The chapter explores the tension between democratic ideals and the desire for a national language in the early American republic. It focuses on the competing lexicographers Noah Webster and Joseph Worcester, and particularly on their conflicting attitudes to a London-based standard of English pronunciation and its relevance to Americans. It is argued that, by supporting Perry over Walker, Webster was not only rejecting England but implicitly promoting descriptivism and thus democracy. Although linguistic prescriptivism and prejudice often coexist and conflict with more descriptive attitudes to language, the discourse of democracy is characteristically American.
Pronouncing Dictionaries between Patriotism and Prescriptivism: Perspectives on Provincialism in Webster's America / M. Sturiale - In: The Languages of Nation : Attitudes and Norms / [a cura di] C. Percy, M.C. Davidson. - Bristol : Multilingual Matters, 2012. - ISBN 978-1-84769-780-6. - pp. 155-171 (( convegno Conference on Prescriptivisme and Patriotisme - Language Norms and Identities from Nationalism to Globalization tenutosi a Toronto nel 2009.
Pronouncing Dictionaries between Patriotism and Prescriptivism: Perspectives on Provincialism in Webster's America
M. Sturiale
Primo
2012
Abstract
The chapter explores the tension between democratic ideals and the desire for a national language in the early American republic. It focuses on the competing lexicographers Noah Webster and Joseph Worcester, and particularly on their conflicting attitudes to a London-based standard of English pronunciation and its relevance to Americans. It is argued that, by supporting Perry over Walker, Webster was not only rejecting England but implicitly promoting descriptivism and thus democracy. Although linguistic prescriptivism and prejudice often coexist and conflict with more descriptive attitudes to language, the discourse of democracy is characteristically American.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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