Synopsis
Perhaps the first truly important book about the divergence of American English from its British roots, this survey of the language as it was spoken-and as it was changing-at the beginning of the 20th century comes via one of its most inveterate watchers, journalist, critic, and editor HENRY LOUIS MENCKEN (1880-1956).In this replica of the 1921 "revised and enlarged" second edition, Mencken turns his keen ear on:
• the general character of American English
• loan-words and non-English influences
• expletives and forbidden words
• American slang
• the future of the language
• and much, much more.
Anyone fascinated by words will find this a thoroughly enthralling look at the most changeable language on the face of the planet.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
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Search results for American Language, Supplement One
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American Language
Published by
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1945
ISBN 10: 0394400763
ISBN 13: 9780394400761
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. 4th. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 2310292-6
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The American Language Supplement 1 :The American Language: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0394400763I3N00
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The American Language Supplement 1 :The American Language: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0394400763I4N00
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The American Language Supplement 1 :The American Language: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States
Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fair. No Jacket. Missing dust jacket; Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0394400763I5N01
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The American Language Supplement 1 :The American Language: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States
Seller: Solr Books, Lincolnwood, IL, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: acceptable. This book is in Acceptable condition. All pages are intact, but may have lots of notes, water damage or other issues and be ex library. Seller Inventory # BCV.0394400763.A
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The American Language Supplement 1 :The American Language: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States
Seller: ThriftBooksVintage, Tukwila, WA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Dust jacket missing. Shelf and handling wear to cover and binding, with general signs of previous use. Boards show scuffing, minor fading and rubbing, interior pages clean and unmarked. Secure packaging for safe delivery. Seller Inventory # 1243262911
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The American Language Supplement 1 :The American Language: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States.
Published by
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1945
ISBN 10: 0394400763
ISBN 13: 9780394400761
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Brentwood Books, Kinnelon, NJ, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Collectable, good. First printing. Black hardcover, no jacket, gold lettering on spine, 739 pages + index + note on type. Gold lettering on spine faded but legible; 1"x1/4" white residue from sticker on spine; cloth cover worn through on approx 4" of edges on back cover; cover slightly soiled. Tight binding; no marks; slight tanning due to age. A satisfactory copy. **We provide professional service and individual attention to your order, daily shipments, and sturdy packaging. FREE TRACKING ON ALL SHIPMENTS WITHIN USA. Seller Inventory # 63247
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The American Language Supplement 1 :The American Language: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States
Seller: SatelliteBooks, Burlington, VT, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Tenth, 1966 edition. Hardcover. Very Good / Very Good Mylar-protected dust jacket. Free of any markings and no writings inside. Clear Text. Minor shelf-wear. Sticker residue on front of Mylar. For any additional information or pictures, please inquire. Seller Inventory # 250710008
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The American Language - Supplement One: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States
Published by
A Borzoi Book/Published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1975
ISBN 10: 0394400763
ISBN 13: 9780394400761
Used
Hardcover
Seller: gearbooks, The Bronx, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Like New. Dust Jacket Condition: Like New. 11th Printing: January 1975/Supplement 1. 739 + pp. Supplement I only! Over-sized and/or over weight book; extra postage required. Please note that large and/or heavy items may incur an additional shipping charge. Essentially and virtually clean, fresh, flawless copy, save publishers' remainder mark on bottom edge, and light shelf wear. Dust jacket shows very little wear. Please inquire for the complete set, consisting of Fourth Edition and Supplements I + II. Synopsis: The American Language is H. L. Mencken's 1919 book about changes Americans had made to the English Language. Mencken was inspired by the argot of the colored waiters in Washington, as well as one of his favourite authors, Mark Twain, and his experiences on the streets of Baltimore, MD. In 1902, Mencken remarked on the queer words which go into the making of United States. The book was preceded by several columns in The Evening Sun. Henry Louis Mencken eventually asked why doesn't some painstaking pundit attempt a grammar of the American language. English, that is, as spoken by the great masses of the plain people of this fair land? It would appear that he answered his own question. In the tradition of Noah Webster, who wrote the first American dictionary, Mencken wanted to defend 'Americanisms' against a steady stream of English critics, who usually isolated Americanisms as borderline barbarous perversions of the mother tongue. H.L. Mencken assaulted the prescriptive grammar of these critics and American schoolmarms, now sometimes known as grammar mavens, arguing, like Samuel Johnson in the preface to his dictionary, that language evolves independently of textbooks. The book discusses the beginnings of American variations from English, the spread of these variations, American names and slangs over the course of its 374 pages. According to Henry Louis Mencken, American English was more colorful, vivid, and creative than its British counterpart. The book sold exceptionally well by Mencken's standards - 1400 copies in the first two months. Reviews of the book praised it lavishly, with the exception of one by Mencken's old nemesis, Stuart Sherman. Mencken released several full-sized supplements to the main volume in ensuing decades, based on the boom in linguistics articles. Many of the sources and research material associated with the book are in the Mencken collection at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, MD. Contents: The American Language, The Two Streams of English, The Earliest Alarms, The English Attack, American Barbarisms, The English Attitude Today, The Position of the Learned, The Views of Writing Men, The Political Front, Foreign Observers, The Materials of the Inquiry, The Hallmarks of American, What is an Americanism?, The Beginnings of American, The First Loan-Words, New Words of English Material, Changed Meanings, Archaic English Words, The Period of Growth, A New Nation in the Making, The Expanding Vocabulary, Loan-Words and Non-English Influences, The Language Today, After The Civil War, The Making of New Nouns, Verbs, Other Parts of Speech, Foreign Influences Today, American and English, The Infiltration of English by Americanisms, Surviving Differences, English Difficulties with American, Criticisms in the United States, Honorifics, Euphemisms, Forbidden Words, Expletives, The Pronounciation of American, Its General Characters, The Vowels, The Consonants, Dialects, American Spelling, The Influence of Noah Webster, The Advance of American Spelling, The Simplified Spelling Movement, The Treatment of Loan-Words, Punctuation, Capitalization, and Abbreviation, The Common Speech, Outlines of its Grammar, The Verb, The Pronoun, The Noun, The Adjective, The Adverb, The Double Negative, Other Syntactical Peculiarities, Proper Names in America, Surnames, Given-Names, Place-Names, Other Proper Names, American Slang, The Nature of Slang, Cant and Argot, The Future of the Language, The Spread of English, English or American?, Appendix, Non-English Dialects in America, Germanic, German. Seller Inventory # 4ivAb0002