Métis French is part English :)
Métis, circa 1825 (image credit: Wikipedia)
When I look through a dictionary of Michif (mixed Cree-French language of Métis people, just possibly one of Chinuk Wawa’s ancestor languages), I see a good deal of French + English blending…
And this has implications for Chinuk Wawa’s several words that have possible etymologies in both languages, similar to what I recently wrote about tanis ‘dance’.
Here are some beautiful samples from Laverdure & Allard’s dictionary of Michif (hayu masi to Dale McCreery for a copy).
One category of such blends, it turns out, are key terms in Métis history, so I’m thinking they go way back to Red River Colony days if not earlier:
- ‘jig’ (a dance style): la jig
- ‘a reel’ (a dance style): en ril
- ‘wagon’: li wawgoon
- ‘a sleigh’: en slee
- ‘farm’: la farm
And there are more recent words:
- ‘polka’: li poka [sic]
- ‘job’: la job
- ‘a forget-me-not’ (a flower): aen forget-me-not
I suspect it’s worth pointing out that there’s probably been a bit of English in Métis speech for a long time, and it could’ve affected the course of Chinook Jargon’s development to some extent.