View source for The American Language

{{Short description|1919 book by H.L. Mencken}}{{Infobox book
| image             = The American Language title page (1921).PNG
| author            = [[H. L. Mencken]]
| pub_date          = 1919
| caption           = 1921 title page
| name              = The American Language; An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States
| language          = English
| country           = [[United States]]
| genre             = Linguistics
| publisher         = [[Alfred A. Knopf]]
}}

{{italic title}}
'''''The American Language; An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States''''', first published in 1919, is a book written by [[H. L. Mencken]] about the [[English language]] [[American English|as spoken in the United States]].

==Origins and concept==
Mencken was inspired by "the [[argot]] of the colored waiters" in Washington, as well as one of his favorite authors, [[Mark Twain]], and his experiences on the streets of [[Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore]]. 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 Baltimore Sun|The Evening Sun]].'' 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?"

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 "perversions" of the "mother tongue". Mencken assaulted the [[prescriptive grammar]] of these critics and American "schoolmarms",  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 "[[British English|English]]", the spread of these variations, American names and [[slang]] over the course of its 374 pages. According to Mencken, American English was more colourful, vivid, and creative than its British counterpart.

The book sold exceptionally well for a reference book — 1500 books, the entire first printing, in less than 2 years.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The lady with the Borzoi : Blanche Knopf, literary tastemaker extraordinaire|last=Claridge|first=Laura|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|year=2016|isbn=9780374114251|edition= First |location=New York|pages=53|oclc=908176194}}</ref> The book was an early title published by Alfred A. Knopf and was revised three times in the author's lifetime.<ref name=":0" /> Reviews of the book praised it lavishly, with the exception of one by Mencken's old nemesis, [[Stuart P. Sherman|Stuart Sherman]].

Many of the sources and research material associated with the book are in the Mencken collection at the [[Enoch Pratt Free Library]] in Baltimore, Maryland.

==Editions==
The first edition of 1919 was revised in 1921 and 1923; the fourth "corrected, revised, and enlarged" edition was published in 1936. Mencken released two full-sized ''Supplements'' to the main volume, in 1945 and 1948, based on the boom in [[linguistics]] articles. An abridged single-volume compilation of the original volume and supplements was edited by [[Raven I. McDavid Jr.]] and published in 1963.

* {{cite book |last=Mencken |first=Henry Louis |title=The American Language; A Preliminary Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States |edition= 1st |year=1919 |publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf]] |location=New York City |url=https://archive.org/details/americanlanguage00mencuoft |accessdate=1 March 2018 }}
* {{cite book |last=Mencken |first=Henry Louis |title=The American Language; An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States |edition= 2nd |orig-year=1921 |year=2000 |isbn=1-58734-087-9 |publisher=[[Bartleby.com]] |url=http://www.bartleby.com/185/ |accessdate=1 March 2018 }}
* {{cite book |last=Mencken |first=Henry Louis |title=The American Language; An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States |edition= 3rd |year=1923 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf  |location=New York City  |oclc=551316331 }}
* {{cite book |last=Mencken |first=Henry Louis |title=The American Language; An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States |edition= 4th |orig-year=1936 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf  |location=New York City |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.212093/2015.212093.The-American |url-access=registration  |year=1949 |accessdate=1 March 2018 }}
* {{cite book |last=Mencken |first=Henry Louis |title=The American Language; An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States; Supplement I |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York City |year=1960 |orig-year=1945 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanlangu00menc |url-access=registration  |accessdate=28 February 2018}}
* {{cite book |last=Mencken |first=Henry Louis |title=The American Language; An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States; Supplement II |year=1962 |orig-year=1948 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf  |location=New York City |url=https://archive.org/details/americanlangua00menc |url-access=registration  |accessdate=1 March 2018 }}
* {{cite book |last=Mencken |first=Henry Louis |editor-last=McDavid |editor-first=Raven I. |title=The American Language; An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States |edition= abridged |year=1963 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York City |oclc=301277059 }}

== Audiobooks ==
An [[audiobook]] version was released in 2021 by Spoken Realms, read by Rebecca H. Lee.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.audible.com/pd/The-American-Language-Audiobook/B08WG7CB7J|title=The American Language|language=en}}</ref>

==Sources==
*Hobson, Fred. ''Mencken.'' Random House, New York, 1994.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Wikisource-inline|The American Language|''The American Language''|single=true}} (multiple editions)
* {{Gutenberg |bullet=none |no= 43376 |name=The American Language |year=1919}} {{free access}}
* {{cite book |last1=Mencken |first1=Henry Louis |title=The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States |date=1921 |publisher=Knopf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XbZIAAAAMAAJ |language=en}} {{free access}}
<!-- 
* {{cite book |last1=Mencken |first1=Henry Louis |title=The American Language: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States |date=1921 |publisher=Knopf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7wNHAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}
 -->
{{Mencken}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:American Language, The}}
[[Category:1919 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Alfred A. Knopf books]]
[[Category:Books about American English]]
[[Category:Culture of the United States]]
[[Category:Books by H. L. Mencken]]