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Varying social roles and networks on a family farm: Evidence from Swedish immigrant letters, 1880s to 1930s by Angela Hoffman; Merja Kytö is a Arts and Humanities article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Varying social roles and networks on a family farm: Evidence from Swedish immigrant letters, 1880s to 1930s about?

## Abstract The present study investigates patterns of language use in the ego documents written by three Swedish immigrants: Nils Blomberg (born in 1839), Mathilda Blomberg, (b. 1863), and Anton Blomberg (b. 1885), their eldest son. The empirical foundation of the investigation is a set of 32 family letters sent over a period of nearly fifty years (1885–1934) from the rural Smoky Valley in Kansas to Mathilda’s home village in Östergötland, Sweden. We analyze the writers’ lexis, discourse patterning (__formulaic__ versus __free-flowing__), and re-current topics, and the social roles and networks that are manifest in their correspondence. The three writers continued to correspond in the Swedish language over the years. Our diachronic analysis of their lexis and discourse patterning reveals individual variation across the authors’ production. For example, Mathilda’s correspondence contains some evidence of heritage Swedish (i.e. Swedish that has diverged from the home country, due to geographical separation and language contact with English). Across her lifespan, Mathilda integrates some vocabulary for plants, places, and jobs that diverges from the lexis she recalls from her early y

Who reads Varying social roles and networks on a family farm: Evidence from Swedish immigrant letters, 1880s to 1930s?

It is typically read by researchers, students, and practitioners in Arts and Humanities.

Author
Angela Hoffman; Merja Kytö
Publisher
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Published
2019
Language
EN
Field
Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)

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