Mencken, H.L. 1921. The American Language

H.L. Mencken > The American Language > Subject Index > Page 374

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H.L. Mencken (1880–1956). The American Language. 1921.

Page 374

French	.....................	51,200,000
Spanish	.....................	42,800,000
Italian	.....................	33,400,000
Portuguese	.....................	13,000,000 4

The next estimates, for the year 1900, I take from Jespersen. The statisticians responsible for them I do not know:

English	.....................	from 116,000,000 to 123,000,000
German	.....................	from 75,000,000 to 80,000,000
Russian	.....................	from 70,000,000 to 85,000,000
French	.....................	from 45,000,000 to 52,000,000
Spanish	.....................	from 44,000,000 to 58,000,000
Italian	.....................	from 34,000,000 to 54,000,000

Now comes an estimate as of 1911: 5

English	.....................	160,000,000
German	.....................	130,000,000
Russian	.....................	100,000,000
French	.....................	70,000,000
Spanish	.....................	50,000,000
Italian	.....................	50,000,000
Portuguese	.....................	25,000,000

And now one, somewhat more moderate, as of 1912:

English	.....................	150,000,000
German	.....................	90,000,000
Russian	.....................	106,000,000
French	.....................	47,000,000
Spanish	.....................	52,000,000
Italian	.....................	37,000,000 6

If we accept the 1911 estimate, we find English spoken by two and a half times as many persons as spoke it at the close of the Civil War, and by nearly eight times as many as spoke it at the beginning of the nineteenth century. No other language spread to any such extent during the century. German made a fourfold gain, but that was just half the gain made by English. Russian, despite the vast extension of the Russian Empire during the century, barely

Note 4. I take these figures from A Modern English Grammar, by H. G. Buehler; New York, 1900, p. 3. [back]

Note 5. World Almanac, 1914, p. 63. See also English, March, 1919, p. 20. [back]

Note 6. Hickmann’s Geographisch-Statistischer Universal Atlas. [back]

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