouns and unclear boundaries between morphemes. In other words, in Cree verbs it is very difficult to separate grammar from lexicon. As a result, in Michif the grammatical and bound elements are almost all Cree, and the lexical and free elements are almost all French; verbs are almost totally Cree, because

5742-511: The possible consonant phonemes in the Cree language or one of its varieties. In dictionaries focused on Eastern Swampy Cree, Western Swampy Cree may readily substitute ⟨sh⟩ with ⟨s⟩ , while Lowland Moose Cree may readily substitute ⟨ñ⟩ with their ⟨l⟩ . In dictionaries focused on Southern Plains Cree, Northern Plains Cree may readily substitute ⟨ē⟩ with ⟨ī⟩ , while materials accommodating Rocky Cree will indicate

5829-428: The prairie provinces had a population of 6,443,892 in 2016. In 2021, the population had grown by 4.5% to 6,737,293. In the mid 20th century, the economy of the prairies exploded, due to the oil boom, and introduced a growth of jobs. The primary industries are agriculture and services. Agriculture consisting of livestock (cattle and sheep), cultivating crops (oats, canola, wheat, barley), and production of oil. Due to

5916-598: The precipitation pattern of the region . The majority of the prairie provinces experience snowy, fully humid continental climates with cool summers, also known as class Dfc on the Köppen climate scale. The southernmost regions of the prairies tend to experience fully humid continental climates with warm summers, Dfb. A trifling section surrounding the Alberta-Saskatchewan border has been classified as Bsk, semi-cold and arid climate . Precipitation events in

6003-410: The production of oil, the service industry expanded in order to provide for the employees of the oil companies extracting the oil. In the 1950s-1970s, the explosion of oil production increased the worth of Alberta, allowing it to become the "nation's richest province" and Canada one of the top petroleum exporters in the world. Edmonton and Calgary drew in a larger population with the increase in jobs in

6090-676: The region. Although the Prairie Provinces region is named for the prairies located within Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the physical geography of the three provinces is quite diverse, consisting of portions of the Canadian Shield , the Western Cordillera and the Canadian Interior Plains . The plains comprise both prairies and forests while, with the exception of freshwater along

6177-532: The southern regions. The northernmost reaches of the Canadian Prairies are less dense in population, marked by forests and more variable topography . If the region is defined to include areas only covered by prairie land, the corresponding region is known as the Interior Plains . Physical or ecological aspects of the Canadian Prairies extend to northeastern British Columbia , but that area

6264-402: The summer months such as June and July. With the high humidity of the prairies, tornadoes are likely to occur—marking central Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba as high probability areas. Approximately 72% of tornadoes in Canada are seen across the prairies due to the capability of summer thunderstorm precipitation to mechanically mix with the air adjacent to the relatively flat surface of

6351-493: The table above for examples in the * kīla column. Very often the Cree dialect continuum is divided into two languages: Cree and Montagnais. Cree includes all dialects which have not undergone the *k > /tʃ/ sound change (BC–QC) while Montagnais encompasses the territory where this sound change has occurred (QC–NL). These labels are very useful from a linguistic perspective but are confusing as East Cree then qualifies as Montagnais. For practical purposes, Cree usually covers

6438-562: The tallgrass prairie has been converted to cropland. What remains occurs on the 6,000 km (2,300 sq mi) plain centred in the Red River Valley in Manitoba. Mixed prairie is more common and is part of the dry interior plains that extend from Canada south to the U.S. state of Texas . More than half of the remaining native grassland in the Canadian prairies is mixed. Though widespread in southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta, because of extensive cattle grazing, it

6525-461: The term that way, even though these varieties are widely different in their linguistic details. The remainder of this article deals primarily with the mixed language that has many features from both French and Cree. In languages of mixed ethnicities, the language of the mother usually provides the grammatical system, while the language of the father provides the lexicon. The reasons are as follows: children tend to know their mother's language better; in

6612-619: The three provinces in a southward-slanting line east to the Manitoba– Minnesota border. Alberta has the most land classified as prairie, while Manitoba has the least, as the boreal forest begins more southerly in Manitoba than in Alberta. The core climate of the Canadian prairie region is defined as a semi- arid climate and is often based upon the Köppen climate classification system. This type of classification encompasses five main climate types, with several categoric subtypes based on

