This week, in the centre of a birthday cake, in red coloured icing, whiling singing the musickal tune “Happy Birthday,” someone should spell out Happy Birthday Noah Webster!
Thanks to Webster, Americans utilize a consistent language (at least in terms of spelling).
No one has to worry about alternative forms of spelling like “centre,” “colour” and “musick.”
Yale University will be celebrating the dictionary creator’s 250th birthday with a two day celebration on October 16 (Webster’s actual birthday) and 17.
Webster’s Dictionary—though mocked by many two-and-a-half centuries ago—ushered in a profound cultural unity for the United States.
While the man toiled over many editions of his text, the United States was a nation in its infancy; one whose foundations (linguistic and otherwise) were based on the culture of their oppressors, Great Britain.
In addition, the nation was largely comprised of immigrants with no concept of national identity, speaking their own languages, and—even in the case of the same language—speaking different dialects.
Webster’s Dictionary not only made practical life infinitely easier for generations of Americans by standardizing the language, but he (along with the help of African Americans, immigrants and other minorities) by creating the American language, English, as we know it.
Webster laid the base for the language of laws, books, films, songs and television shows.
As an English major, I can’t help but reflect upon the tremendous power language exerts.
Words are our culture.
I debate with friends of mine who are business, biology, math and history majors over which of the subjects is the most important, and I always support language.
Granted, words are ambiguous and rarely definite, but we learn through language, play through language, and love through language: body language, facial expressions, Facebook statuses, e-mails—even numbers are a kind of language, nothing more than symbols representing a concept.
Language is power, to give voice to something is to manifest some sort of control over it. Yet, more often than not, we are under the control of language.
The spoken word can lead to untold horror, for example, the Parsley Massacre in the Dominican Republican.
Dominican Dictator Rafael Trujillo massacred thousands of Haitians who were living as Dominicans. To prove they were Haitian soldiers would ask them to pronounce the parsley in Spanish, which would reveal their Haitian accents.
Words can drive a man to his own death—take poet Paul Celan, an immensely talented poet whose native language was German. However, he lived through the Holocaust (losing both his parents) and was forced to perform his art in the language of those that murdered his family and his people. He became a man at war with words.
The rift between his love of poetry and hatred for his tongue was one of the factors, many believe, which drove him to commit suicide.
Of course, words have the power to uplift us (indulge in Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman”), entertain us, and inform us.
Language is a tool that in some ways moves faster than the speed of sound (lol).
Tech-speak and Internet lingo are transforming the way we live and perceive the world.
When “bootylicious” can be added to the dictionary, it’s a sign that language is relevant and evolves with us.
Derrick Austin may be reached at daustin@ut.edu.
Language Unifies and Defines Our Evolving Nation
Published: Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Updated: Wednesday, October 15, 2008
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