Synopses & Reviews
Review
andquot;An outstanding book that will set the standards for books of its kind. At once accessibleandmdash;indeed, enjoyableandmdash;and both original and fully informed.andquot;andmdash;Michael Adams, editor of American Speech
Review
andldquo;The authorsandrsquo; passion for Wisconsin linguistic richness is evident throughout, and readers are likely to come away with a better appreciation for the importanceandmdash;and funandmdash;of language preservation.andrdquo;andmdash;
Isthmusand#160;Review
andldquo;Very highly recommended for Wisconsin school, community and academic library Language Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.andrdquo;andmdash; Midwest Book Review
Synopsis
Wisconsin is one of the most linguistically rich places in North America. It has the greatest diversity of American Indian languages east of the Mississippi, including Ojibwe and Menominee from the Algonquian language family, Ho-Chunk from the Siouan family, and Oneida from the Iroquoian family. French place names dot the state's map. German, Norwegian, and Polishandmdash;the languages of immigrants in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuriesandmdash;are still spoken by tens of thousands of people, and the influx of new immigrants speaking Spanish, Hmong, and Somali continues to enrich the state's cultural landscape. These languages and others (Walloon, Cornish, Finnish, Czech, and more) have shaped the kinds of English spoken around the state. Within Wisconsin's borders are found three different major dialects of American English, and despite the influences of mass media and popular culture, they are not mergingandmdash;they are dramatically diverging.
and#160;and#160; and#160;An engaging survey for both general readers and language scholars, Wisconsin Talk brings together perspectives from linguistics, history, cultural studies, and geography to illuminate why language matters in our everyday lives. The authors highlight such topics as:
andbull; words distinctive to the state
andbull; how recent and earlier immigrants have negotiated cultural and linguistic challenges
andbull; the diversity of bilingual speakers that enriches our communities
andbull; how maps can convey the stories of language
andbull; the relation of Wisconsin's Indian languages to language loss worldwide.
About the Author
Thomas Purnell is associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsinandndash;Madison, and his research examines the interface between phonetics and phonology with a focus on regional pronunciation. Eric Raimy is associate professor of English language and linguistics at the University of Wisconsinandndash;Madison and is coeditor of Contemporary Views on Architecture and Representations in Phonology and Handbook of the Syllable. Joseph Salmons is the Lester W. J. andquot;Smokyandquot; Seifert Professor of Germanic Linguistics at the University of Wisconsinandndash;Madison. He is author of A History of German: What the Past Reveals about Today's Language and executive editor of Diachronica: International Journal for Historical Linguistics.
Table of Contents
ForewordPeyton SmithPrologue: Why Language Matters for WisconsinJoseph SalmonsIntroduction: Thinking about Language and Wisconsin EnglishThomas Purnell, Eric Raimy, and Joseph Salmons1 The Native Languages of WisconsinKaren Washinawatok and Monica Macaulay2 Older Immigrant LanguagesFelecia Lucht3 Immigrant Languages and Education: Wisconsin's German SchoolsAntje Petty4 The Non-Wisconsin Sound of Southwest WisconsinKristin Speth5 Words Used in WisconsinLuanne von Schneidemesser6 Standard English: What Is It? And What Is It Good For?Eric Raimy7 Ethnicity and LanguageThomas Purnell8 Hmong in WisconsinSusan MeredithBurt9 Spanish in Wisconsin: Advantages of Maintenance and Prospects for Sustained VitalityCatherine Stafford10 Mapping Wisconsin's Linguistic LandscapesMark LivengoodConclusion and OutlookJoseph Salmonsand#160;ReferencesContributorsIndex