Ostler, Rosemarie

"Tells the story of American speech from its earliest beginnings to its current state. Topics covered include the following: the foundations of American English, beginning with the earliest word adoptions; the origins of regional dialects; how the vocabulary developed; an exploration of American slang and language creation outside the mainstream, including internet-related; typical American grammatical structures and how they differ from British English; how regional dialects spread across the country and their defining features; the origins and main features of African-American English, Chicano English, and American Indian English; social aspects of American English use, including controversies over grammar and usage, and issues of language and gender and language and identity; the current state of the language and where it might go from here; the place of American English in the world"--Provided by publisher.

Presents a decade-by-decade guide to words that became popular over the course of the twentieth century, many of which have since disappeared from the English language.