The 2019 Summer Linguistic Lecture Series (SLLS) brings Dr. Wil Rankinen to various locations across Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.) to discuss the latest research on the U.P. Dialect.

Ever wonder why people from Michigan's U.P. use certain words or pronounce them differently compared to others across God's Country? The present talk will explore and discuss findings from an on-line survey called The U.P. Words Survey (www.gvsu.edu/csd/theupwordsurvey). We will explore how and why people use and pronounce certain U.P. words the way that they do, as well as, the beliefs and attitudes surrounding their usage and Yooper identity.These points and more will be discussed during each 60 minute lecture, with 30 minutes reserved afterwards for community discussion. While the general content for each of the four talks are the same, each discussion is always unique. Come out, eh, and enjoy the fun and fascinating topic of U.P. talk!

Presenter's Bio:

Dr. Wil Rankinen is first and foremost a born and raised yooper. As a sociolinguist and phonetician, he has spent the last eleven years studying various quantitative aspects of the UP Dialect. Four recent U.P. linguistic projects include The U.P. Talk Study (2017-2018), The Sauna Survey (2018), The U.P. Words Survey (2018, and The Yooper Survey (2019). When he is not up in the U.P. with family and friends or doing U.P.-related research, Dr. Rankinen is an assistant professor and the undergraduate program director in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, MI.

Recent publication includes "U.P. English, eh?" in the Marquette Monthly (2018): https://marquettemonthly.org/u-p-english-eh/. For the 2018 SLLS, please visit: www.gvsu.edu/csd/2018slls.

E-mail: [email protected]