Do You Speak American?Is American English in decline? Are regional dialects dying out? Is there a difference between men and women in how they adapt to linguistic variations? These questions, and more, about our language catapulted Robert MacNeil and William Cran—the authors (with Robert McCrum) of the language classic The Story of English—across the country in search of the answers. Do You Speak American? is the tale of their discoveries, which provocatively show how the standard for American English—if a standard exists—is changing quickly and dramatically. On a journey that takes them from the Northeast, through Appalachia and the Deep South, and west to California, the authors observe everyday verbal interactions and in a host of interviews with native speakers glean the linguistic quirks and traditions characteristic of each area. While examining the histories and controversies surrounding both written and spoken American English, they address anxieties and assumptions that, when explored, are highly emotional, such as the growing influence of Spanish as a threat to American English and the special treatment of African-American vernacular English. And, challenging the purists who think grammatical standards are in serious deterioration and that media saturation of our culture is homogenizing our speech, they surprise us with unpredictable responses. With insight and wit, MacNeil and Cran bring us a compelling book that is at once a celebration and a potent study of our singular language. Each wave of immigration has brought new words to enrich the American language. Do you recognize the origin of 1. blunderbuss, sleigh, stoop, coleslaw, boss, waffle? Or 2. dumb, ouch, shyster, check, kaput, scram, bummer? Or 3. phooey, pastrami, glitch, kibbitz, schnozzle? Or 4. broccoli, espresso, pizza, pasta, macaroni, radio? Or 5. smithereens, lollapalooza, speakeasy, hooligan? Or 6. vamoose, chaps, stampede, mustang, ranch, corral? 1. Dutch 2. German 3. Yiddish 4. Italian 5. Irish 6. Spanish |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 9 | |
Dingbatters Versus HoiToiders | 31 |
Putting the R in American | 49 |
four This Aint Your Mamas South Anymore | 67 |
Reconquest or Assimilation? | 89 |
six Badmouthing Black English | 115 |
seven Language from a State of Change | 151 |
eight Teaching Computers to Speak American | 179 |
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Common terms and phrases
accent African American English American English asked Bailey Baldy become believes Black English black speech British Cajun California called Cenizo century Chicano English cities Cukor-Avila culture Dennis Baron dialect Dictionary Dingbatters El Cenizo ethnic example Geoffrey Nunberg German glish gonna grammar guage guys hear hip-hop Hispanic immigrants island John Baugh kids Labov language Latino linguistic live means Mexican Mexico Molly Ivins Nass North Northern Northern Cities Shift Nunberg percent Ph.D Philadelphia Preston pronounced pronunciations queens r"-less radio regional Robert MacNeil Scots-Irish Sheidlower Simon slang slave social sound South Southern Spanish Speak American speakers speech patterns spoke stereotypes surfers talk teachers television Texas there's things tion told United University usage Valley Girl voice vowel William Labov woman women words writing Yeah York young
Popular passages
Page 5 - English is destined to be in the next and succeeding centuries more generally the language of the world than Latin was in the last or French is in the present age. The reason of this is obvious, because the increasing population in America, and their universal connection and correspondence with all nations will, aided by the influence of England in the world, whether great or small, force their language into general use...