The Great Change and the shift from Norwegian to English in Ulen, Minnesota

Abstract

Abstract This chapter considers the relationship between verticalizing community patterns and the shift from Norwegian-English bilingualism to English monolingualism in Ulen, Minnesota. Data are drawn from US Census materials from 1900 to 1950 and supported with local community history and ethnographic and sociolinguistic interviews with present-day community members and Norwegian heritage speakers. By all accounts, Ulen maintained Norwegian-English bilingualism from its incorporation in 1886 until the mid-20th century. However, with new jobs and infrastructure from New Deal programs and more specialized and industrialized agricultural practices, the community came to rely more on extra-community systems, such as the federal government and state/national farming economies, for what were previously local functions. These outward-orienting processes affected local social patterns that supported the use and transmission of Norwegian as these gave way to national structures, where English is the default mode of communication.

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