Sarah Palin

Originally uploaded by Celeste Van Kirk

It is ironic that we are celebrating Noah Webster’s birthday – the founder of American English would be 250 years old this week. It should be recalled, but seldom is, that when his dictionary of American English appeared, only about 60% of Americans spoke English. This was in 1800 I believe. Webster was concerned about our spelling mostly; he wanted to make it easier. He removed the “u” from the British “colour” and the redundant “k” in “musick.” Unlike the French, he thought “centre” should be spelled “center” as it sounds. We all know many other examples.

But speaking and spelling are two entirely different areas. Sarah Palin’s accent has produced renewed interests in the variety of our accents. Recently the comedian Robin Williams said Palin’s accent is “like Tina Fey meets Fargo.” This bit of humor caused an angry editorial in Anchorage. Nevertheless one can argue she makes an “o” sound like the Scandinavians and Germans in the areas around Fargo, North Dakota. But on the other hand, dropping the “g” is a language phenomenon found in Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota. Then again, to count the word “terrorist” as having only two syllables can be found in parts of Mississippi.

Some Linguists argue that her accent is genuine Alaskan and they point to several areas. I suspect they have a point, since we are living in times that may produce population shifts if people must search the country for work as they did in the 1930’s. My own hypothesis takes into account the Joad family in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. President Franklin Roosevelt opened up the Alaskan territories for development during the Great Depression. People from all over the country traveled in groups as they did 100 years before that in wagon trains going west. They stayed together in smaller groups, keeping their accents, but they were well-integrated by the time Sarah Palin’s family moved to Alaska. I am hardly an authority on accents but I would not be greatly surprised if many of the 9,000 people in her town spoke with a similar accent to that of Sarah Palin. In our TESL program, we address the vagaries of speech and the diversity they bring to spoken American English. In particular, Teaching Spoken Language, Principles of Language Teaching and Learning, and Introduction to Linguistics all touch on these points. I only wish Noah Webster could have been around to witness what he brought about by creating American English!