Q: Emergence of "American English"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 10/9/06, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> John Clive and Bernard Bailyn wrote in 1954 "By 1754, the emergence
> of American English, adversely commented on as early as 1735, was so
> far advanced that the suggestion was made, facetiously, that a
> glossary of American terms be compiled."
>
> Who commented in 1735?
>
> Who suggested a glossary of American terms in 1754?
>
> Might I find the answers (or other interesting information about 18th
> c. American speech) in M.M. Mathews, ed., "The Beginnings of American
> English" (1931)?

Try Allen Walker Read's "British Recognition of American Speech in the
Eighteenth Century" in _Dialect Notes_ Vol. VI, 1933, reprinted in
_Perspectives on American English_ ec. by Joey Lee Dillard.

http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN9027933677

The 1735 comment appears to be from Francis Moore (see footnote 37, _A
Voyage to Georgia: Begun in the Year 1735_). The 1754 comment is from
Richard Owen Cambridge in _The World_ (see first page of Read's essay
and footnote 1 -- confusingly, the Dillard edition has 1774 in the
main text and 1754 in the footnote).


--Ben Zimmer

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