Bungee language

Language
name=Bungee
nativename=Bungi
familycolor=Indo-European
countries=Canada
region=Red River Colony and Assiniboia, Manitoba, Canada
extinct=nearly extinct
fam2=Germanic
fam3=West Germanic
fam4=Anglo-Frisian
fam5=Anglic
iso2=gem

Bungee (also Bungi, Bungie, Bungay, or The Red River Dialect) is a dialect of English that was influenced by Orkney English, Scottish English, Cree, Ojibwe, and Scottish Gaelic. [Wurm "et al." (1996: 1178).] It was spoken until the mid-twentieth century in western Canada in places connected with the Red River Colony (Saint Andrews Parish) by Métis descended from families of Scottish fathers (voyageurs) and Cree or Ojibwa mothers (retired from the Hudson Bay Company) and their descendants. Only a few speakers of Bungee remain.

Name

Their name is derived from either the Anishinaabe word "bangii" or the Cree word "pahkī", meaning "little bit" in both languages.

Bungee speakers report that the name "Bungee" means "Native" although one speaker reported that it meant "half-Native and half-(European)-non-Native".

Description

The main linguistic documentation of this dialect lies within Blain (1987, 1989) and Walter (1969-1970).

The lexicon is mostly English with words from Cree and Ojibwa and interspersed throughout.

Many speakers in Blain's studies were ashamed to speak the dialect as the speech community members were discriminated against by other social groups.

The major difference with other dialects is in the phonology (sound system & pronunciation). Voice quality differences are noticeably apparent.

ee also

* Anishinaabe language
* Cree language
* Red River Colony
* Michif
* Métis
* Anglo-Métis
* Métis National Council
* Scottish Gaelic
* Scottish Gaelic in Canada
* Chinook Jargon

Notes

Bibliography

* Barkwell, Lawrence J., Dorion, Leah; & Hourie, Audreen. (2006). "Metis legacy: Michif culture, heritage, and folkways". Metis legacy series (Vol. 2). Saskatoon: Gabriel Dumont Institute. ISBN 0920915809
* Barkwell, Lawrence; Dorion, Leah; & Préfontaine, Darren R. (n.d.). [http://www.mmf.mb.ca/pages/publications/files/bibliography.for.metis.researchers.pdf Annotated bibliography and references in "Metis legacy"] .
* Blain, Eleanor M. (1987). Speech of the lower Red River settlement. In W. Cowan (Ed.), "Papers of the eighteenth Algonquian Conference" (pp. 7-16). Ottawa: Carleton University.
* Blain, Eleanor M. (1989). The Bungee dialect of the Red River settlement. (MA thesis, University of Manitoba).
* Blain, Eleanor M. (1994). "The Red River dialect". Winnipeg: Wuerz Publishing.
* [http://tceplus.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001097 Bungee] (Canadian Encyclopedia)
* Cansino, Barbara. (1980, March 26). Bungi in Petersfield: An 81 year old writes about the Red River dialect. "Winnipeg Free Press".
* Scott, S. Osborne; & Mulligan, D. A. (1951, December). The Red River dialect. "The Beaver", 42-45.
* Scott, S. Osborne; & Mulligan, D. A. (1951). The Red River dialect. In J. K. Chambers (Ed.), "Canadian English: Origins and structures" (pp. 61-63). Toronto: Methuen.
* Pentland, David H. (1985, March 9). Métchif and Bungee: Languages of the fur trade. (Paper presented in the series "Voices of Rupert's Land: Public Lectures on Language and Culture in Early Manitoba".
* Swan, Ruth Ellen. (1991). Ethnicity and the Canadianization of Red River politics (p. 133). (MA thesis, Winnipeg, University of Manitoba).
* Stobie, Margaret. (1967-1968). Backgrounds of the dialect called Bungi. "Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba", 3 (24), 65-67. (Online: [http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/transactions/3/bungidialect.shtml www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/transactions/3/bungidialect.shtml] ).
* Stobie, Margaret. (1971). The dialect called Bungi. "Canadian Antiques Collector", "6" (8), 20.
* Walters, Frank J. (1969-1970). Bungee as she is spoke. "Red River Valley Historian and History News". "The Quarterly Journal of the Red River Valley Historical Society", "3" (4), 68-70.
* Wurm, Stephen A.; Mühlhäuser, Peter; & Tryon, Darrell H. (Eds.). (1996). "Atlas of languages of intercultural communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas" (Vol. II.2). Trends in linguistics: Documentation (No. 13). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.