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The American Language A Preliminary Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States

By H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken

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Book Description

Table of Contents

THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE
PREFACE
CONTENTS
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
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
III The Period of Growth
- The New Nation
- The Language in the Making
- The Expanding Vocabulary
- Loan-Words
- Pronunciation
- Footnotes
IV American and English Today
- The Two Vocabularies
- Differences in Usage
- Honorifics
- Euphemisms and Forbidden Words
- Footnotes
V Tendencies in American
- International Exchanges
- Points of Difference
- Lost Distinctions
- Foreign Influences Today
- Processes of Word Formation
- Pronunciation
- Footnotes
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
VII Differences in Spelling
- Typical Forms
- General Tendencies
- The Influence of Webster
- Exchanges
- Simplified Spelling
- Minor Differences
- Footnotes
VIII Proper Names in America
- Surnames
- Given Names
- Geographical Names
- Street Names
- Footnotes
IX Miscellanea
- Proverb and Platitude
- American Slang
- The Future of the Language
- Footnotes
Bibliography
- Footnotes
List of Words and Phrases
General Index