Try not to be cross, Paul, please. One thing that sociolinguistics and related fields has told us is that there *are* very significant differences around the world in communicative styles, and it is important to be aware of this in cross-cultural communication situations - perhaps especially if these involve different mother-tongue varieties of the same language.These differences have also been studied scientifically by scholars such as John Gumperz and Deborah Tannen. Stereotyping is always a danger, of course, but it *is* true that at least until recently British people applying for jobs with US companies, or students applying to go to graduate school in the US, were often encouraged or schooled in "putting their best foot forward", "blowing their own trumpet" and "not hiding their light under a bushel" etc. This may no longer be so necessary as younger people in England (at least) now seem to me - is this a stereotype? - to be less "backward in coming forward" than they used to be.
I dont know about "everyone else on the planet". I was simply asking. But it seems to me that "blowing ones own trumpet" is equally frowned upon in Australasia, Ireland, and Scandinavia.
One more thing - you may recall that Cassius Clay, as he then was, was said to be unpopular with many white Americans because he was *too* boastful. Black Americans recognised this - it was said, Im just reporting - as a known type of speech event. And British people reacted favourably because they regarded it as jocular and ironic.
Incidentally, your use of <-dd-> to indicate (I suppose?) a flapped /r/ will be lost on many non-Americans - as you should know, or have you been over there too long?
All the best,
Peter
On 20 Nov 2011, at 00:26, Paul Hopper wrote:
> 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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