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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following did the African slaves NOT introduce to American English?

2. Mencken describes the American language as having a "democratic enmity" to all what, in the beginning of Chapter 6.1?

3. The prudish reluctance to name what sort of diseases hindered proper preventative information?

4. How many dialects dominate American English, according to Chapter 1.5?

5. What does Mencken state is neglected by those who are professional trained to investigate it?

Short Essay Questions

1. What characterizes the favorite slang phrases of the American soldier in World War I, according to Mencken?

2. What does Mencken imply about the vulgar American usage of forms such as "yourn," "hisn," and "theirn," in Chapter 9.4?

3. What chief cause does Mencken ascribes the backwardness of American war slang to?

4. What is indicated by dominance of American terms derived from German that are related to eating and drinking?

5. What were some of the reasons that many immigrants changed their names upon arriving in America?

6. What influence does Mencken credit the Protestant Episcopal Church with about American adoption of Briticisms?

7. What characterizes the American attitude towards creating new names?

8. What is significant about the divergent styles of naming of streets in America and England?

9. What was the overall effect of Noah Webster on the spelling of American English?

10. What is the most common incorrect usage of the adjective in vulgar American?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay investigating the various ways in which language can diverge into two or more dialects, using the principles found in Mencken's The American Language. What are the principal sources of its divergences? What are the primary ways in which it actually diverges? What characterizes these divergences? How is this shown, particularly, in the American dialect?

Essay Topic 2

Of all the various ways in which the American and British dialects are divergent, perhaps the most obvious is the distinct spellings of words. Analyze the significance of this distinction and put forth an argument in support of one or the other spelling paradigm. How do the two dialects go about determining the spelling of a word? What are the principles that ought to be at work in the conventional acceptance of a word's spelling? Which of these principles is the most important? To which principles does each dialect adhere? What is the greater significance of this adherence?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing the nature of the relationship between the "melting pot" of American immigrant assimilation and the nomenclature that permeates the country. What are the evident influences of foreign languages on American names? How are these names Americanized? What is the general tendency of American-speakers in the employment and application of names to places and people? To what degree are the various names Americanized? What is the cause of Americanization of names? What is its result and what does it indicate about the American spirit?

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