TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Original spelling and grammar has mostly been retained. Many inconsistencies in the use of hyphens and character accents have been retained; some of these were probably intentional. Footnotes were moved to the ends of chapters. The original pagination of this 1919 edition is shown in square brackets, e.g. [Pg009]. There are an awful lot of italics in this book. In this simple text version, /italics are marked with the solidus/. Text that was originally small caps is shown in uppercase. Further details are provided in the TRANSCRIBER ENDNOTE. THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE [Illustration] OF THE FIRST EDITION OF THIS BOOK FIFTEEN HUNDRED COPIES HAVE BEEN PRINTED AND THE TYPE DISTRIBUTED THIS IS NUMBER 1434 THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE /A Preliminary Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States/ BY H. L. MENCKEN [Illustration] NEW YORK ALFRED · A · KNOPF MCMXIX COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE The aim of this book is best exhibited by describing its origin. I am, and have been since early manhood, an editor of newspapers, magazines and books, and a critic of the last named. These occupations have forced me into a pretty wide familiarity with current literature, both periodical and within covers, and in particular into a familiarity with the current literature of England and America. It was part of my daily work, for a good many years, to read the principal English newspapers and reviews; it has been part of my work, all the time, to read the more important English novels, essays, poetry and criticism. An American born and bred, I early noted, as everyone else in like case must note, certain salient differences between the English of England and the English of America as practically spoken and written--differences in vocabulary, in syntax, in the shades and habits of idiom, and even, coming to the common speech, in grammar. And I noted too, of course, partly during visits to England but more largely by a somewhat wide and intimate intercourse with English people in the United States, the obvious differences between English and American pronunciation and intonation.