ENGL 4663: History of the English Language

John M. Mercer, Professor of English

Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Study Questions: Chapter 11

“The English Language in America”

Settlement of America

1. Of the three periods of European immigration to America, which one is important in the development of American English? Why? Why are the other periods less important? (238)

2. What English-speaking American colony was founded in each of the following years? (239)

a. 1607

b. 1620

3. Taken together, how are the following events in American history important to the development and spread of American English? (240-41)

a. Settlement of the Old Northwest Territory

b. Louisiana Purchase (1803)

c. California Gold Rush (1848-49)

Features of American English

1. How did the mingling and the mobility of settlers in America influence the development of American English? (242)

2. Who are the Ulster Scots or Scots-Irish? (242)

3. Which country has always had more diversity of dialects: England or the United States? (242)

4. What is meant by the uniformity or homogeneity of American English? (242)

5. What is meant by the merging of regional differences? (242)

6. What are the main reasons for the uniformity or homogeneity of American English? (242)

7. Which two regions of the United States have the most distinctive dialectal pronunciations? (242)

8. In what sense are the following features of American English archaic? (243)

a. Pronunciation of r before consonants and at ends of words (as in park and car)

b. Pronunciation of flat a rather than broad a (as in fast and path)

9. Pronunciation of either and neither (243)

a. How are these words usually pronounced in American English?

b. How are these words usually pronounced in British English?

c. In what sense is the American pronunciation archaic?

10. Use of gotten rather than got as the past participle of the verb to get (He has gotten in trouble vs. He has got in trouble.) (243)

a. Which of these two forms is more typical of American English?

b. Which of these two forms is used in British English?

c. In what sense is the American form archaic?

11. Mad meaning “angry”

a. What does mad often mean in American English?

b. What does mad mean in British English?

c. In what sense is the American use of mad archaic?

12. Sick meaning “suffering from any illness”

a. What does sick usually mean in American English?

b. What restricted meaning does sick have in British English?

c. In what sense is the American use of sick archaic?

13. Rare meaning “underdone”

a. In American English, what adjective describes an underdone piece of meat?

b. In British English, what adjective describes a rare piece of meat?

c. In what sense is the American use of rare archaic?

14. Fall meaning “autumn”

a. In American English, what archaic word is often used to identify the season of the year that precedes winter?

b. In British English, what word is used to identify the season of the year that precedes winter?

15. According to your textbook, is it possible to say overall whether American English is more conservative than British English? Why or why not?

16. For each of the following categories, give at least two examples of new words that came into American English for new objects or experiences in North America. (244)

a. mountains and forests

b. animals (Native American names)

c. trees

d. Native American lifestyle

e. Native American foods

f. American government

17. What phenomenon is demonstrated by the addition of the word cookie to American English? (244)

18. Old words applied to different things (244)

a. What does corn mean in British English? What does it mean in American English?

b. What does robin mean in British English? What does it mean in American English?

19. What are at least two (2) examples of imaginative, slightly humorous phrases that came into American English relatively early? (244)

20. What is the connection between American national consciousness and proposals for an American English academy? (245)

21. What was the content of each of the following books published by Noah Webster, who lived from 1758 to 1843? (246)

a. A Grammatical Institute of the English Language (published 1783)

b. The American Spelling Book

c. An American Dictionary of the English Language (published 1828)

22. According to Noah Webster, why was it necessary for American English to be distinct from British English? (246)

23. Who deliberately introduced all of the major differences between British and American spelling? (247)

24. What are at least two specific examples of each of the following changes from British to American spelling? (247)

a. ou > o

b. double consonants > single consonant

c. re > er

d. ck > c

e. que > k

f. ce > se

25. Who championed a distinctive American pronunciation? (248)

26. How did the educational techniques of “sounding out” words and having spelling bees help to make American pronunciation different from British pronunciation? (248)

27. Who championed these educational techniques? (248)

28. General American English pronunciation differs from the Received Pronunciation of British English in the following ways: (249)

a. flat a vs. broad a (in about 150 commonly used words)

i. How is a flat a pronounced? Which of the two dialects uses this pronunciation in certain words for which the other dialect uses a broad a?

ii. How is a broad a pronounced? Which of the two dialects uses this pronunciation in certain words for which the other dialect uses a flat a?

iii. What are at least two words that demonstrate this difference in pronunciation?

b. r before consonants and at ends of words

i. Which of the two dialects pronounces r in all positions, including before consonants and at the ends of words?

ii. Which of the two dialects pronounces r only before vowels?

iii. What are at least two words that demonstrate this difference in pronunciation between the two dialects?

c. o in certain words like not and got

i. Which of the two dialects pronounces this o as if it were a broad a as in father?

