A Language of Our Own

The Genesis of Michif, the Mixed Cree-French Language of the Canadian Métis

Peter Bakker

Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics

A Language of Our Own

The Genesis of Michif, the Mixed Cree-French Language of the Canadian Métis

Peter Bakker

Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics

Description

The Michif language — spoken by descendants of French Canadian fur traders and Cree Indians in western Canada — is considered an "impossible language" since it uses French for nouns and Cree for verbs, and comprises two different sets of grammatical rules. Bakker uses historical research and fieldwork data to present the first detailed analysis of this language and how it came into being.

A Language of Our Own

The Genesis of Michif, the Mixed Cree-French Language of the Canadian Métis

Peter Bakker

Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics

Author Information

Peter Bakker, Researcher, University of Aarhus, Denmark

A Language of Our Own

The Genesis of Michif, the Mixed Cree-French Language of the Canadian Métis

Peter Bakker

Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics

Reviews and Awards

A language of our own is an extremely valuable book, not only for linguistics, but also for many other disciplines outside linguistics. Throughout the book Bakker is careful and complete. He remains calm and analytical. He does not let popular ideas distract him; he takes nothing for granted. His writing style is very pleasant. At times it can be read as an exciting novel, and his choice of vocabulary makes it so the book can be read by a relatively broad audience. - The Carrier Pidgin, Vol 28 No 1-3,

Peter Bakker's book is an excellent account of the birth of Michif ... Bakker's monograph is the first detailed account of the birth of a mixed language, and hopefully it will be the start of a rich tradition ... This is a pioneering work of high quality that deserves to be followed up by more studies in this field. - The Carrier Pidgin, Vol 28, No 1-3

"Bakker's work is of great originality and erudition—and even greater ambition: there has been no comparable attempt to deal with an issue that is so intractable and at the same time of such surpassing interest for the theory of language contact and linguistic theory itself."—H.C. Wolfart, University of Manitoba -

"A major contribution, this book presents a sensible, intensively researched solution to a problem that has long challenged scholars....Linguists, historians, and all students of Métis culture and history will be much in debt to Peter Bakker for his analytical breakthroughs in this field."—Jennifer S.H. Brown, University of Winnipeg -