Missouri French , also known as Illinois Country French and is nicknamed "Paw-Paw French" or as said in the dialect, la française assimine, is a nearly extinct variety of the French language formerly spoken in the upper Mississippi River Valley in the Midwestern United States, particularly in eastern Missouri. Once spoken widely across the region known as the Illinois Country or Upper Louisiana, the dialect is now highly endangered, with only a few elderly local residents able to speak it. It is one of the three major forms of French that originated in the United States, together with Louisiana French and New England French.