Cover not available

In:Varieties of German in Contact Settings: Studies in honor of William D. Keel
Edited by B. Richard Page and Michael T. Putnam
[Studies in Germanic Linguistics 10] 2025
► pp. 31–61

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 3
Heritage German across generations in Eau Claire, Wisconsin

 | University of Wisconsin — Eau Claire
 | University of Wisconsin — Eau Claire
Published online: 27 November 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sigl.10.03br
Abstract
This chapter addresses a neglected area of research in heritage language linguistics, namely looking at language use and change across generations and across lifespans from a greater historical time depth. The data are drawn from a set of ego-documents written by members of the Schlegelmilch family who emigrated from Germany to Wisconsin in the nineteenth century. We show the gradual disuse of German in the family, but also highlight what parts of the language remain after loss of the heritage language and the complex nature of multilingualism within a single family.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Ego-documents
  • 3.Language among Wisconsin Germans
    • 3.1Wisconsin Germans
    • 3.2Eau Claire Germans
  • 4.Historical letters as a sociolinguistic diagnostic
    • 4.1Corpus
    • 4.2Homeland individuals
    • 4.3Immigrant generation
    • 4.4First generation American-born
    • 4.5Second generation American-born
    • 4.6Summary
  • 5.Beyond the Schlegelmilchs
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (46)
References
Primary
Peterson, Diana. Interview with Luca Ciletti. 2020.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Regh, Edith Schlegelmilch. Interview with Chippewa Valley Museum. 1988.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schlegelmilch Papers. 3 boxes, Glenn Curtis Smoot Library and Archives, Chippewa Valley Museum, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Secondary
Anderson, Chad. 2006. “Herman Schlegelmilch Jr. and Vacationing in Post-Civil War America.” Master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Auer, Anita, Catharina Peersman, Simon Pickl, Gijsbert Rutten, and Rik Vosters. 2015. “Historical sociolinguistics: the field and its future.” Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics 1 (1): 1–12. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Auer, Anita, Daniel Schreier, and Richard J. Watts. 2015. “Epilogue: Where next?” In Letter Writing and Language Change, ed. by Anita Auer, Daniel Schreier, and Richard J. Watts, 277–287. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Auer, Peter. 2007. “The Monolingual Bias in Bilingualism Research, or: Why Bilingual Talk is (Still) a Challenge for Linguistics.” In Bilingualism: A Social Approach, ed. by Monica Heller, 319–339. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bailey, Benjamin. 2007. “Multilingual Forms of Talk and Identity Work.” In Handbook of Multilingualism and Multilingual Communication, ed. by Peter Auer and Li Wei, 341–370. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bailey, Judge William F. (ed). 1914a. “Eau Claire Churches.” In History of Eau Claire County Wisconsin Past and Present, 511–535. Chicago: C. F. Cooper and Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(ed). 1914b. “Hotels of Eau Claire.” In History of Eau Claire County Wisconsin Past and Present, 540–552. Chicago: C. F. Cooper and Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barland, Lois. 1960. Sawdust City. A History of Eau Claire, Wisconsin from Earliest Times to 1910. Stevens Point, WI: Worzalla Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1965. The Rivers Flow On. Stevens Point, WI: Worzalla Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benmamoun, Elabbas, Silvina Montrul, and Maria Polinsky. 2013. “Heritage Languages and Their Speakers: Opportunities and Challenges for Linguistics.” Theoretical Linguistics 39 (3–4): 129–181. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Joshua R. 2019. “Historical Heritage Language Ego-documents: From Home, From Away, and From Below.” Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics 5 (2): 20190023. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Joshua R., and Rachyl Hietpas. 2019. “Postvernacular Dutch in Wisconsin.” In Selected Proceedings of the 9th Workshop on Immigrant Languages in the Americas (WILA 9), ed. by Kelly Biers and Joshua R. Brown, 72–82. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Joshua R. (ed). 2022. The Verticalization Model of Language Shift: The Great Change in American Communities. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
