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In:Late Modern English: Novel encounters
Edited by Merja Kytö and Erik Smitterberg
[Studies in Language Companion Series 214] 2020
► pp. 185–202

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“Divided by a common language”?

The treatment of Americanism(s) in Late Modern English dictionaries and usage guides on both sides of the Atlantic

 | Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg
Published online: 18 March 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.214.08bus
Abstract
The present study investigates the treatment of the term Americanism and its plural form in their generic sense in selected British and American reference works of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It concentrates on two special types of reference books, namely dictionaries of Americanisms and usage guides from both sides of the Atlantic. By analyzing whether the paraphrase or the labelling conveys a positive, a neutral, or a negative stance, the terms Americanism(s) serve as keywords for Anglo-American linguistic attitudes towards the “other” variety. Methodologically, the study combines socio-lexicography and meta-pragmatics; the results show a change in the relationship of the two varieties and also substantive differences in how the two types of reference book deal with the topic.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background and method
    • 2.1The Scottish connection: Americanism coined on Scotticism
  • 3.Dictionaries of Americanisms
    • 3.1Pickering (1816)
    • 3.2Bartlett (1848)
    • 3.3Farmer (1889)
    • 3.4Thornton (1912)
    • 3.5Summary
  • 4.British and American usage guides
    • 4.1Alford (1864)
    • 4.2Moon (1865)
    • 4.3White (1870)
    • 4.4Fowler & Fowler (1906)
    • 4.5Partridge (1942)
    • 4.6Gowers (1948)
    • 4.7Summary
  • 5.Summary and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (42)
References
1. Primary sources
1.1 Dictionaries
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