The American Language Audiobook By H. L. Mencken cover art

The American Language

An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The American Language

By: H. L. Mencken
Narrated by: Rebecca H. Lee
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.70

Buy for $25.70

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

American author, scholar, and satirist H.L. Mencken wrote The American Language in 1919, intending to defend American speech from prescriptivist critics. "America itself is unutterably vulgar. But vulgarity, after all, means no more than a yielding to natural impulses in the face of conventional inhibitions, and that yielding to natural impulses is at the heart of all healthy language-making."

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2021 Rebecca H. Lee
Linguistics Social Sciences United States English Language Development
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The American Language

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

American Language

Excellent and very well read. This is a classic and deserves to have someone like this reader interpreting it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The book is enjoyable, the narration poor.

Though the book is quite an informative guide to the study of the American language, yet there manifest a good number of mispronounced words, along with a dull and monotone style of narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting book.

If you are interested in words and phrases and the differences between British and American English, you will enjoy this book. The book is over 100 years old, but it did not seem terribly antiquated to me. As regards the narration, the reader used many pronunciations that I have never heard of before. Perhaps she knows more about it than I do???

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!