The American Language
by H. L. Mencken
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Language: English
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About this eBook
- Author
- Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956
- Title
- The American Language A Preliminary Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States
- Credits
- Produced by Bruce Albrecht, RichardW and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net
- Language
- English
- LoC Class
- PE: Language and Literatures: English
- Subject
- Names, Personal -- United States
- Category
- Text
- eBook-No.
- 43376
- Project Gutenberg
- https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43376
- Release Date
- August 1, 2013
- Copyright
- Public domain in the USA.
Contents
- 1.THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE
- 2.PREFACE
- 3.CONTENTS
- 4.I By Way of Introduction — The Diverging Streams — The Academic Attitude — The View of Writing Men — Foreign Observers — The Characters of American — The Materials of American — FOOTNOTES:
- 5.II The Beginnings of American — In Colonial Days — Sources of Early Americanisms — New Words of English Material — Changed Meanings — Archaic English Words — Colonial Pronunciation — FOOTNOTES:
- 6.III The Period of Growth — The New Nation — The Language in the Making — The Expanding Vocabulary — Loan-Words — Pronunciation — FOOTNOTES:
- 7.IV American and English Today — The Two Vocabularies — Differences in Usage — Honorifics — Euphemisms and Forbidden Words — FOOTNOTES:
- 8.V Tendencies in American — International Exchanges — Points of Difference — Lost Distinctions — Foreign Influences Today — Processes of Word Formation — Pronunciation — FOOTNOTES:
- 9.VI The Common Speech — Grammarians and Their Ways — Spoken American As It Is — The Verb — The Pronoun — The Adverb — The Noun and Adjective — The Double Negative — Pronunciation — FOOTNOTES:
- 10.VII Differences in Spelling — Typical Forms — General Tendencies — The Influence of Webster — Exchanges — Simplified Spelling — Minor Differences — FOOTNOTES:
- 11.VIII Proper Names in America — Surnames — Given Names — Geographical Names — Street Names — FOOTNOTES:
- 12.IX Miscellanea — Proverb and Platitude — American Slang — The Future of the Language — FOOTNOTES:
- 13.Bibliography — FOOTNOTES:
- 14.List of Words and Phrases
- 15.General Index
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