Authors: H.L. Mencken
70
Still alive in 1936, but long since retired.
71
It is to be found in
Columbus
(New York), March, 1935.
72
Zarathustra
(New York), May 15, 1926, p. 24. To the text is appended a glossary, as follows:
bricchellieri corrisponde a bricklayers; ghenga, gang; ruffo, roof; basamento, basements; grinoni, greenhorns; mis-tecca, mistake; floro, floor; ghinni, guinea; dego, dago; ponte, pound; bosso, boss
.
73
The Speech of Little Italy,
American Mercury
, July, 1932, p. 357.
74
I take these from Un Italiano in America, by Adolfo Rossi; Treviso, 1907, pp. 85–88.
75
Italian and Its Dialects as Spoken in the United States, by Herbert H. Vaughan,
American Speech
, May, 1926, p. 433.
76
This list is based on one included in Mr. Vaughan’s Italian and Its Dialects as Spoken in the United States, just cited, but there are additions from The Speech of Little Italy, by Mr. Turano,
American Mercury
, July, 1932, and Dr. Livingston’s La Merica Sanemagogna. I have also made use of material kindly sent to me by Mr. Giuseppe Cautela.
77
The plural is
cestenozzi
. That of
pinotto
(peanut) is
pinozzi
.
78
Dr. Livingston borrows
sanema-gogna
from a
macchietta
by Fer-razzone. Mr. Turano thinks that the form should be
sanimagogna
. He says: “The component parts of the word are obviously
s-anima-gogna
. The first is a contraction of
questa
, which becomes
sta
in frequent semi-standard usage, and
sa
or
ssa
in most of the Southern Italian dialects. The second part means soul, and the third designates an iron collar once worn by Italian criminals. The result is
this degraded soul, that villainous
or
criminal soul
, or something equally opprobrious. The same operation is applied to a stronger American phrase. The result is
sanimabiggia
, meaning this
gray-colored soul
. My father had a pet variant that he used in milder cases, to wit,
sani-mapicciula
, meaning, in the Cala-brian dialect,
this small soul
.” (Private communication, Jan. 29, 1935.)
79
In addition to the authors and correspondents already mentioned, I am indebted to Miss Adelina Ri-naldi, business manager of
Atlantica
(New York), and to Mr. Giovanni Schiavo, author of The Italians in America Before the Civil War.
80
His first, devoted to phonology, appeared in 1909; his second, dealing with morphology, in 1911, 1912 and 1913; and his third, discussing the English elements in the dialect, in 1914.
81
Buenos Aires, 1930.
82
They include Cuentitos Populares Nuevmejicanos y su Transcripción Fonética,
Bulletin de Dialectologie Romane
, Dec., 1912; Nombres de Bautismo Nuevomejicanos,
Revue de Dialectologie Romane
, Dec., 1913; Palabras Españolas e Inglesas,
Hispania
, Oct., 1922; and Aounta-ciones para un Diccionario de Nuevomejicanismos, in Homenaje a Bonilla y San Martin, Vol. II; Madrid, 1930. His publications in English include The Spanish Language in New Mexico and Southern Colorado,
Publications of the Historical Society of New Mexico
, May, 1911; Speech-Mixture in New Mexico, in The Pacific Ocean in History, edited by H. M. Stephens and H. E. Botton; New York, 1917; Syllabic Consonants in New-Mexican Spanish,
Language
, Dec., 1925; The Language of the Cuentos Populares Españoles,
Language
, Sept., 1927, and June, 1928.
83
Southern Arizona Spanish Phonology,
Bulletin of the University of Arizona
, Vol. V, No. 1, 1934.
84
Bilingual Porto Rico,
Fleur de Lis
(St. Louis University), Dec., 1931.
85
I am indebted here to
Mr
. Hugh Morrison.
86
Tradiciones y Cantares de Panamá, by Narcisco Garay; Brussels, 1933.
87
I have mentioned the numerous studies of these dialects by native philologians. Some of them are listed in my 3rd ed., 1923, pp. 460–61. Others are listed in Espinosa’s Estudios Sobre el Español de Neuvo Méjico; Buenos Aires, 1930, p. 24
ff
. When Spanish talkies for the Latin-American trade were first made in Hollywood, the movie magnates employed a Spanish actor to supervise their diction, and he ordained that the precise Cas-tilian of the Madrid stage be used. This brought a protest from the Mexican actors, who argued that their own Spanish was the purest on earth. The matter was finally left to the Spanish Royal Academy, and there ensued a row at Madrid, with the result that the actors and authors of fourteen Latin-American countries renounced the Academy’s authority. See Those Sensitive Latin-Americans, by Arthur Con-stantine, New York
World
, July 13, 1930.
