Yooper Talk: Dialect as Identity in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Yooper Talk is a fresh and significant contribution to understanding regional language and culture in North America. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan—known as "the UP"—is historically, geographically, and culturally distinct. Struggles over land, labor, and language during the last 150 years have shaped the variety of English spoken by resident Yoopers, as well as how they are viewed by outsiders.

Drawing on sixteen years of fieldwork, including interviews with seventy-five lifelong residents of the UP, Kathryn Remlinger examines how the idea of a unique Yooper dialect emerged. Considering UP English in relation to other regional dialects and their speakers, she looks at local identity, literacy practices, media representations, language attitudes, notions of authenticity, economic factors, tourism, and contact with immigrant and Native American languages. The book also explores how a dialect becomes a recognizable and valuable commodity: Yooper talk (or "Yoopanese") is emblazoned on t-shirts, flags, postcards, coffee mugs, and bumper stickers.

Yooper Talk explains linguistic concepts with entertaining examples for general readers and also contributes to interdisciplinary discussions of dialect and identity in sociolinguistics, anthropology, dialectology, and folklore.
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Yooper Talk: Dialect as Identity in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Yooper Talk is a fresh and significant contribution to understanding regional language and culture in North America. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan—known as "the UP"—is historically, geographically, and culturally distinct. Struggles over land, labor, and language during the last 150 years have shaped the variety of English spoken by resident Yoopers, as well as how they are viewed by outsiders.

Drawing on sixteen years of fieldwork, including interviews with seventy-five lifelong residents of the UP, Kathryn Remlinger examines how the idea of a unique Yooper dialect emerged. Considering UP English in relation to other regional dialects and their speakers, she looks at local identity, literacy practices, media representations, language attitudes, notions of authenticity, economic factors, tourism, and contact with immigrant and Native American languages. The book also explores how a dialect becomes a recognizable and valuable commodity: Yooper talk (or "Yoopanese") is emblazoned on t-shirts, flags, postcards, coffee mugs, and bumper stickers.

Yooper Talk explains linguistic concepts with entertaining examples for general readers and also contributes to interdisciplinary discussions of dialect and identity in sociolinguistics, anthropology, dialectology, and folklore.
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Yooper Talk: Dialect as Identity in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Yooper Talk: Dialect as Identity in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

by Kathryn A. Remlinger
Yooper Talk: Dialect as Identity in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Yooper Talk: Dialect as Identity in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

by Kathryn A. Remlinger

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Overview

Yooper Talk is a fresh and significant contribution to understanding regional language and culture in North America. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan—known as "the UP"—is historically, geographically, and culturally distinct. Struggles over land, labor, and language during the last 150 years have shaped the variety of English spoken by resident Yoopers, as well as how they are viewed by outsiders.

Drawing on sixteen years of fieldwork, including interviews with seventy-five lifelong residents of the UP, Kathryn Remlinger examines how the idea of a unique Yooper dialect emerged. Considering UP English in relation to other regional dialects and their speakers, she looks at local identity, literacy practices, media representations, language attitudes, notions of authenticity, economic factors, tourism, and contact with immigrant and Native American languages. The book also explores how a dialect becomes a recognizable and valuable commodity: Yooper talk (or "Yoopanese") is emblazoned on t-shirts, flags, postcards, coffee mugs, and bumper stickers.

Yooper Talk explains linguistic concepts with entertaining examples for general readers and also contributes to interdisciplinary discussions of dialect and identity in sociolinguistics, anthropology, dialectology, and folklore.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780299312589
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date: 06/27/2017
Series: Languages and Folklore of Upper Midwest
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 176
File size: 4 MB

About the Author

Kathryn Remlinger is a professor of English at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations                   Foreword by James P. Leary and Joe Salmons            Preface            Acknowledgments                     Introduction                 1 Dialect and Identity: A Language Ideology Approach                      2 Land, Labor, and Language: The Roots of Upper Peninsula English            3 Sounding Like a Yooper: The Idea of a Regional Dialect                 4 What It Means to Be a Yooper: Authentic Locals and Ideal Speakers                       5 Yooperisms in Tourism: Selling the Idea of a Dialect                       6 Recognize and Recycle: Regional Dialects in the Media                   Conclusion                    Notes               References                   Index
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