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Yooper is a form of North Central American English mostly spoken in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which gives the dialect its name (from UP for Upper Peninsula). The dialect is also found in most northern areas of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and northern portions of Wisconsin.

Yooper differs from standard English primarily due to the linguistic background of settlers to the area. The majority of people living in the Upper Peninsula are of either Finnish, Flemish, Scandinavian, or German descent. Yooper is so massively influenced by these languages that speakers from other areas may have difficulty understanding it. The Yooper dialect is also influenced by the Finnish language making it similar in character to the so-called "Rayncher speek" of the Mesabi Iron Range in northeast Minnesota.

Ethnic makeup of the USA in 2000. The western part of Upper Peninsula is the only region in the U.S. where Finnish Americans (light green) form the plurality.

• Canadian raising
• "roof", "book", and "root" all use the same vowel.
• "caught" and "cot" are pronounced in exactly the same way ('kät).
• Use of German/Scandinavian "ja" as an affirmative filler or emphatic; the standard American English "yes" is used to answer questions and to start an explanation.
• Tendency towards a "sing-song" intonation. The area's earliest European settlers were primarily Scandinavian, and this has influenced the local dialect. More recently, this has been reinforced by an influx of Asian immigrants, most of whom speak tonal languages.
• W becomes V, particularly well to vell and what to vaht, as in German pronunciation. This feature appears to be found mostly in people born before 1970. This feature is possibly found in some regions of the UP, but not the UP as a whole.
• Ending of sentences in "Eh (Aye)?" or "Ya know?" Used at end of sentences with the expectation of receiving an affirmative response ("So, you're /yɛr/ goin' out t'nide, eh?"). This is often associated with Canadian English, but used exclusively in either expectation of a response or as a repetition of a statement made by the co-conversant. "Hey" is used interchangeably and perhaps more often among younger Yoopers.
• German second verb word order ("We are going to hunt deer" becomes "We're goin deer huntin'"), although this construction is common outside the UP, and its roots have not been documented as originating from the German.
• German definite articles (The = Da, Dem, Die), also a result of the above replacement of "th" with d, although this could be a coincidental similarity rather than a direct loan from German.
• Ending of sentences in "You betcha."
• Pronouncing "creek", "crick."
• Replacement of dental fricatives with alveolar stops so then becomes den and thigh becomes tie, etc.
• The progressive and gerund "-ing" becomes "-in'"
• Deletion of "to the" ex. "I'm goin' mall" or "I'm goin' shop" due to the lack of these words in Finnish.
• Combining words that precede "you". For example, "don't you" would become "doncha" and "won't you" would become "woncha"
• Vowels will morph into a double inflection, as though there is another syllable in the word.

• Article about a Michigan Tech professor's research into Yooper English
• Yooper Lexicon