Bungi dialect
Bungi /ˈbʌn.ɡi/ (also called Bungee, Bungie, Bungay, Bangay, or the Red River Dialect) is a dialect of English with substratal influence from Scottish English, the Orcadian dialect of Scots, Norn, Scottish Gaelic, French, Cree, and Ojibwe (Saulteaux). It was spoken by the Scottish Red River Métis in present-day Manitoba, Canada, and formerly in areas of Ontario and Minnesota, United States.
| Bungi | |
|---|---|
| Bungee, Bungie, Bungay, Bangay, the Red River Dialect | |
| Native to | Canada |
| Region | Red River Colony and Assiniboia, present-day Manitoba |
Native speakers | 5,000 in 1870; less than 200 in 1993; potentially extinct |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | bung1271 |
Geographical distribution of Bungee | |
Bungee is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Bungi has been categorized as a post-creole, with the distinctive features of the language gradually abandoned by successive generations of speakers in favour of standard Canadian English. In 1870, about 5,000 Métis were native speakers of Bungi, but by the late 1980s, only a handful of elderly speakers were known. Today, Bungi has very few if any speakers and is potentially extinct.
Bungi was spoken in the Lower Red River Colony in the area from The Forks (where the Red River and Assiniboine River meet in what is now downtown Winnipeg) to the mouth of the Red River at Lake Winnipeg. This is the area where the English/Scottish retired Hudson's Bay Company servants generally settled.