Researchers Work To Preserve Rare Language Spoken In Door County

A research project at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire aims to save a dying language spoken in northeastern Wisconsin.

Tucked away in southern Door County, small pockets of Belgian descendants speak a language that is fading away. It’s called Walloon. Related to French, the oral language was developed in southern Belgium and brought to Wisconsin in the 1800s.

UW-Eau Claire visiting Professor Kelly Biers said he and students are working to create a written version of the Wisconsin dialect of Walloon before the 30 or so speakers left in the state pass away.

“People consider it to be part of their history and it’s part of Wisconsin’s history, too,” he said. “So, it would be really unfortunate to not have this documented, to forget about this language.”

Biers said they’ll be conducting interviews with Walloon speakers in an effort to create educational materials for grade-school children.