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Noah Webster

American lexicographer

Noah Webster (October 16, 1758~May 28, 1843) was born into a northerner family who settled in West Hartford, Connecticut. American Dictionary codifier , textbook writer, spelling reform advocate, political commentator and editor, known as "the father of American learning and education". His blue spelling book has taught five generations of American children how to spell. In the United States, his name is equivalent to a "dictionary", especially modern times, which was first published in 1828《 Merriam Webster Dictionary 》。

Chinese name: Noah Webster
Foreign name: Noah Webster
Nationality: U.S.A
date of birth: October 16, 1758

Date of death: May 28, 1843
Occupation: law relevant
Key achievements: The father of American learning and education
one's native heath: West Hartford, Connecticut
Representative works: Merriam Webster Dictionary

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Noah Webster

Webster He was born in 1758 to a northerner family who settled in West Hartford, Connecticut. He has two brothers, Charles and Abraham , and two sisters, Messi and Jerusha. His father is a farmer And the weaver, the governor of Connecticut John Webster Descendants of; Her mother was a descendant of William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth. At the age of 16, he entered the only university in Connecticut Yale University study. Seasonal occasion American Revolutionary War Because of food shortage, many courses were transferred to Connecticut Glastonbury ， war of independence During this period, he joined the local army of Connecticut. After graduation in 1778, because he could not afford to study law, he went to Glastonbury, Hartford and West Hartford to teach in primary and secondary schools. In 1781, he obtained Law degree However, he did not engage in law related work all his life. Instead, he taught in primary and secondary schools and tried to establish some small-scale schools, but they were not very successful.

Webster's wife

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Until 1781, Webster They all advocate the expansion of the new nation and believe that the United States nationalism It is higher than Europe because American values are superior.

"The United States has seen these absurdities - she has seen endless debates among different sects in European countries, and the development of business, population and other aspects has been hindered and restricted, because people's consciousness is like their bodies Overexpansion , 'by policy and superstition Double bondage ’: She mocked their stupidity and evaded their mistakes, and built her empire on universal tolerance: she nurtured various religions - she protected the sacred rights of individuals (how shocked Europeans are!); She enables people with different views to live in the highest harmony... She will eventually rise to the peak of greatness and glory. By contrast, ancient Greek Rome And modern empires will be eclipsed. "

He contributed to the founding of the American nationalist intelligentsia with spelling books and dictionaries. In the 1880s, Webster Is an outspoken federalism advocate. stay Political theory He reduced the importance of virtue（ Republicanism Of Core values ）, emphasizing the widespread property rights（ Liberalism Key elements of).

Letter to my daughter in 1837

Webster was happily married and became the elite of Hartford, but he was not rich. 1793 Alexander Hamilton At $1500 salary He was hired to edit a federalist newspaper in New York. In December, he founded the first daily newspaper in New York, American Minerva (later known as Commercial Advertiser). He has been an editor for four years and has written 20 articles and editorial 。 He also published The Herald, A Gazette for the country (later《 NY Observer 》)。 As a party member, he was soon denounced by Jefferson's Republicans as "cowardly and self righteous patriot ”, "an incurable madman", "a hypocritical rapper... pretending to be a erudite and a quack", even if federalism Corbert, a supporter, also described him as a "traitor who supports federalism" and a "great fool and shameless liar". The master of writing was very distressed. Even the words "democracy", "people" and "equality" would perplex him in public debate, because these words were metaphysical abstractions, either meaningless or meaningful but not understood by ordinary people.

Webster Advocate the extreme thought of France, unlike most federalists, he supports execution Louis XVI 。 He emphasized neutrality foreign policy But when the French ambassador Edmund Guinness established a jacobin Intervention of the Democratic Republic of China American politics And attacking Washington, Webster condemned them and made him support them federalism Our editorial colleagues "neither approve nor oppose these groups, they are foreign plants: the light of peace will destroy them".

For decades, he has been a prolific writer in the New America, publishing textbooks, writing political essays for federal political parties, and publishing a large number of articles in newspapers (up to 655 pages of his works in modern times).

