Non-Monographic Section Articles
Published 2022-11-09
Keywords
- authentication,
- standardization,
- speller,
- uniformation,
- Nationalism
How to Cite
Meirelles, V., Mitchell, L., & Revuelta, M. . (2022). Webster’s 1793 speller: not yet a portrait of America. Rivista Di Storia dell’Educazione, 9(2), 37–46. https://doi.org/10.36253/rse-13497
Abstract
The many different authors that have examined Webster’s speller agree on its influence in establishing American English. However, this examination seeks to accomplish something different from these works: to further explore the author’s linguistic and political concerns to reveal how they influenced the design of the speller. For that reason, this article compares Webster’s American Spelling Book of 1793 to Thomas Dilworth’s American edition of A New Guide to the English Tongue (1796). The essay identifies the changes that Webster introduces in his speller, set apart from Dilworth’s, and reveals how they were determined by his nationalistic beliefs and how the alterations might have contributed, from the author’s perspective, to the creation of a national character in the United States. Still, the investigation concludes that this edition of the speller does not, yet, define what it is to be American.
References
Bynack, Vincent 1984. “Noah Webster’s Linguistic Thought and the Idea of an American National Culture.” Journal of the History of Ideas 45, no. 1: 99–114. https://doi.org/10.2307/2709333
Carter, Bob and Sealey, Alison. 2007. “Languages, Nations and Identities.” Methodological Innovations Online no. 2, 2: 20–31. https://doi.org/10.4256/mio.2007.0009
Cassedy, Tim. 2014. “A Dictionary Which We Do Not Want: Defining America against Noah Webster, 1783–1810.” The William and Mary Quarterly 71, no. 2: 229–254. https://doi.org/10.5309/willmaryquar.71.2.0229
Cubberley, Ellwood Patterson. 1919. Public education in the United States: A study and interpretation of American educational history; an introductory textbook dealing with the larger problems of present-day education in the light of their historical development. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Cubberley, Ellwood Patterson. 1920. The history of education: Educational practice and progress considered as a phase of the development and spread of western civilization. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Culbertson, Deborah. 2012. History of Standardization of English Language Arts: An Analysis of the Foundation and Focus of English Language Arts. PhD. diss: Texas Univ.
Deumert, Andrea. 2000. “Language Planning And Policy.” In Introducing Sociolinguistics edited by R. Meshtrie, J. Swann, A. Deumert, W. L. Leap, 384-418. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Dilworth, Thomas. 1796. Dilworth's spelling-book, improved: a new guide to the English tongue. Philadelphia: John M'Culloch.
Fairclough, Norman. 2003. Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London, Routledge.
Fishman, Joshua. 1971. “The Impact of Nationalism on Language Planning: Some Comparisons between Early Twentieth-Century Europe and More Recent Years in South and Southeast Asia.” In Can Language Be Planned?: Sociolinguistic Theory for Developing Nations, edited by Joan Rubin and Björn H. Jernudd, 3–19. University of Hawai’i Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv9zckn9.5
Fodde, Lusianna. 2015. “The New England Yeoman: Noah Webster And The Defining Of American English (1758-1843).” Iperstoria – Testi Letterature Linguaggi 5, 124–137. https://doi.org/10.13136/2281-4582/2015.i5.274
Frulla, Eliana. 2018. “Noah Webster and the Standardization of Sound.” E-rea 15 (2). https://journals.openedition.org/erea/6090
Haugen, Einar. 1966. “Dialect, Language, Nation.” American Anthropologist 68 (4): 922-35.
Haugen, Einar. 1983. “The implementation of corpus planning: Theory and practice.” In Progress in Language Planning: International Perspectives edited by Juan Cobarrubias & Joshua Fishman, 269-290. Berlin: Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110820584.269
Jernegan, Marcus. 1918. “Compulsory Education in the American Colonies: I. New England,” The School Review 26( 10): 731-749.
Krapp, George. 1925. The English Language in America. New York: The Century Co., for the Modern Language Association of America.
Lyman, Rollo. 1922. English Grammar in American Schools before 1850. Illinois: The Univ. of Chicago Libraries.
Martin, Peter. 2019. The Dictionary Wars: The American Fight over the English Language. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. 1983. A common heritage: Noah Webster's blue-back speller. Connecticut: Archon Books.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. 1988. “Literacy Instruction and Gender in Colonial New England.” American Quarterly 40(1): 18-41. https://doi.org/10.2307/2713140.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer and Arlene Barry. 1999. Writing the Past: Teaching Reading in Colonial America and the United States, 1640-1940. Delaware: International Reading Association.