88
H. E. McKinstry, in The American Language in Mexico,
American Mercury
, March, 1930.
89
See also A Dictionary of Spanish Terms in English, by Harold W. Bentley; New York, 1932, p. 5.2
90
Richard F. O’Toole, in Sports Slang in Latin America,
American Mercury
, Nov., 1930.
91
These notes were kindly made by Mr. A. S. Branco, secretary-general of the União Portuguesa Continental dos Estados Unidos da America, and forwarded to me through Mr. Rocha.
92
I am indebted here to Mr. Arthur R. Coelho of New York, a native of Brazil.
93
I have followed the United States Geographic Board in omitting the
o
in Rumania, but the
America, Roumanian News
retains it. (The name of the journal is as I give it.) The Rumanians pronounce
Rumania
with the first syllable rhyming with
home
. They spell it
România
.
94
The Bohemian Language in America, Part I,
American Speech
, April, 1927; Part II, August, 1927; The Czech Language in America,
American Mercury
, June, 1925; Czech Surnames in America,
American Mercury
, Nov., 1925; The Americanization of Czech Surnames,
American Speech
, Dec., 1925; Czech-American Names,
Czecho-Slovak Student Life
, April, 1928; The Americanization of Czech Given-Names,
American Speech
, Oct., 1925.
95
The Czech Language in America,
American Mercury
, June, 1925, pp. 205–6.
96
From Monsignor Dudek’s MS.
97
Hollywood’s Czech Language Puzzles the Czechs, Baltimore
Evening Sun
, April 15, 1935.
98
I am also indebted to Miss Rose Zettel, of Cincinnati, and to the editors of the
Daily Svornost
, Chicago. The best recent treatise on the Czech language is Jazyk, edited by Oldrich Hujer; Prague, 1935. It is an exhaustive work to which all the leading Czech philologians have contributed, and it includes chapters on the changes undergone by German, Hungarian, Ruthenian and other languages in Czechoslovakia.
99
N. B. Jopson, reader in comparative Slavonic philology, University of London, in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th ed.; Vol. XX, p. 788.
100
2nd ed.; Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1924.
101
The Russian Language in the United States,
American Mercury
, April, 1932. Mr. Wells is a native of New Jersey and a Harvard graduate. He is interested in Slavic languages, and studied at the Caroline University of Prague, 1929–30.
102
I have adopted Mr. Wells’s system of transliteration, which he explains in a footnote to his paper. The business of rendering Russian in the English alphabet is full of difficulties. The system adopted by the United States Geographic Board is described and discussed in First Report on Foreign Geographic Names; Washington, 1932, and that of the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names For British Official Use is set forth in Alphabets of Foreign Languages, by Lord Edward Gleichen and John H. Reynolds; London, 1933.
103
I am indebted for material and suggestions to Mr. Peter Stephanovsky of Chicago, to Miss Helen P. Kirk-patrick, executive secretary of the American Russian Institute, New York, to Mr. Mark Weinbaum, editor of the
Novoye Russkaye
Slovo
of New York and to Messrs. E. Moravesky of Chicago and Sergei Senykoff of Detroit.
104
Ukrainian Poetry in Canada, by Watson Kirkconnell,
Slavonic Review
, July, 1934.
105
I am indebted also to Mr. Vladimir Geeza, editor of the
New Life
of Olyphant, Pa.
106
The Yugoslav Speech in America,
American Mercury
, Nov., 1927. Mr. Adamic is a native of Carniola in what was Austrian territory at the time of his birth but is now part of Jugoslavia. He came to this country at the age of fourteen, and has become well known as a writer in English.
107
It has just been cited.
108
I am indebted here to Miss Louise S. Ivey, of Wanwatosa, Wis., and to Mr. Stephen Stephanchev, of Chicago, whose interest was enlisted by Mr. Adamic.
109
I am indebted here to Dr. J. W. Mally, of Cleveland, O.
110
Einiges aus der Sprache der Amerika-Litauer,
Studi Baltici
, Vol. II, 1932, p. 35
ff
.
111
See The Daina: an Anthology of Lithuanian and Latvian Folk-Songs, by Uriah Katzenelenbogen; Chicago, 1931, p. 38.