Webster moved back in 1789 New Haven 。

Main works

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A manuscript of a dictionary

As a teacher, he doesn't like American elementary schools. They are often overcrowded, with 70 children of all ages squeezed into only One room In the schoolhouse. There are few untrained teachers, no desks, and textbooks from Britain are not satisfactory. Webster They think Americans should learn American textbooks. So he started to write a three volume sketch《 English grammar 》It consists of a book of spelling (published in 1783), a book of grammar (published in 1784), and a book of reading (published in 1785). His goal is to train children in the American way. He believes that his greatest contribution is to "save" our national language ”。 He complained about Britain Upper class society Having corrupted English, they established their own spelling and pronunciation standards. Webster believes that Greek and Latin The learning of English grammar should not exceed the learning of English grammar. He believes that the standard of American English is "the same as the republican standard of American civilization and church institutions", which means that most people will control the language; The popular sovereignty in government must be accompanied by the popular use of language. "The fact is that public idioms are the rules of language, and all those deviating from this standard must be wrong."

The advantage of spelling books is that they are easy to teach, and their difficulty increases with age.

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Of all American lexicographers, the most famous and tirelessly supportive American English Noah Webster's influence on American English stories is just like George Washington stay American Revolution The influence in the chronicle. From On English in 1789 to the great milestone American English Dictionary in 1828《 Merriam Webster Dictionary 》）, his works are just like Samuel Johnson It is also a monument.

Stamps commemorating Webster in 1958

Webster Born Connecticut Of Hartford 。 Like many American revolutionaries, he turned from law to education as a means of livelihood. It is this kind of career change that has changed some people's lives. At that time, Britain and the colonies were State of engagement School textbooks are traditionally based on London Imports, but London has a shortage. In addition, according to Webster, these textbooks are not satisfactory. Therefore, he began to fill this gap in accordance with the spirit of the New World. Between 1783 and 1785, when Webster was still in his twenties, he published three enlightening books in English - a spelling book, a grammar book and a reading material - and he gave them an exaggerated title, The College of English Grammar. blue a front cover "American Spelling Textbook" turned out to be a decisive best seller in Webster A total of 80 million copies were sold during his lifetime (second only to the Bible, which is often sold together with the Bible by Webster's sellers). As Webster said, his purpose is to "introduce uniform and accurate pronunciation Ordinary schools ”。 As early as 1782, a person who commented on the unity of American speech once attributed this to "a process whose frequency or universality must be naturally obtained North America Assistance in school teaching ". New England A newspaper explained how the American Spelling Textbook was used in school through recollection: the common practice at that time was to let all such students (those who were high enough to clearly pronounce words with more than one syllable) stand together, form a class level, and then read one or two lines of words on the spelling list in unison. When the teacher gives a signal to start, everyone reads it together, one letter at a time, giving out the sound of each syllable separately, and adding the preceding syllable until the whole word is read, such as a dad, m imi，admi,r ara，admira，t i o nshun，admiration。 Such a form of reading is extremely stimulating and, in my humble opinion, extremely useful, because it requires careful and clear pronunciation and teaching students in this way

American Spelling Textbook Contribution fee It's one cent per book, and its success makes Webster Get enough Cost of living He devoted the rest of his life to supporting the American language cause and its spelling, grammar and pronunciation. An old printer recalled a story told during his apprenticeship, saying that one day, "a small, pale man came into the office, handed me a printed list, and said, 'Young man, when you use these words, please spell them as I say here:' the ater, center, etc. '". This man is Noah Webster. He goes from door to door printing plant Office, persuade people to follow his "improvement" rules.

In 1789, Webster published his "On English", which was almost as fiery as an evangelist, announcing that he would devote himself to American English Separate from their mother tongue:

There are several circumstances that will make it necessary to separate the American tongue from English in the future, and it is inevitable... countless local reasons, such as a new country, new acquaintances, art and Scientific thinking The new combination of "," and some exchanges with tribes unknown to Europe will introduce new words into the American tongue. Over time, these reasons will produce a language in North America, which is different from England The future language of Dutch 、 Danish and Swedish It is different from German or from each other

It is not enough to let history develop on its own. Americans must act. "Our Sense of honor ，” Webster He wrote, "We are required to have our own system not only in terms of language, but also in terms of government." In 1806, Webster published his dictionary, which was his plan to make American English The next step of standardization, and continue to call on people to Literary model Keep a "detached attitude": "In my opinion, there is nothing more harmful to the talent and character of Chinese people than the acquiescence and trust of British writers, and their belief in their opinions, their decisions and their smiles and smiles without hesitation."

