feature story / 15 Now featuring an expanded selection of designer frames. I look forward to seeing you at our new full service location. Dawn Morano, Optician We’ve relocated: ROSELAND EYE CARE 178 Eagle Rock Avenue Roseland, NJ 07068 973-762-9100 or Text: 973-348-9339 dawn@dawnopticians.com A New Location, The Same Personalized Care A s we mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, we think of the Founding Fathers and their creation of a country separate from England. After two and half centuries of separation, the United States and England remain, famously, “two nations divided by a common language.” We’re English-speaking countries, but our English is noticeably different. People use language to communicate what we want to say and who we are – where we come from and the groups we identify with. Seeing language as part of iden tity (both individual and national), some early Americans allegedly considered adopting a lan guage other than English to affirm their separa tion from England. You might have heard the (debunked) story about how German, spoken by many Pennsylvanian settlers, almost became the country’s national language. Other (unverified) accounts claim that French, Greek and Hebrew were once promoted as alternatives for the new country. Whether true or merely legends, these stories reflect a linguistic reality: as new nations emerge, its citizens often seek a language to distin guish them from other nations. Early Americans, ultimately, did not adopt an entirely different language. They did, however, modify the existing one in subtle yet visible ways. Benjamin Franklin, recognized for his many inventions, discoveries and wise sayings, is less known for his creation of a new English alphabet. Based on the logical idea that each letter should represent one sound and each sound should correspond with a single letter, Franklin’s alphabet eliminated redundant letters (such as c, whose sounds correspond with s or k), and add ed letters for sounds not represented in the Latin alphabet (such as ի and ŋ written in English as sh and ng). A glance at our keyboards confirms that Americans did not adopt Frank lin’s alphabet. But his insistence on a one-to-one correspondence between sound and symbol was a key consideration in the founding of the Interna tional Phonetic Alphabet. Noah Webster, known as the “Father of American Scholarship and Educa tion” and publisher of the first American dictionary, agreed with Franklin that writers should be able to spell words as they pronounced them in their own day and not as in Chaucer’s day. Webster also saw the potential for spelling to distinguish Americans from the British, and likewise, the new country from the old one. Instead of radically modifying the alphabet, Webster used existing letters to spell words closer to how we pronounce them. Thanks to Webster, we write color instead of colour, program not programme, and realize for realise. As we start a new school year, we might take a moment to celebrate our unified linguistic identity, perhaps with a donut (not doughnut) from Dunkin, Quickchek or Krispy Kreme and a lite soda – no judg(e)ment. At least one of our Founding Fathers would have approved! Please share your thoughts on spelling and other language matters with your local linguist at languagematters@mattersmagazine.com. Kristen di Gennaro is an associate professor of English at Pace University, where she teaches courses in linguistics. Selebrating Speling BY KRISTEN DI GENNARO languagematters SUPPORTING OUR SUPPORTING OUR LITTLE LEARNERS LITTLE LEARNERS AND THEIR FAMILIES AND THEIR FAMILIES SUPPORTING OUR LITTLE LEARNERS AND THEIR FAMILIES WHY US? PLAY-BASED LEARNING OUTDOOR PLAY FOCUS ON EACH CHILD'S INDIVIDUALITY prospectpreschool.org Instagram: @prospectpreschool (973) 763 8955
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