27.2098, Review: Historical Ling; Socioling: Bailey (2015)

Fri May 6 17:14:16 UTC 2016

LINGUIST List: Vol-27-2098. Fri May 06 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.2098, Review: Historical Ling; Socioling: Bailey (2015)

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Date: Fri, 06 May 2016 13:14:02
From: Jessie Sams [samsj at sfasu.edu]
Subject: Speaking American

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/26/26-2267.html

AUTHOR: Richard W. Bailey
TITLE: Speaking American
SUBTITLE: A History of English in the United States
PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press
YEAR: 2015

REVIEWER: Jessie Sams, Stephen F. Austin State University

Reviews Editor: Robert Arthur Cote

SUMMARY

Typically, books that focus on the history of the English language are wider
in scope and investigate language change from pre-English through historical
stages, which are often divided into Old, Middle, and Modern English (e.g.,
Mugglestone 2012, Algeo 2010, Freeborn 2006). Within the Modern English
section, the author might devote a chapter or section to the innovation and
spread of American English, perhaps briefly discussing the differences between
British and American English (e.g., Baugh and Cable 2013). However, Richard W.
Bailey, the author of  “Speaking American: A history of English in the United
States,” narrows his focus to four centuries (roughly 1600-2000) and solely
discusses the history of the English language as it pertains to American
English. In the preface, Bailey writes that his book “tells the history of
[American English] from the perspective of eight centers of influence, all of
which have affected the present shape of the language” (xvi) and, in the
introduction, he mentions that the larger theme running through the content is
America’s “search for authority” (7). The content, language, and style used
throughout the book indicate that the book is intended for a general audience.
The book is organized into nine chapters: an introductory chapter followed by
eight chapters that focus on the eight “centers of influence” (xvi) of
American English in 50-year increments. In other words, each of those eight
primary chapters focuses on a particular location within a specific 50-year
time frame, so that the book is organized both chronologically and
geographically. Those chapters are followed by a brief epilogue, references,
and index.

Chapter 1, “Introduction,” justifies the book’s content and organization;
Bailey’s framework is heavily influenced by the work and ideas of Alexis de
Tocqueville, a French historian who wrote about his visit to America in the
early 1800s and his views on the American people. Tocqueville noticed drastic
differences between American and European societies, and Bailey summarizes a
main point of Tocqueville’s work that affects both American society and
language: “Americans constantly yearned for change; they would not stay put”
(6). Bailey also draws a divide between aristocratic and democratic languages,
writing, “Aristocratic languages yearned for precision and stability,
democratic ones for exuberance and innovation” (7). Throughout the book, he
returns to the idea that American English is a democratic language; however,
he does not limit his focus to language. In fact, this work is as much a book
about the ideology of the American people as it is a book about language. He
highlights how “[r]apid social change, restless movement of population, thirst
for innovation, and struggles with issues of diversity and instability have
all characterized our settlement history from the beginning” (15). He
continues those introductory thoughts in  Chapter 2, “Chesapeake Bay, before
1650,” which sets the stage for the multiple stories of American English that
will follow in subsequent chapters. The main theme of the second chapter is
how immigration and language contact led to blurred lines of social
stratification (one of the first major impacts of separating American from
European society).

Chapter 3, “Boston, 1650-1700,” and Chapter 4, “Charleston, 1700-1750,”
discuss how the overlap of social classes led to a search for new social
stratification. In Boston, the rise of literacy led to an increase in
documentation, showing how language could be used to wield power, especially
in court cases. Thus, the power belonged to the literate. On the other hand,
Charleston’s residents in the early 1700s were isolated from other
English-speaking communities in the state and maintained its ties to England,
leading to a community that strove to conserve English’s aristocratic society.
However, “[w]ith the economic decline of the city…, the speech of the elite
was increasingly recognized as eccentric and hardly worthy of imitation” (71).
And so, the search for authority continued, with a focus on those communities
that offered diversity.

The next two chapters, “Philadelphia, 1750-1800” and “New Orleans, 1800-1850,”
showcase the roles of diversity and language contact in the shaping of
American English. Philadelphia became an influential center for the American
people as its residents led the revolt against British rule and became a
center of American independence. Although American culture became
characterized by cultural diversity, its language was, surprisingly, uniform
when compared to the English in Britain. New Orleans, another center of
diversity, was described as the “most compactly multilingual place in the
country” (100) with no “single cultural identity” (119) and a “hotbed of
linguistic change” (109). The influence of New Orleans dwindled, though, when
it lost its status as a major port. 

The uniformity of American English is integral to Chapter 7, “New York,
1850-1900,” and Chapter 8, “Chicago, 1900-1950,” where there was a great deal
of population growth, cultural diversity, and scientific innovation. In these
cities, young people and gangs began to more heavily influence the language.
Though New York and Chicago dominated other cities in size and wealth, their
language was not necessarily emulated; in fact, their dialects were often
“despised and scorned” (137) and people looked to grammar guides and
dictionaries to standardize their language.

Still searching for a linguistic authority, speakers turned their attention to
California, where “what was forbidden elsewhere … was tolerated” (163); the
final chapter, “Los Angeles, 1950-2000,” demonstrates the “power of the
entertainment industry” (170) in the shaping of American English. The one-page
epilogue that follows that chapter suggests that the search for authority
continues and the locus of the next major language movement will not be
specific to a geographic area but will instead be influenced by media and the
Internet.

EVALUATION

Bailey successfully provides a history of American English through the eight
cities described, and anyone with an interest in language, history, and/or
American society will be able to read and enjoy the book. He appeals to a wide
audience by avoiding the use of highly academic terms and goes to great
lengths to explain language features. For example, when writing about sounds
specific to dialects, rather than relying solely on IPA, he provides example
words to demonstrate how those sounds are pronounced. He takes an honest
approach to historical events and injects humor in unexpected places to keep
readers engaged. For instance, when discussing the colony at Chesapeake Bay,
he writes, “The colonists thought [Namontacke] was a spy for Powhatan, and he
likely was one. It was not necessarily a bad thing for Powhatan to discover
that the English were improvident and incompetent” (20). In the Charleston
chapter, he describes why the English spoken in Charleston did not influence
surrounding dialects: “Charleston was left elegant, genteel, and poor” (69).

On the whole, the book is well-written and very thoroughly researched;
however, a couple oversights in information and organization may leave readers
wanting more. While Bailey provides justification for the organization of the
book, he does not include specific justification for how he selected those
particular eight centers and time frames—information that could help the
reader better understand the impact of those centers on language and the
potential impact of other locations. Within the chapters, information is
organized chronologically so that content that logically goes together becomes
separated; for instance, Chapter 3, the focus shifts from legal actions and
documents to King Philip’s war and then back to legal documents and
pronunciation. However, even though the organization is at times a bit
scattered, the chapters remain valuable resources due to their breadth of
sources, topics, and specific examples.

The way in which Bailey highlights cities at their peak and then provides
information about their subsequent fall from high cultural status provides
readers with thought-provoking insights to American culture and migration.

REFERENCES

Algeo, John. 2010. The Origins and Development of the English Language (6th
ed.). Boston: Wadsworth.

Baugh, Albert C. and Thomas Cable. 2013. A History of the English Language
(6th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Freeborn, Dennis. 2006. From Old English to Standard English: A Course Book in
Variation across Time (3rd ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Mugglestone, Lynda (Ed.). 2012. The Oxford History of English (Updated
Edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Jessie Sams is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at Stephen F. Austin
State University. Her primary research interests include the interface of
syntax and semantics, especially the intersection of the two within written
English quotatives; history of the English language and English etymology; and
constructed languages.

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