Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Facultad de Estudios Superiores Acatlán

Historia del Inglés

Diego Ortega Carrillo

2451

Brief History of the American English Language

24/05/2020
 Brief History of the American English Language

The present essay was written for the subject of History of the English language -
who would have known, right? -, here, I present the emergence of this language
descendant from the Germanic family in the American territory and the most
remarkable events that shaped it. Through these pages, I am considering lexical and
a few phonological aspects hand to hand with historical facts that allowed the
language to remain and evolve throughout time. As a professor in training, I consider
this topic of importance as it helps to reflect on the roots of the language and
familiarize with its history, cultural aspects just as important as grammar when
teaching (and learning) a foreign tongue. Being knowledgeable of the topic it is being
taught allows enriching classes and making them more attractive, which facilitates
the learning process.

The English language was brought to America by colonists from England who
settled along the Atlantic seaboard in the seventeenth century. It was, therefore, the
language spoken in England at that time, the language spoken by Shakespeare and
Milton and Bunyan. (Baugh and Cable, 2002:331). The first settlement took place in
1607 in Jamestown, Virginia, and this was followed by the development of twelve
other colonies along the Atlantic coast. By the end of the colonial period, at the same
time that the first census was carried out in 1790, there were approximately four
million people living in the American colonies, with 95% from the British Isles. (ibid:
351). The fact that these people came from different parts of England meant they
brought their accents and lexicon with them.

Dutch occupation of New York began around 1614, but the small size of the
Netherlands did not permit a large migration, and the number of Dutch in New York
was never great, but there was something inevitable: word borrowing. Thanks to this
sector, words such as coleslaw and cookies were introduced to American English.

On 16 September 1620, the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth. Most of the
travelers came from East Anglia, but there were also thirty different communities
from all over England among them traveling sixty-five days across the Atlantic. This
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sea voyage[...]provided a kind of language melting-pot in which the regional
differences began to intermingle. (McCrun, Cran, and MacNeil. 1993:99).

Most of the early settlers arrived in Massachusetts but were forced to travel around
in search of land and greater independence for their communities (Baugh and Cable,
op.cit:353). And as Dillard (1992) points out, it was observed that many
‘communities’ were formed on the actual voyage over to America. In addition to the
religious communities of Puritans, Quakers, and other dissenting groups, small,
albeit temporary communities were formed which supported social rather than
geographical selection in the forming of colonies. A few years later, French settlers
built a community in South Carolina. Presently, the interior lands were occupied by
Scots-Irish and Germans (Baugh and Cable, op.cit:355). But the largest single
immigrant group, however, was the forced immigration of thousands of Africans,
brought into America through the Slave Trade, which began in the seventeenth
century until its abolition in the nineteenth century. Surprisingly enough, the influence
on the language from Africans was small, but it is important to mention.

In addition to this large influx of immigrants, America had its own indigenous
population speaking numerous Native American languages, including Algonquian,
Muskoghian, and Penutian (Wolfram and Schilling-Estes, 1998:105). These Native
American languages became a rich source of words and expressions that were
needed by the early colonists; to describe the new sights, tastes, and experiences
of their adopted homeland. Many of the native languages, however, contained nasal,
pharyngealized and glottalized sounds that were unfamiliar to speakers of English.
An inevitable result was that the borrowed words from the native languages were
changed considerably, both in form and meaning, for ease of assimilation
(Marckwardt, 1958:24). Some examples of these loanwords are the ones that follow:
Moose (Algonquian), Papoose (Algonquian), and Chipmunk (origin not clear).

Linguistically, the circumstances under which the American population spread

over the country have had one important consequence. It has repeatedly been
observed, in the past as well as at the present day, especially by travelers from
abroad, that the English spoken in America shows a high degree of uniformity; this

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was possible thanks to people or entire communities moving from one colony to
another. The above mentioned was observed by John Witherspoon in 1781, Scottish
President of Princeton University, who remarked that people “being much more
unsettled, and moving frequently from place to place, they are not so liable to local
peculiarities either in accent or phraseology”.

