ing a contingency; for to, denoting a purpose; for why or because why, denoting the reason.

4. Idiomatic expressions; as, a few while for a little while; to fetch a walk for to take a walk; what is gone with such an one? for what is become of such an one? to learn for to teach; what may his name be? for what is his name? what should he be? for what is he? to remember for to remind; gone dead like gone crazy; this here for this; that there for that.

The following little dialogue is said to have passed between a London citizen and his servant.

Citizen. Villiam, I vants my vig.

Servant. Vitch vig, sir?

Citizen. Vy, the vite vig in the vooden vig-box, vitch I vore last Vensday at the westry.

The peculiarities of the Cockney dialect have been fully illustrated in the writings of DICKENS.

It will probably be long before the dialectical varieties of the English, though they are constantly diminishing, will give place to the high models offered by their best scholars and statesmen.

AMERICAN DIALECTS.

CAUSES OF EXISTING DIALECTICAL DIVERSITIES.

§ 93. 1. One cause is found in the diversities of origin of the immigrant population of the United States. The first settlers, from different parts of England, brought with them the varieties of dialect then existing in the mother country. What those varieties were we have seen in the present chapter. To these were added the Dutch, or the Low Germanic language of the State of New-York, kindred, indeed, to the English, but differing widely from it; the German, or the High Germanic language, spoken by hundreds of thousands in Pennsylvania and elsewhere; the French and Spanish languages, spoken in Louisiana, Florida, and Mexico; the Irish, the Italian, the Swedish, the Danish, the Norwegian, spoken in small settlements, or by individuals scat tered through the mass of the American population. Moreover, Asiatics and Polynesians are pouring themselves into California, and introducing some of their vernacular words into the body of the language; at least as it is spoken there. Hundreds of

thousands of immigrants, from different portions of Europe, are every year finding homes in our country, bringing their language with them, to communicate some portion of it to others, and to transmit it to their immediate descendants.

2. The second cause of existing dialectical varieties in the United States is found in objects of thought peculiar to this country, requiring different terms from those used in England.

CLASSIFICATION OF

AMERICANISMS.

§ 94. The peculiarities of the English language, as spoken in America, may be arranged under the following heads:

I. Words borrowed from other languages, with which the En. gush language has come in contact in this country.

1. Indian words, borrowed from the original native tribes Here belong many geographical proper names; as, Kennebec, Ohio, Tombigbee; also a few appellatives; as sagamore, quahaug, succotash.

2. Dutch words, derived from the first settlers in New York; as, boss, a master; kruller; stoop, the steps of a door.

3. German words, derived from the Germans in Pennsylvania; as, spuke, sauerkraut.

4. French words, derived from the first settlers in Canada and Louisiana; as, bayou, cache, chute, crevasse, levee.

5. Spanish words, from the first settlers of Louisiana, Florida, and Mexico; as, calaboose, chaparral, hacienda, rancho, ranchero.

6. Negro words, derived from the Africans; as, buckra. All these are foreign words.

II. Words introduced from the necessity of our situation, in order to express new ideas.

1. Words connected with and flowing from our political institutions; as, selectman, presidential, congressional, caucus, mass-meeting, lynch-law, help for servants.

2. Words connected with our ecclesiastical institutions; as, associational, consociational, to fellowship, to missionate. 3. Words connected with a new country; as lot, a portion of land; diggings, betterments, squatter.

Some of these words are rejected by good writers. They are not of such a nature as make a new dialect.

III. The remaining peculiarities, the only ones which are truly distinctive, fall for the most part under the following heads:

1. Old words and phrases which have become obsolete in En-, gland; as, talented; offset for set-off; back and forth for backward and forward.

2. Old words and phrases which are now merely provincial in England; as, hub, now used in the midland counties of England; whap, a provincialism in Somersetshire; to wilt, now used in the south and west of England.

3. Nouns formed from verbs by adding the French suffix ment; as, publishment for publication; releasement for release ; requirement for requisition. As the verbs here are all French, the forms of the nouns are undoubtedly ancient.

4. Forms of words which fill the gap or vacancy between two words which are approved; as, obligate, comp. oblige and obligation; variate, comp. vary and variation. The existence of the two extremes confirms the propriety of the mean.

5. Certain compound terms for which the English have a different compound; as, bank-bill for bank-note; book-store for bookseller's shop; bottom-land for interval land; clapboard for a pale; sea-board for sea-shore; side-hill for hill-side. The correctness of one compound, in such cases, does not prove the incorrectness of the other.

