The American Language

Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.6
Word count
884K words
Chapters
89

Tags

English Originals Language and Writing Social ObservationWestern ThoughtAcademic StudyPopular NarrativeCultural Change

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The American Language by H. L. MenckenAuthor: Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956,Language: English, Class: PE: Language and Literatures: English, Release Date: Aug 1, 2013

Editor's review

The American Language is H. L. Mencken's systematic survey of the development of American English, examining linguistic phenomena within their social, historical, and everyday contexts. It reads more like a work of cultural observation than a dry grammar treatise. The book discusses at length American spelling, word choice, colloquial habits, and the divergences from British English, showing how language changes with immigration, commerce, journalism, and popular culture. For today's readers its value lies not only in linguistic knowledge but in an open attitude toward language change: rather than dismissing new usages as decline, it asks where they come from and what they do. Mencken's tone carries a critic's edge and humor, with dense examples, and is suited to slow reading and note-taking. It can be read as a crossover between language history and Americana, both supplementing knowledge of English history and training observation of contemporary internet slang, dialects, and media language. Some specific judgments bear the limitations of their era and should be understood in light of modern linguistic scholarship.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Start with the table of contents and chapter introductions, identify themes such as spelling, word choice, and colloquial speech, then read in blocks.
  2. Keep a notebook of the book's examples and compare them point by point with modern English usage.
  3. When encountering era-bound judgments, consult modern linguistic sources to supplement and correct them.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89

FAQ

Is this book suitable for complete beginners in English? Not really. It discusses language history and the evolution of usage, with dense examples and historical background, so beginners may struggle to grasp the main points. It is better to have some English reading ability first and then approach it as a book on language and culture.
Do the book's views still hold today? Many of its observations remain illuminating, but some specific judgments bear the limitations of the early twentieth century. It is best treated as a document in language history and read alongside modern linguistic scholarship, not as a standard for current usage.
What background knowledge is needed to read this book? Basic English reading ability is enough; some familiarity with American history, immigration, and journalism will make it smoother. No prior linguistics course is required, but readers willing to verify examples and take notes will gain more.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956 Author

H. L. Mencken (Henry Louis Mencken, 1880–1956) was a prominent American writer and critic. Public information on the details of his life is limited, but his work is distinctive. The library holds ten of his books, covering language study, social criticism, and philosophical commentary. The American Language examines the development and character of American English and is an important work in language study; the Prejudices series (First, Second, and Third Series) offers sharp essays on society, literature, and cultural life; The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche introduced Nietzsche's thought to English-language readers at an early date; and In Defense of Women, Damn! A Book of Calumny, and A Book of Prefaces display his satirical and argumentative style. His writing is known for its directness, wit, and critical spirit.