Work

How and where Heritage Swedish was acquired and learned in Kansas: Education, ideologies, and heritage language anchors

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This study traces the learning opportunities children and young people had for learning Swedish in a heritage community in Kansas, 1870 to 1974. Reasons for knowing Heritage Swedish varied across this time-period, as analyses of historical materials, written and spoken, show. Despite the different reasons—among them, being able to speak with family members and neighbors, becoming a member in the Swedish Lutheran immigrant church, competing in oratorical contests, gaining employment in certain professions, and later, knowing elementary Swedish grammar—the educational opportunities were made possible by heritage language anchors who helped counteract verticalizing forces from elsewhere.

Source: Bergen Language and Linguistics Studies

DOI: 10.15845/bells.v15i1.4552

Author: Angela Hoffman

Institution: Uppsala University

Language: English

Topic: Multilingual Education and Policy

Subfield: Linguistics and Language

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W4409245053

FWCI:

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Related to: 10