The 2018 Summer Linguistic Lecture Series (SLLS) brings Dr. Wil Rankinen to four different locations across Michigan's Upper Peninsula to discuss the latest research on the UP Dialect.

Have you ever wondered why we sound Canadian to many outsiders? Where in the UP is  "sauna" pronounced the Finnish way and where is it not? What shared or differing beliefs do we hold as yoopers about language, culture and community? How does where we live in the UP influence those set of beliefs?

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 UP 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 ten years studying various quantitative aspects of the UP Dialect. Two recent UP linguistic projects include The Sauna Survey and The UP Talk Study. When he is not up in the UP with family and friends or doing UP-related research, Dr. Rankinen is an assistant professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, MI.

E-mail: [email protected]