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

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.