"So called in America": Nationalism, Nativism, and the Representation of Indigenous Languages in Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Languag e (1828)

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study explores Noah Webster's representation of vocabulary derived from indigenous languages in the first edition of his American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Previous scholarship on Webster has revealed much about how his lexicography reflected his nationalist politics, but the role that his treatment of indigenous languages plays in this narrative has not been explored. By analyzing words with indigenous origins as a distinct category within the Dictionary and bringing to light new evidence of Webster's etymological theories towards indigenous languages, this study emphasizes nativism as a tool in Webster's nationalist project and explores the historic treatment of indigenous languages and cultures in American dictionaries.