Nevalainen, Terttu. 2003. “English.” In Germanic Standardizations: Past to Present edited by Ana Deumert and Wim Vandenbussch, 127 - 156. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Pool, Jonathan. 1979. “Language planning and identity planning.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 20, 5-21.
Pool, Jonathan. 1990. “Language Regimes and Political Regimes.” In Language Policy and Political Development edited by Brian Weinstein, 241–261. New Jersey: Ablex.
Read, Allen. 2015. “British Recognition of American Speech in the Eighteenth Century.” In Perspectives on American English edited by Joey L. Dillard, 15-36. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110813340-003
Rollins, Richard. 1980. The Long Journey of Noah Webster. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Scudder, Horace E. 1886. Noah Webster. Boston: Houghton.
Scofield, Edna. 1938. “The Origin of Settlement Patterns in Rural New England.” Geographical Review 28 (4): 652-663. https://doi.org/10.2307/210308
Shoemaker, Ervin C. 1966. Noah Webster: pioneer of learning. New York: AMS Press.
Smith, Raoul. 1979. “The Interest in Language and Languages in Colonial and Federal America.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 123 (1), 29-46.
Svobodny, Dolly and Warren Born. 1985. Early American Spellers, 1775-1900. Washington DC: Department of Education.
Twining, Thomas. 1894. Travels in America 100 years ago: being notes and reminiscences. New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers.
United States. Journal of Proceedings and addresses. Session of the year 1892, held at Saratoga Springs.
Wakefield, John. 1998. A Brief History of Textbooks: Where Have We Been All These. Paper presented at the Meeting of the Text and Academic Authors. St. Petersburg, FL.
Webster, Noah. 1783. A Grammatical Institute of the English Language: comprising an easy, concise, and systematic method of Education. Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin.
Webster, Noah. 1789. Dissertations on the English language: with notes, historical and critical. To which is added, by way of appendix An essay on a reformed mode of spelling, with Dr. Franklin's arguments on that subject. Boston: Printed for the author, by I. Thomas and Co..
Webster, Noah. 1790. Collections of Essays and Fugitiv Writings on Moral, Historical, Political, and Literary Subjects (Boston: I. Thomas & E. T. Andrews).
Webster, Noah. 1793. The American Spelling Book: containing an easy standard of pronunciation. Boston: Isaiah Thomas & Ebenezer T. Andrews.
Webster, Noah. 1828. An American Dictionary of the English Language. New York: Converse.
Webster, Noah and Harry Warfel. 1953. Letters of Noah Webster. New York: Library Publishers.
Wood, Gordon. 1988. “The Significance of the Early Republic.” Journal of the Early Republic 8 (1): 1-20.
Carter, Bob and Sealey, Alison. 2007. “Languages, Nations and Identities.” Methodological Innovations Online no. 2, 2: 20–31. https://doi.org/10.4256/mio.2007.0009
Cassedy, Tim. 2014. “A Dictionary Which We Do Not Want: Defining America against Noah Webster, 1783–1810.” The William and Mary Quarterly 71, no. 2: 229–254. https://doi.org/10.5309/willmaryquar.71.2.0229
Cubberley, Ellwood Patterson. 1919. Public education in the United States: A study and interpretation of American educational history; an introductory textbook dealing with the larger problems of present-day education in the light of their historical development. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Cubberley, Ellwood Patterson. 1920. The history of education: Educational practice and progress considered as a phase of the development and spread of western civilization. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Culbertson, Deborah. 2012. History of Standardization of English Language Arts: An Analysis of the Foundation and Focus of English Language Arts. PhD. diss: Texas Univ.
Deumert, Andrea. 2000. “Language Planning And Policy.” In Introducing Sociolinguistics edited by R. Meshtrie, J. Swann, A. Deumert, W. L. Leap, 384-418. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Dilworth, Thomas. 1796. Dilworth's spelling-book, improved: a new guide to the English tongue. Philadelphia: John M'Culloch.
Fairclough, Norman. 2003. Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London, Routledge.