ii. Which of the two dialects uses rounded lips to pronounce this o as an “open” vowel sound?

iii. Besides not and got, what are at least two other words that demonstrate this difference in pronunciation?

d. been

i. How is been pronounced in General American English?

ii. How is been pronounced in the Received Pronunciation of British English?

e. leisure

i. How is leisure most often pronounced in General American English?

ii. How is leisure pronounced in the Received Pronunciation of British English?

f. fertile

i. How is fertile pronounced in General American English?

ii. How is fertile pronounced in the Received Pronunciation of British English?

g. figure

i. How is figure pronounced in General American English?

ii. Surprisingly, how is figure pronounced in the Received Pronunciation of British English?

h. ate

i. How is ate pronounced in General American English?

ii. Surprisingly, how is ate pronounced in the Received Pronunciation of British English?

i. unaccented syllables

i. Which of the two dialects pronounces unaccented syllables?

ii. Which of the two dialects tends to suppress unaccented syllables?

iii. Who is primarily responsible for this difference in pronunciation between American and British English?

iv. What are at least two words that illustrate this difference in pronunciation?

j. variety of tone

i. Which of the two dialects has less variety of tone and sounds more monotonous?

ii. Which of the two dialects has greater variety of tone?

Dialects of American English

1. What is the Linguistic Atlas of the United States? (250, 255)

2. Where do the authors of your textbook stand on the question of whether American English has a Midland dialect that is distinct from Northern and Southern dialects? Why? (250)

3. According to the map on page 377, in what states are the six regional dialects of American English spoken? (250)

a. Eastern New England

b. New York City

c. Upper North

d. Lower North

e. Upper South

f. Lower South

4. What is a dipthong? What is the diphthongization of vowels? Which regional dialect is especially known for its diphthongization of vowels? (250)

5. How does the map on page 377 help to explain why the speech of southeastern Oklahoma is so distinct from that of the rest of the state?

6. Who speaks each of the following dialects of American English? (250)

a. General American

b. African American Vernacular English (also known as AAVE, Vernacular Black English, Black English, and Ebonics)

c. Hispanic American English

7. What is the relationship of each of the following to African American Vernacular English? (250)

a. pidgin English

b. Gullah dialect (a creole)

8. What is Chicano English? Of what dialect of American English is it a subset? (250)

9. Which dialect is the product of a bilingual culture? (250)

10. What is code-switching? Why is it a useful tool? (250)

11. English homes of earliest settlers (250)

a. From what regions of England did the original settlers of New England come?

b. From what regions of England did the original settlers of Virginia come?

c. How are New England and Southern dialects of American English similar to each other?

d. How might the answers to the questions 11a and 11b help to explain the similarity between New England and Southern dialects?

Controversy over Americanisms (251-52)

1. What is the definition of Americanism?

2. According to the 19^th-century opponents of Americanisms, what kind of influence did Americanisms have on the English language?

3. What was the purist attitude toward Americanisms?

4. What was Noah Webster’s position concerning Americanisms?

5. At what point in American history did the predominant attitude toward Americanisms change? How did it change?

6. What is the origin of the words transpiring, presidential, and lengthy?

Dictionaries of American English (252)

1. In lexicography (the making of dictionaries), what is the difference between prescriptivism and descriptivism?

2. Is each of the following dictionaries of American English primarily prescriptive or descriptive? Justify your answers.

a. Webster’s Second International Dictionary (published 1934)

b. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (published 1961)

c. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (may not be in textbook)

3. Why was Webster’s Third New International Dictionary so controversial?

4. How did Webster’s Third New International Dictionary lead to the publication of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language? (may not be in textbook)

5. What is the Usage Panel in The American Heritage Dictionary? (may not be in textbook)

British and American Vocabulary

1. Current differences between British and American vocabulary (253)

a. Translate into American English each of the following British terms related to automobiles:

i. bonnet

ii. boot

iii. lorry

b. Translate into American English each of the following British terms related to food and drink:

i. chips

ii. crisps

iii. lager

iv. bitter (Customers in British pubs frequently order a pint of bitter.)

2. At which of the three cultural levels or functional varieties of English studied in the previous chapter (written or literary standard, spoken standard, or popular or colloquial speech [226]) are the differences between British and American English most apparent? (253)

3. At which of the three cultural levels or functional varieties of English studied in the previous chapter (written or literary standard, spoken standard, or popular or colloquial speech [226]) are the differences between British and American English least apparent and quite insignificant? (256)

4. What phenomenon is demonstrated by the words telephone and jazz? (254)

Standard American English

1. What sets the standard for American English? (256)