The history and origins of American language through the accomplishments of Noah Webster, Samuel Morse and others were covered in a lecture by associate professor of history Jill Lepore in the “Food for Thought” lunch series yesterday in Marsh Chapel.
Through a history of the early publishing of dictionaries and the development of Morse code and American Sign Language, Lepore posed questions to the audience in regards to what specifically makes our language “American.”
“If the United States separated from England, do we still speak English?” she asked.
Lepore also spoke about Webster’s failed attempt to drastically alter the English language to make it distinctly more unique to the United States by changing the spelling of many common words.
“Most of the changes were never approved,” she said.
She also discussed the introduction of the telegraph and its impact on international communication.
“It was originally anticipated to be a means of promoting peace and ending war. However, its first run was a compete failure,” she said.
Lepore explained that despite a growing bilingual population, Americans all share a common bond of their own language.
The audience at the “Food for Thought” lecture included a mix of BU students, faculty and members of the community. Shelli Jankowski-Smith, director of the Office of the University Chaplain at Marsh Chapel, has served as director of the weekly series for the past eight years.
Jankowski-Smith’s objective is to get a wide variety of lecturers for the series.
“All speakers are drawn from the BU community: faculty, staff and sometimes alumni,” Jankowski-Smith said. “Our goal is to emphasize and highlight the broad variety of expertise we have at this university.”
However, much consideration goes into choosing a speaker, Jankowski-Smith said.
“The background and impact of a person’s work on the university environment is important,” she said. “And a main factor is whether the individual interests me. If I’m interested, usually people will be too.”
The “Food for Thought” program was started 21 years ago and has seen its share of ups and downs.
“It almost stopped 10 years ago,” Jankowski-Smith said. “We were basically at death’s door, with two or three in attendance each week.”
After some minor revamps to the series and increased advertising, a steady crowd has reemerged, including a number of loyal weekly attendees.
Teresa Dujnic, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, attends the weekly lunch and lecture frequently.
“It’s interesting to hear some of these people speak; many are really distinguished,” Dujnic said. “It’s also a great way to learn more outside the classroom and a wise way to spend some spare time.”
The “Food for Thought” Series is held in the Robinson Room in the basement of Marsh Chapel every Tuesday at noon.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
