Michif phonology

Michif as recorded starting in the 1970s combined two separate phonological systems: one for French origin elements, and one for Cree origin elements (Rhodes 1977, 1986). For instance, /y/, /l/, /r/ and /f/ exist only in French words, whereas preaspirated stops such as and  exist only in Cree words. In this variety of Michif, the French elements were pronounced in ways that have distinctively Canadian French values for the vowels, while the Cree elements have distinctively Cree values for vowels. Nonetheless, there is some Cree influence on French words in the stress system (Rosen 2006). But by the year 2000 there were Michif speakers who had collapsed the two systems into a single system (Rosen 2007).

Vowels
Michif has eleven oral vowels and four nasalized vowels.

Nasalized Vowels
The following four vowels are nasalized in Michif:



Schwa-Deletion
A schwa /ə/ appearing between two consonants in French-origin words is dropped in Michif. Examples of this process are listed in the table below.

Liaison consonants
In French, a liaison is used to bridge the gap between word-final and word-initial vowel sounds. This process does not occur in Michif, though some remnants of it are evident. For many nouns, liaison consonants become integrated into the noun itself.

Palatalization
The voiced alveolar stop /d/ in French-origin words, normally palatalized to /dz/ before /i/ or /y/ in Canadian French, is fully affricated in Michif. This may occur word-initially or word-internally.