The American Language
A Preliminary Inquiry into the Development of English in the United StatesBy H. L. Mencken
Length10h 51m
About this audiobook
In "The American Language," H. L. Mencken embarks on an incisive exploration of American English, meticulously examining its distinct characteristics, regional dialects, and evolving syntax. Mencken's literary style is characterized by wit, erudition, and a fervent enthusiasm for language, making his observations both accessible and engaging. The book is set against the backdrop of early 20th-century America, a period of profound social change and burgeoning national identity, providing a rich context for Mencken's assertions about language as a living entity that reflects cultural values and societal norms. Mencken, a prominent journalist and social critic, was deeply influenced by his observations of American society and its peculiarities. His love for language, combined with his unyielding skepticism of American cultural pretensions, propelled him to document the idiosyncrasies of American English. As a member of the so-called 'Lost Generation,' Mencken's work synthesizes the tumult of his era, examining how English was reshaped to accommodate the American experience. For anyone intrigued by linguistics, American culture, or the evolution of language, "The American Language" is an indispensable read. Mencken'Äôs articulate arguments, peppered with humor and irony, challenge readers to reconsider their perceptions of language, making this book a thought-provoking companion for scholars and casual readers alike.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.1 (554)
Includes Goodreads
GenreOther
Length10 hrs 51 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJan 9, 2020
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1The View of Writing Men
19Pronunciation
2Foreign Observers
20Spoken American As It Is
3The Characters of American
21The Verb
4The Materials of American
22The Pronoun
5Sources of Early Americanisms
23VII Differences in Spelling
Show all chaptersShow less
6New Words of English Material
24Typical Forms
7Changed Meanings
25General Tendencies
8Archaic English Words
26The Influence of Webster
9Colonial Pronunciation
27Exchanges
10The Expanding Vocabulary
28Simplified Spelling
11Loan-Words
29IX Miscellanea
12Pronunciation
30Proverb and Platitude
13V Tendencies in American
31American Slang
14International Exchanges
32The Future of the Language
15Points of Difference
33List of Words and Phrases (pt. 1)
16Lost Distinctions
34List of Words and Phrases (pt. 2)
17Foreign Influences Today
35General Index
18Processes of Word Formation
The American Credo - Interpretation of the National MindH. L. Mencken, George Jean Nathan4h 25m3.9 (125)$0.99 · $0.00
A Book of BurlesquesH. L. Mencken2h 58m3.7 (103)$1.99 · $0.00
Notes on Democracy (Annotated)H. L. Mencken6h 9m4.4 (484)$2 · $0.00
The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (Annotated)H. L. Mencken10h 21m4.0 (631)$2 · $0.00
A Book of Prefaces (Annotated)H. L. Mencken7h 52m3.8 (67)$2 · $0.00
Prejudices, First Series (Annotated)H. L. Mencken7h 23m4.3 (92)$2 · $0.00
Damn! A Book of CalumnyH. L. Mencken1h 9m3.8 (383)$1 · $0.00
In Defense of WomenH. L. Mencken5h 52m3.8 (877)$2 · $0.00
Prejudices, fifth seriesH. L. Mencken7h 16m4.1 (22)$1 · $0.00
Prejudices: EssaysH. L. Mencken7h 15m4.4 (110)$2 · $0.00
The American Credo (Annotated)H. L. Mencken, George Jean Nathan4h 27m3.7 (51)$2 · $0.00
The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (Summarized Edition)H. L. Mencken5h 3m4.0 (593)$2
Notes on Democracy (Summarized Edition)H. L. Mencken2h 20m4.1 (635)$2
Notes on DemocracyH. L. Mencken5h 52m4.1 (864)$2 · $0.00
In Defense of WomenH. L. Mencken4h 36m3.9 (604)$2 · $0.00
In Defense of WomenH. L. Mencken6h 7m3.7 (875)$0.99 · $0.00
The American Language (Annotated)H. L. Mencken18h 39m4.3 (889)$1.99 · $0.00
H. L. Mencken - Premium CollectionH. L. Mencken, George Jean Nathan51h 20m4.4 (11)$0.99 · $0.00
The American Language: Development of English in the United StatesH. L. Mencken18h 36m4.3 (597)$0.99 · $0.00
The Holy Bible - 1 SamuelKing James2h 13m4.8 (1.6K)$3 · $0.00
The American Standard Bible — The Gospel of MatthewMatthew3h 56m4.7 (3K)$2 · $0.00
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
The King James Audio Bible New Testament CompleteChristopher Glyn20h 2m4.7 (2.6K)$10 · $0.00
Faiths CheckbookCharles Spurgeon12h 44m4.7 (3.2K)$11 · $0.00
