Noah Webster

He was a lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author. He was called the “Father of American Scholarship and Education”. For Webster, America in 1783 was no longer a colony but it was not yet a nation. A written constitution defined it politically as a republican state, but national unity had to be worked for, and a crucial arena for this was language.

Webster was therefore keen on linguistic levelling, but not as a spontaneous process as from a program of focusing based on the printed word. One difficulty with this was the fact that publishing was controlling by Britain throughout much of the 19^th century. However, in many ways, Webster´s own dictionary, together with a keen interest in universal education, did provide a powerful model for American usage.

However, the nationalist ideal of linguistic uniformity in American English has not been completely achieved. One reason is that the process of internal differentiation has not diminished. The economic and cultural division between north and south led to the Civil War of the 1860s. Another source of differentiation is the sheer diversity in the American population since the late 18^th century. A levelled form of pronunciation, known as “General American”, is associated with new comers –Scot Irish from Ulster in mid-19^th century- , who were to form what is often called “melting pot”.