At this point, we can see traces of a rising nation having a language with
characteristics of its own. Baugh and Cable point there is evidence that at the time
of the American Revolution and especially in the years immediately following it,
Americans were beginning to be conscious of their language and to believe it might
be destined to have a future as glorious as that which they confidently expected for
the country itself. John Witherspoon was the precursor of what it would be the
''standardization'' of the language used in this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

But it wasn't until the Declaration of Independence and the fights that took place at
the time by the colonies to establish their freedom from England that the beginning
of this standardization saw the light, thanks to the American ideological change this
produced. With political independence achieved and a new patriotic sentiment,
several colonists began to communicate their disavowal to any sign of dependence,
including ideas regarding language.

No one expressed this attitude more vigorously than Noah Webster, who
studied law but had to turn to teach and thus, felt inspired to write and publish three
elementary books on English: a spelling book, a grammar, and a reader, under the
high-sounding title A Grammatical Institute of the English Language. They were
the first books of their kind to be published in this country. The success of the first
part was unexpectedly great. It was soon reissued under the title The American
SpellingBook and in this form went through edition after edition. It is estimated that
in a hundred years, more than 80 million copies of the book were sold. (ibid: 346). In
all of these works and numerous smaller writings he was animated by a persistent
purpose: to show that the English language in this country was a distinctly American
thing, developing along its own lines, and deserving to be considered from an
independent, American point of view.

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The culmination of his efforts to promote the idea of an American language was the
publication of his American Dictionary in 1828. In the preface to that work, he gave
final expression to his conviction:

“It is not only important, but, in a degree necessary, that the people of this country, should
have an American Dictionary of the English Language; for, although the body of the
language is the same as in England, and it is desirable to perpetuate that sameness, yet
some differences must exist. Language is the expression of ideas; and if the people of our
country cannot preserve an identity of ideas, they cannot retain an identity of language. […]''

Even though Webster was not the only one trying to help consolidate the American
English language, his notorious works contributed significantly and left a permanent
mark on the language of this country.

Nowadays, the difference between the British and the American lexicon today
is lessened by the fact that many American words have made their way into British
use, and their number appears to be increasing rather than diminishing. Often, they
have had to make their way against long and bitter opposition. Generally speaking,
it may be said that when an American word expresses an idea in a way that appeals
to the British as fitting or effective, the word is ultimately adopted in Britain. (Baugh
and Cable, op.cit:375). And we cannot blame them over this, all languages that
happen to count on dialectal variants such as Spanish, end up adopting different and
diverse words according to the contextual needs. It is the nature of language.

It has been argued that English as an international language is being shaped as

much by non-native speakers as by native speakers, and the variety that is emerging
will not be rooted in the culture, geography, and national sense of any country.
American English is the principal expositor in the global scenario, this allows people
from all around the world to connect with it, to shape it and to adapt it to their needs;
whether they use it in school, in their relationships or just as a tool to consume
content, it is undeniable it takes an important role in this globalized world.

The interaction between European communities, the unfortunate slave

trade which forced people from Africa to abandon their lives, the indigenous
Americans, the processes of standardization and recognition, and the current

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global scenario resulted in the diversification of the American English language
and its culture. I am sure this is not the end of the path; several future events
await that may shape the language. A language that connects millions of people,
whether it is their first or second language and regardless of their nationalities or
their histories as long as they share this system of communication that counts
with an impressive background that can be used to facilitate the teaching and
learning processes; by implementing historical and grammatical content so the
students get more in touch with the tongue they are practicing or any other
attractive method of the like.

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 References

BAUGH, A. & CABLE, C. (2002) A History of The English Language. 5th ed.
Oxon: Routledge.

DILLARD, J.L. (1992) A History of American English. London: Longman.

MARCKWARDT, A. (1958) American English. New York: Oxford University

Press.

McCRUM, R., CRAN, W., MACNEIL, R., & MacNeil, R. (1986). The story of
English (p. 267). London: Faber & Faber.

WEBSTER, N., & SLATER, R. J. (1828). Noah Webster's first edition of an

American dictionary of the English language. San Francisco: Foundation for
American Christian Education.

WOLFRAM, W. & SCHILLING-ESTES N. (1998) American English. Oxford:

Blackwell.