While we often talk about differences between languages or dialects, sometimes it can be useful to have something made visual. The following is a picture of two short texts – one in Michif from an elder in the Turtle Mountains, and the other a Plains Cree story. In the first story, there’s only six words that I’ve highlighted that a fluent (southern) Michif speaker would likely not know if they hadn’t been exposed to Cree previously, while for a Cree speaker listening to Michif, look how much is different.
In a later blog post I will go over the specific differences between Michif and Cree, looking at some clear examples from Northern Michif. Happy learning!