Upper PeninsulaEnglish, also known as Yooper English, or colloquially as Yoopanese, is an advanced variety of North Central English native to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Although spoken throughout the U.P., not all residents use these features. Yooper English differs from standard English primarily because of the linguistic background of settlers to the area of Finnish, French Canadian, Cornish, Scandinavian, German, or Native American descent. The Yooper dialect is also influenced by the Finnish language making it similar in character to the so-called "Rayncher" dialect spoken in the Mesabi Iron Range in northeast Minnesota. Almost half the Finnish immigrants to the U.S. settled in the Upper Peninsula, some joining Scandinavians who moved on to Minnesota.
Tendency towards intonation that stresses the first syllable of each word, which is an influence of Finnish spoken by many immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
sometimes becomes, for example, for Keweenaw. This is an example of language transfer, where immigrant languages have affected the variety of English spoken in the area. This feature is especially found among residents born before 1950 and in the western region of the U.P.
Replacement of dental fricatives, and, like in "this" and "thigh", with alveolar stops and, so then becomes den, etc.
The word "about" is sometimes pronounced as with a soft a.
Replacing the "-ing" at the end of certain words with "-een", or with the Cornish characteristic of just "-n" as in "cook'n" or "walk'n".
Lexicon and grammar
Use of German/Scandinavian "ja" as "yeah" or "yes," often spelled "ya."
Ending of sentences in "Eh." Used at end of sentences with the expectation of receiving an affirmative response or as another word for "huh.", or to add emphasis to a statement, "That's a pretty dress, eh." "Eh" is often associated with Canadian English. "Heh" is used interchangeably and perhaps more often among younger speakers.
Common Finnish words are often used in conversation even if the communicants are not of Finnish descent. For instance, "Mitä," when responding, "What?" "Maitoa", "kahvia", "leipää", "poika", "tyttö", "hyvää päivää", "hyvästit", "isä", "äiti".
"Towards" is favored over "toward". The former is usually favored in British English and Canadian English while the latter is favored in American English.
Words such as "pank", "chuk" or "chook", "choppers", "swampers", "pasty", "bakery", "make wood", "snow scoop" or "yooper scooper", "wah" and altered pronunciations such as "grodge", "crick" ; "root" and "roof" may use the same vowel as "soot" and "hoof" respectively.
Saying "I'm gonna go by your house" to mean "I'm going to come by your house."
In some cases, deletion of "to the" has been observed, e.g., "I'm going store," "We went mall," and "We go Green Bay." This is an influence from Finnish, which doesn't have the articles "a," "an," or "the", and the preposition "to" is replaced by the illative and allative cases, which, being absent from English, are simply deleted.
The use of "come" rather than "came" when referring to a past event, eg. "It come undone" or "It come clean."
The use of the word "youse" in a style very similar to the use of "y'all" in the southern USA, both being defined by Merriam-Webster as being pronouns used in addressing two or more persons. In daily usage however "youse" is used almost interchangeably with "you"; where a Southerner would ask "Are y'all going to the game?", a Yooper would typically ask "Are youse guys going to the game"?
*Pronunciation and usage of youse can differ across the UP. South and east, it tend towards youse. West tends to be youze or youze guys.
