Date of Award
Spring 2026
Language
English
Embargo Period
4-30-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College/School/Department
Department of English
Program
English
First Advisor
James Lilley
Committee Members
Jennifer Greiman, Wendy Roberts
Keywords
literary dialect, translation, transcription, American English, pronunciation, koine
Subject Categories
American Literature | Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | European Languages and Societies | French and Francophone Literature | Indigenous Education | Language and Literacy Education | Oral History | Other Rhetoric and Composition | Philosophy of Language | Political History | Reading and Language | Rhetoric | Social History | Translation Studies | United States History
Abstract
“Models of Emulation: Representations of Foreign, Indigenous, and Accented Speech in Early American Literature” explores how American writers used depictions of “nonstandard” English and accented English language speech, traditionally described as “literary dialect,” as a way to negotiate identity, power, and political belonging in the formative years of nation building after the American Revolution. Beginning with Noah Webster’s mission to establish a standardized pronunciation of the English language that would simplify and purify spoken American-English and definitively differentiate it from what he saw as the corrupted, cosmopolitan British-English model, each of the three chapters examines literary representations of nonstandard emulated or imitated speech in the context of different polyglot encounters, the earliest of which is Benjamin Franklin’s edition of the Lancaster Treaty of 1744. The remaining works under examination are set against the backdrop of then-United States capital Philadelphia during the tumultuous decade of the 1790s, including Hugh Henry Brackenridge’s Modern Chivalry, Thomas Jefferson’s Indian Addresses, Philip Freneau’s Tomo Cheeki essays, and Charles Brockden Brown’s Ormond. By analyzing how the emulation, imitation, translation, or transcription of nonstandard voices, specifically in the context of oratorical performance, were either appropriated, exploited, or resisted by American writers both Republican and Federalist, I attempt to prove how literary representations of vocal and linguistic difference were functionally much more than examples of comic stereotyping. I demonstrate how the authenticity of represented or translated speech is always a product of consultation and plural authorship, not simply a reflection of oral reality, and while the emulation of nonstandard voices can productively serve the ends of inclusion, compromise, and reconciliation, it can also problematically marginalize, exclude, and even erase. In “Models of Emulation,” I argue that American writers’ engagement with speech difference and literary representations of speech difference in polyglot encounters actually involved complex negotiations between the standardized ideal and the reality of linguistic diversity that were central to debates surrounding the limits of civic participation, citizenship, and the attempted creation of unified post-Revolutionary national identity.
License
This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.
Recommended Citation
Frulla, Elaina A., "Models of Emulation: Representations of Foreign, Indigenous, and Accented Speech in Early American Literature" (2026). Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present). 401.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/etd/401
Included in
American Literature Commons, Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, French and Francophone Literature Commons, Indigenous Education Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons, Oral History Commons, Other Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Philosophy of Language Commons, Political History Commons, Reading and Language Commons, Rhetoric Commons, Social History Commons, Translation Studies Commons, United States History Commons