The culmination of Webster's efforts was the publication of his American English Dictionary in 1828, which was about one third longer than Johnson's and contained many American usages. Perhaps his lifelong efforts and a year spent in England have matured him. In his foreword to this milestone, he pointed out that "the language in this dictionary is generally the same as that in England, continuing the relationship between the two identity It is necessary. " Although the dictionary has now gained a respected position in the history of American English, the first edition of American English Dictionary only sold 2500 copies. In order to publish the second edition, he had to mortgage his family property. He was followed by debt like a dog for the rest of his life, and later in 1843 Connecticut Of New Haven When he died, most of his efforts were not recognized or appreciated.

Looking back, Webster yes American English Spelling has a huge impact. Americans now want to thank him for spelling these words, such as "color" generation“ colour ”, "wagon" generation“ waggon ”, "fiber" instead of "fiber"“ defense ”Replace "defense", and "tie" replace "tyre". His dictionary aims to eradicate English pronunciation For example, read "forehead" as "before head" instead of "forrid". American language is still better than English Sense of propriety 。 The distinctive pattern of American speech, the proper emphasis on each syllable in each word, can be partly attributed to the influence of the Webster spelling contest, And his maxim: "The so-called clear pronunciation is to pronounce the sound of each letter in each syllable in an appropriate proportion according to the prescribed pronunciation rules, and to make such a distinction between the syllables that make up a word, so that the human ear can easily confirm its number." Instead of "secret 'ry" in Britain. Similarly, read Dickens People in the works may remember that the English pronunciation of words like "waist coat" is“ weskit ”。 according to Webster The pronunciation of this word is "waist coat" without any discount, which is a special place for the first time learn English Immigrants.)

The extent to which Webster's influence on American speech rhythm will always be controversial, just like most language history. However, about most American languages, especially East Coast There has never been any doubt about the unity of the American language outside the United States. Even in the east, there is no such miscellaneous local difference as Britain knows. Actress Farni Kember has been trained in how to listen to spoken English Professional training She said during a trip to the eastern United States:“ Southern United States The western and eastern states have their own strong pronunciation characteristics, which are easy to recognize. " Roughly speaking, her sentence is still valid. It is precisely these large speech areas that are often mistaken for unity.

Portrait in 1833

We have already outlined the origin of the speech in the northeast, which is usually characterized by its preference for abbreviations and its tendency to not pronounce "r". According to the records, New England People send "really" as "r ′ ally", "underneath" as "un ′ Neath", and "pretty" as "pool". According to the novelist Thomas Lou Nichols, in the south, "the local dialect tends to be abbreviated, softened and widened due to the mixed black dialect". Southerners generally retain the phenomenon that the "g" at the end of the traditional English word "a do ing" is not pronounced. According to the record, they changed "once" into "wunst"“ horse ”The pronunciation is "hoss" and "ask" is "aks", which is probably from the black people. orientation Mississippi River In the direction and beyond the river, the American language has become richer and more powerful. Nichols wrote: "It is certain that as people travel westward, their mouths will open wider and their words will become coarser." According to his description, westerners "walk on the water, shouting more than thunder, and thirsty for Mississippi River. They know that he is' genuwinearti cle '(real thing). If he doesn't like anyone, he will' ain 'tworkshucks'" ("shucks" is Oysters The meaning of shell is "even an oyster shell is worthless", which is of course equivalent to "worthless" in Chinese, but I still think oyster shells are good—— Translator). just as Mark Twain According to the report of his own life experience, people in the border area are notoriously irrelevant even in the funeral: "A friend's chips were converted into cash (died), and we should send him off well. So what I have to do now is wake someone up, give us a piece of chin music (chat), and dance Waltz Send him away. "

In these vast areas, almost all people can understand each other's words in a broad sense, so they are different from what Americans think British English Compared with many difficult to understand regional differences, this is more favorable for Americans. For many commentators, the contrast between the two shows that American dialect has a striking "unity". In 1828, James Finimore, the famous novelist and author of The Last Mohicans· Cooper He wrote: "In the United States, although each province and state has its own characteristics in tone, pronunciation and the use of some words, there is no phenomenon of" digging dirt ". An American can distinguish Georgia But you (his British audience) can't recognize the difference between the people in New England and those in New England. " Then Cooper pointed out that the possible main reason for this lack of accent was the influx of European immigrants into the United States: "Twenty years ago, New England And New York or Pennsylvania Or any other state. Immigration alone accounts for a large proportion of this change. "

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