The American language
.PNG)
The American language. The English of the United States is the title of the German translation of Henry L. Mencken's book The American Language (1919) on American English , published by BG Teubner Verlag in 1927 in an adaptation by Heinrich Spies (Anglist) .
Emergence
Mencken found inspiration for his work both in Washington's “ Argot of Colored Waiters” and in one of his favorite writers, Mark Twain , as well as in his experiences on the streets of Baltimore . In 1902 Mencken noted the "strange words that went into creating the 'United States'". Preceded the book were numerous columns in The Evening Sun . Mencken finally asked himself: "Why doesn't a careful expert try his hand at a grammar for the American language ... that English that is spoken by the great masses of ordinary people in this beautiful country?"
In the tradition of Noah Webster , who wrote the first American dictionary, Mencken wanted to defend "Americanisms" against the constant criticism that the usually isolated Americanisms were almost barbaric perversions of the English mother tongue. Mencken attacked the prescriptive grammar of these critics and American "schoolmasters" by arguing, like Samuel Johnson in the foreword to his dictionary, that language develops independently of textbooks.
Mencken discusses the beginnings of “American” deviations from “ English ”, the spread of these variations, American names and jargon . According to Mencken, American English is more colorful, lively, and creative than British English.
The book sold exceptionally well compared to other works by Mencken: 1,400 copies in the first two months. It has received rave reviews, with the exception of its old adversary, Stuart Sherman .
Mencken published numerous supplements to the main volume in the course of the following decades.
Much of the sources and research for this book can be found in the Mencken Collection of the Baltimore Public Library .
literature
- Fred Hobson: Mencken . Random House, New York 1994.
Web links
- "The American Language" - An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States
- The American Language (1921) Google edition
- more recent reprint of the German edition [1]