His works include The Structure of American English, Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and South Atlantic States, The Pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States (with Hans Kurath), and the 1963 single-volume edition of H. L. Mencken's The American Language.
McDavid was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and was an undergraduate at Furman University, from which he received his A.B.
He went on to graduate school at Duke University, from which he received his M.A.
McDavid was attached to the Army Language Section in New York City during World War II.
[1][2] McDavid died of a heart attack in Chicago at the age of 73.