Ten Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child's Mental HealthDr. Billy Garvey4h 53m4.7 (2.4K)$20 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m4.6 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of LukeJ.C. Ryle27h 13m4.7 (536)$18 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m4.6 (4.9K)$26 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
Brain Training for RidersAndrea Monsarrat Waldo5h 56m4.7 (550)$19 · $0.00
My Effin' LifeGeddy Lee17h 11m4.6 (13.1K)$40 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
The Elementia Chronicles #2: The New OrderSean Fay Wolfe11h 17m4.6 (841)$29 · $0.00
The ActsLuke2h 55m4.6 (19.7K)$12 · $0.00
New Testament - Easy NavigationWorld English Bible19h 35m4.6 (1.3K)$1.30 · $0.00
Woodcraft and Camping (Annotated)George Washington Sears3h 30m4.6 (1.2K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Hate U GiveAngie Thomas11h 50m4.5 (1.1M)$8 · $0.00
The King of AttoliaMegan Whalen Turner10h 23m4.5 (61.3K)$29 · $0.00
You may also like
The American Language (Annotated)H. L. Mencken18h 39m4.3 (889)$1.99 · $0.00
The Autobiography of Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin, Frank Woodworth Pine7h 5m4.0 (114.4K)$1 · $0.00
Love That DogSharon Creech36m4.2 (69.9K)$9 · $0.00
The Harvard Classics: Complete 51-Volume CollectionBenjamin Franklin, Edmund Burke, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, William Shakespeare, Homer, Friedrich von Schiller, William Makepeace Thackeray, John Ruskin, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Alan Poe, Henry David Thoreau, Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Hobbes, John Woolman, William Penn, Epictetus, Francis Bacon, John Milton, Thomas Browne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Burns, Saint Augustine, Thomas à Kempis, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pliny the Younger, Adam Smith, Charles Darwin, Plutarch, Virgil, Miguel de Cervantes, John Bunyan, Izaak Walton, Aesop, Wilhelm Grimm, Jacob Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, John Dryden, Brinsley Sheridan, David Garrick, Oliver Goldsmith, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Browning, George Gordon Byron, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Christopher Marlowe, Dante Alighieri, Alessandro Manzoni, Richard Henry Dana, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Carlyle, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Molière, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Philip Sidney, Ben Jonson, Abraham Cowley, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Jonathan Swift, Daniel Defoe, Samuel Johnson, David Hume, Sydney Smith, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, Charles Lamb, Thomas De Quincey, Thomas Babington Macaulay, James Russell Lowell, Michael Faraday, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz, Simon Newcomb, Archibald Geikie, Benvenuto Cellini, Michel de Montaigne, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Ernest Renan, Giuseppe Mazzini, Herodotus, Tacitus, Francis Drake, Philip Nichols, Francis Pretty, Walter Bigges, Edward Haies, Walter Raleigh, René Descartes, Jean Froissart, Thomas Malory, William Henry Harrison, Niccolo Machiavelli, William Roper, Thomas More, Martin Luther, John Locke, George Berkeley, Hippocrates, Ambroise Paré, William Harvey, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Joseph Lister, Louis Pasteur, Thomas Dekker, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, John Webster, Philip Massinger, Blaise Pascal, William A. Neilson986h 46m4.4 (2K)$0.99 · $0.00
Everybody Has a Podcast (Except You)Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Griffin McElroy5h 9m4.3 (2.3K)$24 · $0.00
SiddharthaHermann Hesse4h 12m4.2 (1M)$1.20 · $0.00
Pretty BoysDavid Yi9h 16m4.3 (310)$29 · $0.00
e-Pedia: The BeatlesWikipedia contributors371h 39m$1 · $0.00
HokusaiEdmond de Goncourt5h 37m4.1 (203)$18 · $0.00
Love for SaleDavid Hajdu8h 10m3.9 (369)$20 · $0.00
Paul SignacPaul Signac1h 41m4.0 (43)$15 · $0.00
Albert Marquet. The Paradox of TimeMikhail Guerman2h 20m$16 · $0.00
Marian McPartland’s Jazz WorldMarian McPartland7h 47m3.6 (45)$12 · $0.00
Englisch lernen Audio - Urlaub, Strand und mehrElisabeth Erpf, Charlotte Bracker, Michael Pilewski, Rita Forbes59m$11
Obiter Dicta: Second SeriesAugustine Birrell4h 2m3.5 (12)$2 · $0.00
MuchaPatrick Bade1h 7m3.9 (230)$8 · $0.00
Paul SignacPaul Signac1h 55m4.8 (12)$13.50 · $0.00
Piet Mondrian and artworksStéphanie Angoh1h 13m$15 · $0.00
James McNeill Whistler 1834-1863Patrick Chaleyssin6h 14m$16 · $0.00
A deep dive into The FauvesNathalia Brodskaïa1h 25m3.7 (32)$13 · $0.00