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The American Language

by H. L. Mencken

51 sections · Download EPUB

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  1. 1Preface
  2. 2I — By Way of Introduction
  3. 3§ 2 — The Academic Attitude
  4. 4§ 3 — The View of Writing Men
  5. 5§ 4 — Foreign Observers
  6. 6§ 5 — The Characters of American
  7. 7§ 6 — The Materials of American
  8. 8II — The Beginnings of American
  9. 9§ 2 — Sources of Early Americanisms
  10. 10§ 3 — New Words of English Material
  11. 11§ 4 — Changed Meanings
  12. 12§ 5 — Archaic English Words
  13. 13§ 6 — Colonial Pronunciation
  14. 14III — The Period of Growth
  15. 15§ 2 — The Language in the Making
  16. 16§ 3 — The Expanding Vocabulary
  17. 17§ 4 — Loan-Words
  18. 18§ 5 — Pronunciation
  19. 19IV — American and English Today
  20. 20§ 2 — Differences in Usage
  21. 21§ 3 — Honorifics
  22. 22§ 4 — Euphemisms and Forbidden Words
  23. 23V — Tendencies in American
  24. 24§ 2 — Points of Difference
  25. 25§ 3 — Lost Distinctions
  26. 26§ 4 — Foreign Influences Today
  27. 27§ 5 — Processes of Word Formation
  28. 28§ 6 — Pronunciation
  29. 29VI — The Common Speech
  30. 30§ 2 — Spoken American as It Is
  31. 31§ 3 — The Verb
  32. 32§ 4 — The Pronoun
  33. 33§ 5 — The Adverb
  34. 34§ 6 — The Noun and Adjective
  35. 35§ 7 — The Double Negative
  36. 36§ 8 — Pronunciation
  37. 37VII — Differences in Spelling
  38. 38§ 2 — General Tendencies
  39. 39§ 3 — The Influence of Webster
  40. 40§ 4 — Exchanges
  41. 41§ 5 — Simplified Spelling
  42. 42§ 6 — Minor Differences
  43. 43VIII — Proper Names in America
  44. 44§ 2 — Given Names
  45. 45§ 3 — Geographical Names
  46. 46§ 4 — Street Names
  47. 47IX — Miscellanea
  48. 48§ 2 — American Slang
  49. 49§ 3 — The Future of the Language
  50. 50Bibliography
  51. 51List of Words and Phrases

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