The American Language Book Jacket spine faded Book jacket pencil mark on cover , chipped edges and folds on back jacket cover Pages yellowing with age Knopf, Inc., 1965, 769 pages The American Language; An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, first published in 1919, is H. L. Mencken's book about the English language as spoken in the United States. Supplement One Yellowing of pages due to age Knopf, Inc., 1966, 739 pages Supplement Two Book jacket edges are chipped Pages yellowing with age Knopf, Inc., 1967, 890pages The ground thus covered in Supplement II is as follows: 1. American Pronunciation. Its history. Its divergence from English usage. The regional and racial dialects. 2. American Spelling. The influence of Noah Webster upon it. Its characters today. The simplified spelling movement. The treatment of loan words. Punctuation, capitalization, and abbreviation. 3. The Common Speech. Outlines of its grammar. Its verbs, pronouns, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. The double negative. Other peculiarities. 4. Proper Names in America. Surnames. Given-names. Place-names. Other names. 5. American Slang. Its origin and history. The argot of various racial and occupational groups. Although the text of Supplement II is related to that of The American Language, it is an independent work that may be read profitably by persons who do not know either The American Language or Supplement I.