112
This account of American-Lithuanian is based upon Dr. Senn’s monograph, before mentioned. I am indebted, too, to his Kleine lit-auische Sprachlehre; Heidelberg, 1929, and to his great kindness in answering questions. He is, of course, not responsible for anything I have here written. I am also in debt to Mr. Pius Grigaitis, editor of
Naujienos
, the Lithuanian daily of Chicago.
113
I am indebted here to Mr. A. E. Ruszkiewicz of the
Dziennik Dla Wszystkichy
, buffalo.
114
I am indebted also to Mr. Paul Klimowicz, of
Gwiazda Polarna
, Stevens Point, Wis.; to Dr. C. H. Wachtel, formerly editor of
Dzien-nik Chicagoski
, and to Mr. Ernest Lilien, of Stevens Point, Wis.
115
Private communication, April 18, 1935.
116
I am indebted here, and for much of what follows, to Mr. Reino W. Suojanen, editor of
Walwoja
, Calumet, Mich.
117
The omission of
hän
would put the verb into the imperative mood.
118
In addition to the two Finnish-American editors already mentioned, I am greatly indebted to Mr. Ivar Vapaa, editor of
Indus-trialisti
, Duluth, Minn.
119
I am indebted to Dr. József Balassa of Budapest; Dr. Nicholas M. Alter, of Jersey City, N. J.; Mr. A. Des-sewffy, editor of
Otthon
(At Home), Chicago; Mr. Paul Na-danyi, managing editor of
Ameri-canai Magyar Népszava
, New York; Mr. Joseph Yartin, of New York; Mr. Hugo Kormor, editor of the
Magyar Herald
, New Brunswick, N. J.; Dr. Joseph Reményi, of Western Reserve University; Mr. John Bencze, supreme secretary of the Verhovay Segély Egylet, Pittsburgh; Mr. George Kemeny, of Detroit; Dr. E. H. Bol-gar, of Cleveland; and Mr. Anthony J. Orosz, editor of
Függetlenség
, Trenton, N. J.
120
Scottish Gaelic in Canada, Edinburgh
Scotsman
, Jan. 30, 1933. Mr. Campbell has also written a more elaborate paper, Scottish Gaelic in Canada: it is still unpublished, but he has courteously given me access to it.
121
The Syrians in America; New York, 1924, p. 67. Dr. Hitti is associate professor of Oriental languages at Princeton. I am much indebted to him for his courteous aid.
122
I am indebted also to Mr. S. Bad-dour, editor of
Al-Bayan
, New York.
123
American Greek,
American Speech
, March, 1926, p. 307.
124
The Greek is
parataxis
.
125
To Mr. Lontos’s list I have added some examples supplied by Mr. T. D. Curculakis of Athens, to whom I am greatly indebted.
126
Private communication, July 11, 1934.
127
On Chinese Borrowings From English and French, in The Basic Vocabulary, by C. K. Ogden; London, 1930, p. 92
ff
.
128
I am indebted here to Dr. Verne Dyson, director of the Institute of Chinese Studies, New York.
129
The Little Critic, by Lin Yutang,
China Critic
(Shanghai), April 2, 1931.
130
I am indebted to Mr. Arthur A. Young, editor of the
Chinese Christian Student
, New York; Mr. Y. E. Hsiao, general secretary of the Chinese Students’ Christian Association in North America; Mrs. Elsie Clark Krug, of Baltimore; Mr. Su Chen Ho, of the Brooklyn Museum; Dr. W. W. Pettus, president of the College of Chinese Studies of California College in China, Peiping; Dr. James Stinchcomb, of the University of Pittsburgh; Mr. S. H. Abramson, of Montreal; Dr. A. Kaiming Chin, of the Chinese-Japanese Library, Harvard University; Mr. John E. Reinecke of Honokaa, Hawaii; Miss Rosalie Yee Quil, of the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library; Miss Grace Yee Quil, of Pittsburgh; Dr. Nancy Lee Swann, curator of the Gest Chinese Research Library, McGill University, Montreal; Mr. Ben Robertson, of the Associated Press, and Mr. Harold Coffin, of the Hawaii Tourist Bureau.
131
All these are from Japanese Borrowings of English Words, by H. Sato,
Notes and Queries
, May 25, 1929.
132
I am indebted here to Anglicized Japanese, by Frederick W. Brown,
Quarterly Journal of Speech Education
, Feb., 1927. See also The Pronunciation of Japanese, by Masatoshi Gensen Mori; Tokyo, 1929, Japanized English, by Sawbay Arakawa, 4th ed.; Tokyo, 1930, and English Influence on Japanese, by Sanki Ichikawa,
Studies in English Literature
(Tokyo), April, 1928. The last lists 1397 words.