Fishman, Joshua. 1971. “The Impact of Nationalism on Language Planning: Some Comparisons between Early Twentieth-Century Europe and More Recent Years in South and Southeast Asia.” In Can Language Be Planned?: Sociolinguistic Theory for Developing Nations, edited by Joan Rubin and Björn H. Jernudd, 3–19. University of Hawai’i Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv9zckn9.5
Fodde, Lusianna. 2015. “The New England Yeoman: Noah Webster And The Defining Of American English (1758-1843).” Iperstoria – Testi Letterature Linguaggi 5, 124–137. https://doi.org/10.13136/2281-4582/2015.i5.274
Frulla, Eliana. 2018. “Noah Webster and the Standardization of Sound.” E-rea 15 (2). https://journals.openedition.org/erea/6090
Haugen, Einar. 1966. “Dialect, Language, Nation.” American Anthropologist 68 (4): 922-35.
Haugen, Einar. 1983. “The implementation of corpus planning: Theory and practice.” In Progress in Language Planning: International Perspectives edited by Juan Cobarrubias & Joshua Fishman, 269-290. Berlin: Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110820584.269
Jernegan, Marcus. 1918. “Compulsory Education in the American Colonies: I. New England,” The School Review 26( 10): 731-749.
Krapp, George. 1925. The English Language in America. New York: The Century Co., for the Modern Language Association of America.
Lyman, Rollo. 1922. English Grammar in American Schools before 1850. Illinois: The Univ. of Chicago Libraries.
Martin, Peter. 2019. The Dictionary Wars: The American Fight over the English Language. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. 1983. A common heritage: Noah Webster's blue-back speller. Connecticut: Archon Books.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. 1988. “Literacy Instruction and Gender in Colonial New England.” American Quarterly 40(1): 18-41. https://doi.org/10.2307/2713140.
Monaghan, E. Jennifer and Arlene Barry. 1999. Writing the Past: Teaching Reading in Colonial America and the United States, 1640-1940. Delaware: International Reading Association.
Nevalainen, Terttu. 2003. “English.” In Germanic Standardizations: Past to Present edited by Ana Deumert and Wim Vandenbussch, 127 - 156. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Pool, Jonathan. 1979. “Language planning and identity planning.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 20, 5-21.
Pool, Jonathan. 1990. “Language Regimes and Political Regimes.” In Language Policy and Political Development edited by Brian Weinstein, 241–261. New Jersey: Ablex.
Read, Allen. 2015. “British Recognition of American Speech in the Eighteenth Century.” In Perspectives on American English edited by Joey L. Dillard, 15-36. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110813340-003
Rollins, Richard. 1980. The Long Journey of Noah Webster. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Scudder, Horace E. 1886. Noah Webster. Boston: Houghton.
Scofield, Edna. 1938. “The Origin of Settlement Patterns in Rural New England.” Geographical Review 28 (4): 652-663. https://doi.org/10.2307/210308
Shoemaker, Ervin C. 1966. Noah Webster: pioneer of learning. New York: AMS Press.
Smith, Raoul. 1979. “The Interest in Language and Languages in Colonial and Federal America.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 123 (1), 29-46.
Svobodny, Dolly and Warren Born. 1985. Early American Spellers, 1775-1900. Washington DC: Department of Education.
Twining, Thomas. 1894. Travels in America 100 years ago: being notes and reminiscences. New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers.
United States. Journal of Proceedings and addresses. Session of the year 1892, held at Saratoga Springs.
Wakefield, John. 1998. A Brief History of Textbooks: Where Have We Been All These. Paper presented at the Meeting of the Text and Academic Authors. St. Petersburg, FL.
Webster, Noah. 1783. A Grammatical Institute of the English Language: comprising an easy, concise, and systematic method of Education. Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin.
Webster, Noah. 1789. Dissertations on the English language: with notes, historical and critical. To which is added, by way of appendix An essay on a reformed mode of spelling, with Dr. Franklin's arguments on that subject. Boston: Printed for the author, by I. Thomas and Co..
Webster, Noah. 1790. Collections of Essays and Fugitiv Writings on Moral, Historical, Political, and Literary Subjects (Boston: I. Thomas & E. T. Andrews).
Webster, Noah. 1793. The American Spelling Book: containing an easy standard of pronunciation. Boston: Isaiah Thomas & Ebenezer T. Andrews.
Webster, Noah. 1828. An American Dictionary of the English Language. New York: Converse.
Webster, Noah and Harry Warfel. 1953. Letters of Noah Webster. New York: Library Publishers.
Wood, Gordon. 1988. “The Significance of the Early Republic.” Journal of the Early Republic 8 (1): 1-20.