Grant supports study of Keweenaw Peninsula

The Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections, in Houghton, have granted a research travel award to Kathryn Remlinger, associate professor of English at Grand Valley State University. She is one of three winners who will conduct research at the archives this summer.

Thanks to support from the Friends of the Van Pelt Library, Remlinger will continue research she began in 2000. Her project is two-fold. The first goal is to describe features of the local dialect, explaining how they have developed since the mid-1840s, when English speakers settled in the area. Secondly, explain how local and ethnic identity are linked with language attitudes and language use in the area.

“I hope to demonstrate that a variety of ethnic identities, languages, and attitudes have shaped the Copper Country,” said Remlinger. “Historical attitudes over language, land, and labor have translated into current attitudes about development, tourism, and ‘sounding local.’”

Remlinger gives examples from various ethnic groups, beyond the focus on the Finnish: German immigrants brought the word “bakery” to local use; the local use of “eh” was most likely borrowed from French Canadian and/or Anishinabemowen (Ojibwe.)

Data from the MTU Archives will allow a full, and perhaps more accurate explanation of the relationships among identity, language attitudes and language use in the area. Remlinger’s study will add to the data and literature on American English dialects.