6. Certain colloquial phrases, apparently idiomatic, and very expressive; as, to cave in, to give up; to flare up, to get excited suddenly; to flunk out, to retire through fear; to fork over, to pay over; to hold on, to wait; to let on, to mention; to stave off, to delay; to take on, to grieve.

7. Certain words used to express intensity, whether as adjectives or adverbs, which is often a matter of mere temporary fashion; as, dreadful, mighty, plaguy, powerful.

8. Certain verbs expressing one's state of mind, but partially or timidly; as, to allot upon, to count upon; to calculate, to expect or believe; to expect, to think or believe; to guess, to think or believe; to reckon, to think or imagine. The use of these words depends much on the temperament of the individual.

9. Certain adjectives, expressing not only the quality, but one's subjective feelings in regard to it; as, clever, grand, green, likely, smart, ugly.

10. Certain abridged expressions; as, stage for stage-coach; turnpike for turnpike-road; spry for sprightly; to conduct for to conduct one's self. There is a tendency in most languages to such contractions.

11. Quaint or burlesque terms, whether verbs; as, to tote, to yank; or nouns; as, humbug, loafer, muss; plunder for baggage; rock for a stone.

12. Certain very low expressions, mostly political; as, slang whanger, loco foco, hunker; to get the hang of a thing for to learn how to do it.

13. Ungrammatical expressions, disapproved by all; as, do don't; used to could for could formerly; can't come it for can't do it; Universal preacher for Universalist preacher; there's no two ways about it for it is just so.

LOCAL PECULIARITIES.

§ 95. To the question whether there is an American-English dialect, an answer must be given in the affirmative or the negative, according as you extend or contract the meaning of the term dialect. When reading the pages of Judge HALIBURTON'S Sam Slick, or one of Major JACK DOWNING's Letters, we are ready to admit, if they furnish a fair exhibition of language in actual use, that the difference between it and the best English is so great as to constitute it a dialect. But they are caricatures. Still, are there not actual differences, extending generally through the country, as great, or nearly as great, as obtained between the Ionic and the Attic dialects in Greece? It should, however, be remembered, that the dialectical differences which obtained in Greece are exhibited by the best authors, whereas there are no dialectical differences between our best writers and those of England. EVERETT, and PRESCOTT, and IRVING, write in a style as purely English as the best English writers. The number of good writers in the United States, as measured by English standards, is probably greater than in England, though it must be conceded that the number of first-rate writers is fewer. The people of the United States, descended

from English ancestors, have, in consequence of common school education and the use of the same standards, fewer dialectical peculiarities than the people of England.

Whatever may be the correct answer to the question at the head of the last paragraph, it must be granted that there are certain local peculiarities which distinguish, 1. The people of New England. 2. The people of the Southern States. 3. Some of the Western States.

The people of New England, especially those who live in the interior, have inherited marked peculiarities of pronunciation and phraseology, which distinguish them from the people of other parts of the country, though these peculiarities, constantly diminishing, are not as great as similar ones existing in some counties of the mother country. A distinguished English scholar informed the writer that the peculiarities attributed to the people of New England were constantly met with in Suffolk, where he was bred and born. The drawling pronunciation of the Yankees has an equivalent in the "Suffolk whine."

The people of the Southern States have a more full, and open, and mellifluous pronunciation than the people of New England, though they do not articulate the consonantal sounds so distinctly.

The people of the West have great variety in their pecul iar style of expression and in their pronunciation, which is extensively similar to the districts from which they or their ancestors emigrated.

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§ 96. ABOVE MY BEND=out of my power. ABSQUATULATE= to run away. ALL-FIRED=very.. TO ALLOT UPON to intend. AMAZING=wonderfully. AмOST = almost. ANY HOW YOU CAN FIX IT any rate whatever. ANY MANNER OF MEANS any means. TO APPRECIATE = to raise the value of, or rise in value. ANY= either. AVAILS profits or proceeds. AWFUL disagreeable, ugly. BACK AND FORTH=backward and forward (New Eng.). BACKWOODSMAN =an inhabitant of the forest on the western frontiers of the United States. To BACK OUT to retreat from a difficulty. BAD BOX= bad predicament. BALANCE the remainder (South). BANG=excel; as, "This bangs all things."

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