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Choice and balance in Michif negation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

H.C. Wolfart
H.C. Wolfart*
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba
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Abstract

The Michif language, while distinct from both Cree and French, combines a largely French-based nominal complex with a largely Cree-based verbal system. The syntax of negation cuts across these dimensions. Declarative sentences in Michif show the Cree-based negator namô and the French-based nô interchangeably. (This is also the only context for pas.) Imperatives, by contrast, demand the Cree-based êkâ (ya) exclusively.

In subordinate clauses, Michif permits either êkâ or nô. In Cree, all such constructions require the deontic negator êkâ. The integration of the two Cree-based negation types and the French-based no and pas into a single new system in Michif poses not only problems of constituency and syntactic analysis. It also raises once again the thorny question of balance: Is the imbrication of Cree and French symmetrical, or is one of the two languages dominant?

Résumé

Résumé

La langue michif, bien que distincte à la fois du cri et du français, réunit dans ses structures grammaticales un complexe nominal s’inspirant en grande partie du français et un complexe verbal principalement d’inspiration crie. La syntaxe de la négation du michif touche aux deux dimensions. Dans les phrases déclaratives en michif, on trouve de façon interchangeable les particules de négation namô, qui vient du cri, et nô, qui vient du français. (C’est aussi le seul contexte où l’on trouve pas). Par contre, les impératifs exigent exclusivement le mot cri êkâ(ya). Dans les subordonnées, le michif permet êka ou nô. En cri, toutes les constructions de ce type exigent la particule de négation déontique êkâ. L’intégration des deux types de négation cris et ceux du français nô et pas dans un nouveau système unique en michif pose des problèmes d’analyse syntaxique et des constituents. Cette intégration soulève également à nouveau la question épineuse de l’équilibre: l’imbrication du cri et du français, est-elle symétrique, ou y a-t-il domination de la part de l’une ou de l’autre?

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 115 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2010 

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