It would seem to be important to distinguish between two quite different
populations. One of these is The Ameddicans. The Ameddicans are boastful,
loud, and self-promoting. They talk obsessively about their achievements.
They are crude and undereducated. They are not like other populations of
English speakers (and now, it seems, according to Peter, everyone else on
the planet), who dwell in ethnically uniform countries and are by nature
quiet, modest, refined and cultured, as well as being pathologically
addicted to understatement. The other population consists of Americans,
now numbering 300 million, who comprise a culturally variegated mass with
origins in East, Central and West Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Central
and South America, Canada, the Asian continent, the Pacific islands, and
the remaining indigenous peoples of the North America. One might think
that a population of this size and diversity would resist stereotyping by
enlightened scholars, especially in the context of a group avowedly
dedicated to the study of variation. But control and propagation of the
“The Ameddicans” stereotype (including their speech) is a central goal of
certain bodies and their agents. Judging by recent interventions to this
list, they appear to have been successful.
On Sat, November 19, 2011 03:50, TRUDGILL Peter wrote:
> This is all very true, and has been commented on anecdotally and
> informally many times - see my book "Coping with America: a beginners
> guide to the USA" (Blackwell). As far as academic discussion is
> concerned, yes, there is that too by scholars working in e.g. the
> ethnography of speaking and inter-cultural communication etc., though
> I've no idea how systematic it has been. No doubt people more
> knowledgeable than me will be providing references very soon. But I would
> like to ask: is this just the US vs the UK, or is it rather the US vs,
> well, most other places?
>
> Peter Trudgill
>
>
>
> On 19 Nov 2011, at 08:09, Dorothy Bishop wrote:
>
>
> A question from a psychologist with little knowledge of sociolinguistics.
> Can anyone point me to information on UK/US differences in language used
> for self-presentation. Impression is that in UK there is this aversion for
> self-promotion or talking about one's achievements, which is not found in
> US.
> I'm interested in idea that normal discourse by Americans can come across
> as boastful/insincere to British, whereas British can come across to
> Americans as dysfunctionally insecure losers.
>
>
> Dorothy Bishop, Professor of Developmental Neuropsychology,
> Dept of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, OX1 3UD.
> tel +44 (0)1865 271369; fax +44 (0)1865 281255; WEB:
> http://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/oscci/
> Blog: http://deevybee.blogspot.com/
>
>
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> _____________________________________________
> Peter Trudgill FBA
> Prof. of Sociolinguistics, Agder Univ., N;
> Adjunct Prof., RCLT, La Trobe Univ., AU;
> Prof. Emeritus of Eng. Linguistics, Fribourg Univ, CH;
> Hon. Prof. of Sociolinguistics, UEA, Norwich, UK
>
>
> New book: Sociolinguistic typology: social determinants of linguistic
> structure and complexity. OUP. 2011.
>
>
>
>
>
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--
Paul J. Hopper
Paul Mellon Distinguished Professor of Humanities
Department of English
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
and
Senior External Fellow
School of Linguistics and Literature
Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS)
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