City of Eau Claire. n.d. “Walter Brewery and Olinger Gardens.” Accessed September 10, 2021. [URL].
Elspaß, Stephan. 2005. Sprachgeschichte von unten. untersuchungen zum geschriebenen Alltagsdeutsch im 19. Jahrhundert. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
First Presbyterian Church (Eau Claire, WI). 1982. Church Records, 1860–1947. Salt Lake City, UT: Genealogical Society of Utah.
Fishman, Joshua A. 1980. The Sociology of Language. Rowley, MA: Newbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haugen, Einar. 1953. The Norwegian Language in America, a Study in Bilingual Behavior. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Inderberg, Cathy Mikkelson. 1993. “Social Determinants of Housing in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 1880–1920.” MA thesis, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Liebau, Reinhold. 1914. “Germanism.” In History of Eau Claire County Wisconsin Past and Present, ed. by Judge William F. Bailey, 553–573. Chicago: C. F. Cooper and Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marquardt, Lucy. 2011. “A Look at the Great Depression in Eau Claire, WI According to Louise Schlegelmilch.” BA thesis, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Morales, Alejandro. 2008. “Language Brokering in Mexican Immigrant Families Living in the Midwest: A Multiple Case Study.” PhD dissertation, University of Nebraska.
Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). 2020. “Der ‘weiße Tod’ im Hungerwinter 1946/47.” Accessed September 22, 2021. [URL].
Ostergren, Robert C., and Heike Bungert. 2011. “Introduction.” In Wisconsin German Land and Life, ed. by Heike Bungert, Cora Lee Kluge, and Robert C. Ostergren, xv–xxv. Madison, WI: Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pederson, Christopher J. 2021. “German-American Schuetzen Activities from the Mid-1800s to Early 1900s.” MA thesis, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Polinsky, Maria. 2018. Heritage Languages and Their Speakers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poplack, Shana. 2018. Borrowing: Loanwords in the Speech Community and in the Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Purnell, Thomas, Eric Raimy, and Joseph Salmons. 2013. “Introduction: Thinking about Language and Wisconsin English.” In Wisconsin Talk: Linguistic Diversity in the Badger State, ed. by Thomas Purnell, Eric Raimy, and Joseph Salmons, 3–14. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ronnander, Carrie. 2009. “The Historical Schlegelmilch House: The Story of a House and Its Families.” Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sacred Heart of Jesus (Eau Claire, WI). n.d. “Our History.” Accessed September 10, 2021. [URL].
Schlegelmilch Family Papers, Glenn Curtis Smoot Library and Archives, Chippewa Valley Museum.
Shandler, Jeffrey, 2008. Adventures in Yiddishland: Postvernacular Language and Culture. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
St. John’s Lutheran Church (Eau Claire, WI). n.d. “History.” Accessed September 10, 2021. [URL].
. 1982. Church Records, 1874–1974. Salt Lake City, UT: Genealogical Society of Utah.
Stolberg, Doris. “Canadian Heritage German Across Three Generations: A Diary-based Study of Language Shift in Action.” Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics 5 (2): 20190005.
Strohschänk, Johannes, and William G. Thiel. 2005. The Wisconsin Office of Emigration, 1852–1855. Madison, WI: Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Veltman, Calvin. 1983. Language Shift in the United States. Berlin: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Warren, Roland. 1978. The Community in America, 3rd edn. Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weinreich, Uriel. 1968. Languages in Contact: Findings and Problems. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wilkerson, Miranda E., and Joseph Salmons. 2008. “‘Good Old Immigrants of Yesteryear’ Who Didn’t Learn English: Germans in Wisconsin. American Speech 83 (3): 259–283. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
“Wisconsin, U.S. Births and Christenings Index, 1801–1928.” 2011. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2011
Wolfram, Walt. n.d. “Sociolinguistics.” Accessed September 10, 2021. [URL].
Zeitlin, Richard H. 2000. Germans in Wisconsin. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue