福利在线

Dr. Steve Hartman Keiser福利在线 University

福利在线 Hall, 229

MilwaukeeWI53201United States of America(414) 288-3465s.hartman.keiser@mu.edu

Director of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Professor

English

"Language, even more than color, defines who you are to people."   Trevor Noah

I am deeply interested in the power of the human voice to define us: to connect us to鈥攁nd separate us from鈥攁 community, a place, a time, a worldview. My current project is to map and make visible the work of indigenous language revitalization in Milwaukee and beyond and in so doing to build sustainable connections between this work and 福利在线 as part of honoring the commitments we make in our Land and Water Acknowledgment to pay respect to the sovereignty, histories, knowledge and cultural traditions of the peoples whose land we live on and to "authentically attend to and create the conditions of hospitality for current Indigenous students and community members and all yet to walk with us."

The study of how language varies across space and time and communal identity is also part of my earlier research on the spread of linguistic change between Amish communities across North America.

In my classes students investigate both the marvelous systematicity of all languages and the intersection of language use with aspects of social identity such as age, ethnicity, gender, history, region, and religion.

Courses Taught

• Linguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Language in Milwaukee
• Language and Gender
• History of the English Languages

Research Interests

• Linguistic change in Amish communities across the U.S.
• Indigenous language revitalization in Milwaukee
• Language variation and change
• Dialectology

Publications

• 2015 "Religious Identity and the perception of linguistic difference: the case of Pennsylvania German鈥� Language and Communication 42. (May 2015): 125-134.
• 2007 鈥淒itching the Immigration Line.鈥� American Speech 82:3 (Fall 2007): 330-6.
• 2006 鈥淧ortable Community: The Linguistic and Psychological Reality of Midwestern Pennsylvania German.鈥� Eds. Thomas Murray and Beth Simon. Language Variation and Change in the American Midland: A New Look at "Heartland" English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 263-74
• 2003 鈥淧ennsylvania German and the 鈥楲unch Pail Threat鈥�: Language Shift and Cultural Maintenance in two Amish Communities.鈥� When Languages Collide: Perspectives on Language Conflict, Language Competition, and Language Coexistence. Eds. B. Joseph, J. Destefano. N. Jacobs, I. Lehiste. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press. 3-20

Honors and Awards

• 2007 Summer Faculty Fellowship Grant. 福利在线 University. For writing A Dialectology of Pennsylvania German.
• 2004 Curriculum Enhancement Grant, Diversity. 福利在线 University. For course development: Language in the City, focusing on language and social diversity

Additional Information

Office Hours

Spring 2026

• Sabbatical
  

Teaching Schedule

Spring 2026

• Sabbatical