Métis French

Métis French (français métis), along with Michif and Bungi, is one of the traditional languages of the Métis people, and the French-dialect source of Michif. Métis French is a variety of Canadian French with some added characters such as Ññ, Áá, Óó, and Ææ (from older French spellings) (example, il ñá ócun nævus sur ce garçon English: "there is no birthmark on this boy") and words loaned from indigenous languages such as Ojibwe, Beaver and Cree. Like Michif, Métis French is spoken in Manitoba and North Dakota and adjacent provinces or states. As a general rule, Métis individuals speak one or the other, rarely both. Métis French and Michif share a common phonology and morphosyntax for the noun phrase but differ as to their sources for the verb phrase which is Ojibwe-Cree based in Michif, French-based in Métis French. Examples of this loaning can be found in words such as cacúare qɑˈkwɑʁ from the Cree word, kakwe "to try/attempt" which maintains its Cree meaning with the additional colloquial use of "to wander" as in il á cacúu là English: "he wandered there" which suggests that the subject wandered with little control of his own feet; in the word ttonne tʼɔn meaning "wolf" or "loyal" (in a pack-like sense) when used as an adjective from the word for wolf in Beaver, ch'one or in the words jaganache ʒagɑ̃ʃ meaning "white/non-Métis" person from the Ojibwe word zhaganash and minapæ mɛ̃nape from the Cree word for "good person", miyo-nâpêw though in Métis French it is closer to the word "mec" (guy) and implies that the word refers someone that the speaker knows personally.