6699-403: The traditional oil wells dry up; there are oil sands further north (i.e. Fort McMurray ) that continue to provide jobs to extract, drill and refine the oil. Saskatchewan, in particular, in the early 20th century grew economically due to the Canadian agricultural boom and produce large crops of wheat. It is said to have a "one-crop economy" due to such dependency on this crop alone, but after 1945

6786-444: The unvoiced pronunciation, e.g. ⟨p⟩ not ⟨b⟩ , ⟨t⟩ not ⟨d⟩ , etc. The phoneme /t͡s/ is represented by ⟨c⟩ , as it is in various other languages . Long vowels are denoted with either a macron , as in ⟨ā⟩ , or a circumflex , as in ⟨â⟩ . Use of either the macron or circumflex is acceptable, but usage should be consistent within

6873-418: The use of punctuation has been inconsistent. For instance, in the Plains Cree dialect, the interrogative enclitic cî can be included in the sentence to mark a yes–no question such that this is sometimes considered to be sufficient without including a question mark (?). However, in many modern publications and text collections ( cf. The Counselling Speeches of Jim Kâ-Nîpitêhtêw (1998) ) full punctuation

6960-467: The vast majority of so-called initial consonants in Michif reflect the expected liaison consonant and that only about 13% of so-called initial consonants are unexpected. Moreover, Papen points out that one of the so-called initial consonant is /l/ , which in nearly all cases, represents the elided definite article l (from li ), in which case it cannot be a liaison consonant, since liaison consonants may not have grammatical or semantic meaning. Thus in

7047-442: The verb consists of grammatical and bound elements. Seen in this way, it can be argued that Michif is fundamentally Cree, but with heavy French borrowing (somewhat like Maltese , a mixed Arabic-Italian language classified as fundamentally Arabic). The Métis in addition have their own variety of French with Cree borrowings – Métis French . The genesis of the Michif peoples and language has been passed through generations. The story of

7134-466: The vowel, while the western Cree use either a macron or circumflex diacritic; as [eː] is always long, often it is written as just ⟨e⟩ without doubling or using a diacritic. While Western Cree dialects make use of ⟨o⟩ and either ⟨ō⟩ or ⟨ô⟩ , Eastern Cree dialects instead make use of ⟨u⟩ and either ⟨uu⟩ , ⟨ū⟩ , or ⟨û⟩ . Cree features

7221-501: The western grouping probably broke into distinct dialects much later. After this point it is very difficult to make definite statements about how different groups emerged and moved around, because there are no written works in the languages to compare, and descriptions by Europeans are not systematic; as well, Algonquian people have a tradition of bilingualism and even of outright adopting a new language from neighbours. A traditional view among 20th-century anthropologists and historians of

7308-471: The word order in Cree can place emphasis on different pieces of the sentence. Wolfart and Carroll give the following example by transposing the two Cree words: Cree dialects, except for those spoken in eastern Quebec and Labrador , are traditionally written using Cree syllabics , a variant of Canadian Aboriginal syllabics , but can be written with the Latin script as well. Both writing systems represent

7395-421: The world in Alberta in 1932. Preston Manning's Reform Party, 1987 to 2000, had its strongest support among Prairie voters. These political movements (both of the left and right) tend to feed off of well established feelings of Western alienation , and each one represents a distinct challenge to the perceived Central Canadian elite. The Prairies continue to have a wide range of political representation. While

7482-453: Was not a ‘natural’ process but rather was a shift towards the decline of Indigenous languages, propelled by colonial schooling designed to ‘civilize’ Indigenous children and turn them into citizens conforming to 'white' standards." Revitalizing the Michif language is important to Métis people. Language is regarded as culturally significant and holds more value than just the attributes studied by linguists. Elder Brousse Flammand writes "Language

7569-483: Was reported to be 1,845. However, the number of fluent Michif speakers is estimated at fewer than 1,000. It was probably double or triple this number at the close of the 19th century, but never much higher. Currently, Michif is spoken in scattered Métis communities in the Canadian prairie provinces of Saskatchewan , Manitoba , and Alberta , and in North Dakota in the U.S.. There are about 50 speakers in Alberta , all over age 60. There are some 230 speakers of Michif in

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