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From: jsq@ut-sally.UUCP (John Quarterman)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Britanglish
Message-ID: <3055@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 12-Aug-84 19:42:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.3055
Posted: Sun Aug 12 19:42:57 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 14-Aug-84 05:03:59 EDT
References: scc.264 <472@syteka.UUCP>
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 25

On the subject of origins of American English dialects, I recommend
three books by J.L. Dillard, all published by Vintage Books in softcover
and Random House in hardcover:

Black English, Its History and Usage in the United States, 1972.
All-American English, A History of the English Language in America, 1975.
American Talk, Where Our Words Came From, 1976.

I have no idea what the man's academic standing is, but he has some
interesting things to say on the effects of pidgin, Dutch, and other
languages on English, not to mention some criticisms of geographical
linguistics, and a believable account of why English is a world language.

``A children's play song from Surinam, on the coast of South America, goes

			Mama Nanni go to town
			Buy a little pony.
			Stick a feather in a ring,
			Calling Masra Ranni.
				Ink, pink, rotten beaf,
				Toss!''

-- 
John Quarterman, CS Dept., University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 USA
jsq@ut-sally.ARPA, jsq@ut-sally.UUCP, {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!jsq