Ethnolinguistic profile of the Canadian Metis


Book Description

Focusing upon the Mission Métis of Lac la Biche, the author examines the use of French, Cree, and English as a means of garnering insight into the mechanisms of western Canadian Métis cultural and linguistic variation. He concludes that the relationship of the people to their environment is inextricably bound to an understanding of their language and culture and that the delineation of cultural boundaries is, therefore, a highly complex matter.




Ethnolinguistic Profile of the Canadian Metis


Book Description

Traces the ethnolinguistic development of the Canadian Metis in general and the Mission Metis of Lac La Biche, Alberta in particular. The author hopes to show how multilingualism and composite worldviews can evolve into single factors without cultural loss and perception of self is the ultimate criterian for a realistic assessment of acculturation.




Consonant Harmony


Book Description

A revised version of the author's 2001 doctoral dissertation.




Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas


Book Description

“An absolutely unique work in linguistics publishing – full of beautiful maps and authoritative accounts of well-known and little-known language encounters. Essential reading (and map-viewing) for students of language contact with a global perspective.” Prof. Dr. Martin Haspelmath, Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionäre Anthropologie The two text volumes cover a large geographical area, including Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, South -East Asia (Insular and Continental), Oceania, the Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, Mongolia, Central Asia, the Caucasus Area, Siberia, Arctic Areas, Canada, Northwest Coast and Alaska, United States Area, Mexico, Central America, and South America. The Atlas is a detailed, far-reaching handbook of fundamental importance, dealing with a large number of diverse fields of knowledge, with the reported facts based on sound scholarly research and scientific findings, but presented in a form intelligible to non-specialists and educated lay persons in general.







A Language of Our Own : The Genesis of Michif, the Mixed Cree-French Language of the Canadian Metis


Book 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.




Fort Chipewyan and the Shaping of Canadian History, 1788-1920s


Book Description

The story of the expansion of civilization into the wilderness continues to shape perceptions of how Aboriginal people became part of nations such as Canada. Patricia McCormack subverts this narrative of modernity by examining nation building from the perspective of a northern community and its residents. Fort Chipewyan, she argues, was never an isolated Aboriginal community but a plural society at the crossroads of global, national, and local forces. By tracing the events that led its Aboriginal residents to sign Treaty No. 8 and their struggle to maintain autonomy thereafter, this groundbreaking study shows that Aboriginal peoples and others can and have become modern without relinquishing cherished beliefs and practices.




The Western Métis


Book Description

This book contains a collection of articles concerning the Western Metis, published in Prairie Forum between 1978 and 2007. These articles have been chosen for the breadth and scope of the investigations upon which they are based, and for the reflections they will arouse in anyone interested in Western Canadian history and politics.




Native People, Native Lands


Book Description

The changing roles of native women, devices for assimilation, the re-birth of the Metis: these are among the issues examined in this collection of provocative essays which explore the link between aboriginal culture and economic patterns.