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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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