A history of the English Language

English Today
, 62 (April 2000), 31. See also two 
related articles by Modiano, “International English in the Global Village,” 
English Today,
58 (April 
1999), 22–28, and responses, pp. 28–34; and “Standard English(es) and Educational Practices for 
the World’s Lingua Franca,” 
English Today,
60 (October 1999), 3–13. 
77 
David Crystal, “The Future of Englishes,” 
English Today
, 58 (April 1999), 16. 
The english language in america 383

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Jamaica, one can find plentiful samples of English that deserve a low estimate, but one 
will find a language that has adapted to the local conditions, usually without looking over 
its shoulder to the standards of a far away country, and in so adapting has become the rich 
medium for writers and speakers of great talent and some of genius. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
An excellent one-volume account of the settlement of America is Curtis P.Nettels, 
The Roots of 
American Civilization: A History of American Colonial Life
(2nd ed., New York, 1963), which 
may be supplemented by the detailed studies of Charles M. Andrews, 
The Colonial Period of 
American History
(4 vols., New Haven, CT, 1934–1938), and Wesley F.Craven, 
The Southern 
Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 1607–1698
(Baton Rouge, 1949). A careful study of 
intercommunication between England and colonial America is lan K.Steele, 
The English 
Atlantic, 1675–1740: An Exploration of Communication and Community
(Oxford, 1986). For 
the history of the frontier Ray A.Billington’s 
Western Expansion
(3rd ed., New York, 1967) is 
clear and comprehensive. Standard works on the major immigrant groups are Marcus L.Hansen, 
The Atlantic Migration, 1607–1860
(Cambridge, MA, 1940), and Carl Wittke, 
We Who Built 
America: The Saga of the Immigrant
(rev. ed., Cleveland, 1964). See also George von Skal, 
History of German Immigration in the United States
(New York, 1908), and G.T.Flom, 
A 
History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States…to 1848
(Iowa City, 1909). On the 
history of the English language in this country, George P.Krapp’s 
The English Language in 
America
(2 vols., New York, 1925) is still indispensable. H.L.Mencken, 
The American 
Language
(4th ed., New York, 1936) contains much valuable material, although 
overemphasizing colloquial and vulgar speech. For the supplements and an abridged edition, see 
above, page 398. Thomas Pyles, 
Words and Ways of American English
(New York, 1952) and 
Albert H. Marckwardt, 
American English
(New York, 1958) are readable and informative. 
M.M.Mathews, 
The Beginnings of American English
(Chicago, 1931), reprints in convenient 
form some of the earlier discussions of English in America, and Jane L. Mesick’s 
The English 
Traveller in America, 1785–1835
(New York, 1922) gives references to early comments on 
American speech. A skillful study based on manuscripts of the eighteenth and nineteenth 
centuries is Norman E.Eliason, 
Tarheel Talk: An Historical Study of the English Language in 
North Carolina to 1860
(Chapel Hill, NC, 1956). There are biographies of Noah Webster by 
Horace E.Scudder (Boston, 1882; 
American Men of Letters Series
) and Harry R.Warfel (New 
York, 1936). Emily E.F. Ford, 
Notes on the Life of Noah Webster
(2 vols., New York, 1912) 
contains extensive material from Webster’s diaries and correspondence. The fullest account of 
his work on the dictionary is by Joseph H.Friend,