A History of English Language

The english language in america
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he came home for a vacation he was pronouncing the first syllable of angel like the
article an, and beard as berd or baird (another Websterian pronunciation). He was only
laughed out of the absurdity by the rest of his family. But he adds: “I think…a great deal
of the peculiarity of New England pronunciation is to be ascribed to the intelligence of its
inhabitants. This may appear a paradox; but it can easily be explained. They all read and
write; but the New England-man, at home, is a man of exceedingly domestic habits. He
has a theoretical knowledge of the language, without its practice…. It is vain to tell a man
who has his book before him, that cham spells chame, as in chamber, or an, ane as in
angel; or dan, dane, as in danger. He replies by asking what sound is produced by an,
dan, and cham. I believe it would be found, on pursuing the inquiry, that a great number
of their peculiar sounds are introduced through their spelling books, and yet there are
some, certainly, that cannot be thus explained.” 23
In this case the effect was fortunately temporary. But because of the use to which the
Webster Spelling Book was put in thousands of schools, it is very likely that some of its
other effects were more lasting. In the reminiscences of his early life, Joseph
T.Buckingham, a newspaper publisher of some prominence in New England, gives an
interesting account of the village school at the close of the eighteenth century:
It was the custom for all such pupils [those who were sufficiently
advanced to pronounce distinctly words of more than one syllable] to
stand together as one class, and with one voice to read a column or two of
the tables for spelling. The master gave the signal to begin, and all united
to read, letter by letter, pronouncing each syllable by itself, and adding to
it the preceding one till the word was complete. Thus a-d ad, m-i mi,
admi, r-a ra, admira, t-i-o-n shun, admiration. This mode of reading was
exceedingly exciting, and, in my humble judgment, exceedingly useful; as
it required and taught deliberate and distinct articulation When the lesson
had been thus read, the books were closed, and the words given out for
spelling. If one was misspelt, it passed on to the next, and the next pupil in
order, and so on till it was spelt correctly. Then the pupil who had spelt
correctly went up in the class above the one who had misspelt…. Another
of our customs was to choose sides to spell once or twice a week…. [The
losing side] had to sweep the room and build the fires the next morning.
These customs, prevalent sixty and seventy years ago, excited emulation,
and emulation produced improvement. 24
23
Cooper, Notions of the Americans (London, 1828), II, 172–74.
24
Letter to Henry Barnard, December 10, 1860, printed in Barnard’s American Journal of
Education, 13 (1863), 129–32.