Northern Michigan University graduate student Jenny Cho has received a $1,300 Grace H. Magnaghi Research Grant from NMU to explore the “history of the Yooper dialect and its role in the English language.” The project combines her previous master's degree in anthropology from Seoul National University with her current pursuit of a master's degree from NMU's English Department in TESOL, or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.
“I am very excited about this opportunity because it will allow me to advance my research on the topics I love and feel passionate about: ‘Yoopers' and the Upper Peninsula,” Cho said. “More importantly, I believe this could be a great chance to share the details of the amazing history and culture of U.P. Michigan with the public."
When Cho moved to this area from Colorado two years ago, she recognized the distinctive differences in the spoken language styles and pronunciations of both her Italian and Finnish neighbors in Ishpeming, and said she found that very interesting.
“My neighbors talk of their family histories and specific phrases," she added. "For example, some end almost every sentence with ‘hey.' I had never heard that in other places. I felt a need to study how and why these dialects came to the Ishpeming area, and how they have been preserved for so long. Another thing that got me interested is one of my friends, who was originally from California, but moved here many years ago. She doesn't really use the Yooper accent, but I noticed at the end of sentences, she kept adding ‘hey?' I asked her why she was using that, and she said mainly because so many others around her were doing it, which led her to start saying it herself regularly.”
Anthropology research methods will factor prominently in Cho's work. She will collect various dialects from Yoopers throughout the region and analyze current patterns of language usage. She will also use archival data from NMU, the Marquette Regional History Center, and Keweenaw National Historical Park. The grant will support her travel to various locations to collect data and conduct the research.
“I had done a pilot study with Dr. David Boe's class I took on the history of English,” Cho added. “From that, I began to look for publications by other scholars on the Yooper dialect. There really weren't many studying it—only two from downstate—which was very curious for me. I discovered the Yooper dialect has had its own identity since the 2000s. Prior to that, scholars included it as part of the broader Midwestern or Michigan dialect, with perhaps a brief, vague reference to people who live in the Upper Peninsula. The term Yooper was first used in media around the 1970s to describe people from this area. But it wasn't until the 2000s that the term also was used to describe a way of speaking.”
Cho gleaned valuable knowledge about dialect histories from the previous studies by the downstate professors. She said their research focused on phonological language patterns, such as different pronunciations of vowels. Because of her background as an anthropologist, Cho is more interested in the cultural aspects of language, along with its history and change.
“I also want to detail the Yooper dialect's current status,” she added. “I have noticed that a lot of Yooper dialect features are now kind of disappearing. When I talk with senior citizens, they use a lot more noticeable Finnish or Italian accents, and more vocabulary related to those languages. But for the younger generation, most of those details diminished and they use a few of the same phonological elements. So I want to see what is causing those disconnections between the generations and what cultural, socio-economic factors are shaping the Yooper dialect.”
Cho said she hopes to publish the results of her research, and will likely deliver a presentation at the next Sonderegger Symposium at NMU, which focuses on U.P. topics.
The Grace H. Magnaghi Upper Peninsula Research Grant covers some of the expenses incurred for scholarly work related to the history and culture of the region that involves research at the Central U.P./NMU Archives, Lydia Olson Library and other supporting resources in the region.