Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T16:01:12.119Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Issues in Early American English: Using evidence from the journal of Madam Knight

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2008

Daniel Brink
Daniel Brink
Affiliation:
Arizona State UniversityTempe, AZ 85287-0502
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A much underused resource in the study of Early American English is the anecdotal commentaries provided by the rather large number of contemporary journals which often provide evidence about an important issue in Early American English. This paper addresses the question of “leveling” in Colonial American English: did it take place, and, if so, when, where, and in what form, and shows how at least one contemporary journal provides rather impressive indications of the presence of strong, entrenched dialect differences at the turn ot the 18th century, suggesting that leveling, at least on the scale sometimes assumed by modern commentators, had not occurred by Madam Knight's day.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , July 1994 , pp. 199 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

WORKS CITED

Bryant, Frank Egbert. 1907. “On the conservatism of language in a new country.” Publications of the Modern language association 22:277–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassidy, Frederic G. 1982. “Geographical variation of English in the United States.” English as a world language. Eds. Bailey, Richard W. and Görlach, Manfred. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Pp. 177–209.Google Scholar
Craigie, W. A. 1927. “The study of American English.” Society for pure English 27:199–216.Google Scholar
Dillard, J. L. 1975. All-American English. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Dillard, J. L. 1985. Toward a social history of American English. Contributions to the sociology of language, 39. Berlin-New York-Amsterdam: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forgue, Guy Jean. 1977. “American English at the time of the revolution.” Revue des langues vivantes 43:255–68. Rpt. 1986 in: Dialect and language variation. Eds. Harold B. Allen and Michael D. Linn. Orlando FL: Academic Press. Pp. 511–23.Google Scholar
Knight, Sarah Kemble. 1825. The journal of Madam Knight. In: The journals of Madam Knight, and Rev. Mr. Buckingham. New York: Wilder & Campbell. Reprinted 1990 with an introduction by Sargent Bush, Jr. in: Journeys in new worlds: Early American women's narratives. Ed. Andrews, William L.. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Page references are to the 1825 edition.Google Scholar
Kurath, Hans. 1928. “The origin of the dialectal differences in spoken American English.” Modern philology 25:385–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurath, Hans. 1965. “Some aspects of an Atlantic seaboard English considered in their connections with British English.” Communications et rapports du Premier congrès international de dialectologie générale, III. Ed. A. J. van Windekins. Pp. 236–40. Rpt. 1971 in: A various language. Eds. Williamson, Juanita V. and Burke, Virginia M.. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Pp. 101–07.Google Scholar
Kurath, Hans. 1968. “Contributions of British folk speech to American pronunciation.” Leeds studies in English, n.s. 2:129–35.Google Scholar
Kurath, Hans. 1972. “Relics of English folk speech in American English.” Studies in linguistics in honor of Raven I. McDavid, Jr. Ed. Davis, Lawrence M.. University AL: University of Alabama Press. Pp. 367–75.Google Scholar
Kytö, Merja. 1991. Variation and diachrony, with Early American English in focus: Studies on “can/may” and “shall/will”. Bamberger Beiträge zur englischen Sprachwissenschaft, 28. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Lounsbury, J.F. 1880. “The English language in America.” International review 8:472–82.Google Scholar
Marckwardt, Albert H. 1958. American English. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. Rpt. 1980. Ed. Dillard, J.L.. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Marshall, Howard W. and Vlach, John M.. 1973. “Toward a folklife approach to American dialects.” American speech 48:163–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millward, C.M. 1989.A biography of the English language. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Quirk, Randolph. 1972. The English language and images of matter. Language and language learning, 34. London: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Reed, Allen Walker. 1933. “British recognition of American speech in the eighteenth century.” Dialect notes 6:313–34. Rpt. 1980 in: Perspectives on American English. Ed. J. L. Dillard. Contributions to the sociology of language, 29. The Hague-Paris-New York: Mouton. Pp. 15–35.Google Scholar
Viereck, Wolfgang. 1982. “Das amerikanische Englisch in Forschung und Lehre.” Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik 49:351–65.Google Scholar
Viereck, Wolfgang. 1985. “On the origins and developments of American English.” Papers from the 6th International conference on historical linguistics. Ed. Fisiak, Jacek. Current issues in linguistic theory, 34. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Pp. 561–69.Google Scholar