ERIC Number: EJ1290186
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 29
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1934-5275
EISSN: N/A
Notes from the Field: Wisconsin Walloon Documentation and Orthography
Biers, Kelly; Osterhaus, Ellen
Language Documentation & Conservation, v15 p1-29 2021
Wisconsin Walloon is a heritage dialect of a threatened language in the langue d'oïl family that originated in southern Belgium and expanded to northeastern Wisconsin, USA in the mid-1850s. Walloon-speaking immigrants formed an isolated agricultural community, passing on and using the language for the next two generations until English became the dominant functional language. Although younger generations today have not learned the language, there remain enough Walloon speakers as well as Belgian descendants interested in their linguistic heritage to have generated community support for a Walloon documentation and conservation project. In this paper, we report on the results of over three years of collaboration between university researchers, students, and community members to document, study, and promote the language for the benefit of both scholars and community. We provide a description of the language, collaborative documentation efforts, and the development of community resources, including a phonetically-accessible Walloon orthography. We conclude with an outlook on future work with an eye toward increased community-led efforts.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Dialects, Immigrants, Agricultural Occupations, Language Usage, Language Research, Language Maintenance, Phonetics, Written Language, Romance Languages, School Community Relationship, Universities, Language Attitudes, Video Technology, Phonology, Morphology (Languages), Language Variation
National Foreign Language Resources Center at University of Hawaii. Department of Linguistics, UHM Moore Hall 569, 1890 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822. Fax: 808-956-9166; e-mail: ldc@hawaii.edu; Web site: https://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Belgium; Wisconsin
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A