DM Master's Thesis

British Expatriate Bloggers in the US:

Attitudes, Identities and Language Use

Masterarbeit

zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades

Master of Arts (M.A.)

der Philologischen, Philosophischen und Wirtschafts-‐ und

Verhaltenswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der

Albert-‐Ludwigs-‐Universität

Freiburg i. Br.

vorgelegt von

Dominique Moomaw

aus Yorba Linda, CA, USA

SS 2015

Fach

Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Christian Mair

Abstract

This thesis is an investigation of the way that the changing attitudes and

identities of British expatriate bloggers affect their language use in a blog over the

course of their first two years living in the United States. It is also an examination of

how the attitudes, identities and language of British migrants manifest in blogs. In an

effort to determine whether British migrants’ positive attitudes and identification with

the American community are linked to their acquisition and use of American English, I

performed both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of five different blogs. While I

found there to be no statistically significant correlation between language attitudes and

language use, I did find that the bloggers’ self-‐perceived attitudes and attitude shifts,

which differed from the attitude I detected in most blog posts, were more highly

correlated with their use of British and American English. Three of the five bloggers’

renegotiated identities were also seen to be a reflection of their linguistic behavior.

Lastly, my findings suggest that there was a strong relationship between the bloggers’

use of both British and American linguistic variants throughout the blogs, their

readership and the context of living in the United States while writing their blog entries.

BRITISH EXPATRIATE BLOGGERS IN THE US i

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Christian Mair,

for getting me excited about the material, guiding me throughout the project and

consistently providing me with valuable insight. I would also like to thank Veronique

Lacoste for her useful suggestions and my second supervisor, Prof. Dr. Brigitte Halford,

for sparking my interest in language and identity. I am also greatly indebted to one of

my dearest friends, Julia Vagg, who not only supplied me with helpful resources and

advice, but also gave me endless support when I needed it most. I am also immensely

grateful to Mirka Honkanen who continually allowed me to pester her with questions,

assisted me in coming up with a decent methodology and reviewed my final draft. Of

course, I am also thankful to my very loving and supportive family – Julie, Rob, Lexie,

and Evan – who despite living oceans away spoke with me weekly and kept me looking

forward. I am grateful to all my Freiburg friends for the emotional support – the

afternoons in the park, the dinners, the wine and game nights, the dancing... all of which

kept me sane.

I would also like to express my deepest gratitude towards Doris and Werner

Moser for being the most hospitable people in the world and providing me with the

financial support I needed in order to focus on my studies. I am grateful to the

University of Freiburg for accepting me into the Master's Program and giving me the

opportunity to complete a project like this in one of the loveliest and quaintest little

towns I have ever been. Finally, I would like to thank the person who is almost entirely

responsible for my being able to live in Germany, successfully complete a Master's

thesis and degree and ultimately find love, happiness and success in life, Ralph Moser. I

dedicate this thesis to him.

BRITISH EXPATRIATE BLOGGERS IN THE US ii

List of Tables

Table 1. Characteristics of subjects ......................................................................................................... 36

Table 2. Characteristics of analyzed data............................................................................................. 38

Table 3. Correlation of attitudes to American society to... ............................................................. 67

BRITISH EXPATRIATE BLOGGERS IN THE US iii

List of Figures

Figure 1. Ajzen's (1988) hierarchical model of the construction of attitude. .........................8

Figure 2. The ratio of British to American lexical variants in relation to the attitude to

American society for Blog 1, post # 1-‐80 (see Figure 3 for post # 81-‐160)................ 41


American society for Blog 1, post # 81-‐160 (see Figure 2 for post # 1-‐80). ............... 41



Figure 5. The ratio of British to American orthographical variants in relation to the

attitude to American society for Blog 1, post # 81-‐160 (see Figure 4 for post # 1-‐

80). .............................................................................................................................................................. 43

Figure 6. The ratio of British to American total variables in relation to the attitude to





American society for Blog 2.............................................................................................................. 48


attitude to American society for Blog 2....................................................................................... 49



BRITISH EXPATRIATE BLOGGERS IN THE US iv



















BRITISH EXPATRIATE BLOGGERS IN THE US v

Table of Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1

2. Literature Review………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

2.1. Second Dialect Acquisition……………………………………………………………………………… 4

2.2. Attitudes………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

2.2.1. Definition of attitude………………………………………………………………………………6

2.2.2. Three components of attitude…………………………………………………………………6

2.2.3. Types of attitudes………………………………………………………………………………….. 8

2.2.4. Measuring attitudes towards dialects……………………………………………………...9

2.2.4.1. Direct approaches………………………………………………………………………9

2.2.4.2. Indirect approaches………………………………………………………………….10

2.2.4.3. Societal treatment approach……………………………………………………..10

2.3. Habitus and Identity………………………………………………………………………………………11

2.3.1. Historical background of Britain and America………………………………………. 12

2.3.2. Language ideologies…………………………………………………………………………….. 18

2.3.2.1. Indexicality………………………………………………………………………………19

2.3.2.2. Standardization in Britain and the US………………………………………..21

2.3.3. The self as a reflexive project……………………………………………………………….. 23

2.3.3.1. Agency and acts of identity………………………………………………………. 24

2.4. Computer-‐mediated Communication and Migration………………………………………..27

2.4.1. Presentation of identity online……………………………………………………………...28

2.4.2. Expression of attitudes online……………………………………………………………… 30

2.4.3. Blogs……………………………………………………………………………………………………31

2.4.3.1. Definition of blogs…………………………………………………………………….31

2.4.3.2. Style………………………………………………………………………………………...32

BRITISH EXPATRIATE BLOGGERS IN THE US vi

2.4.3.3. Audience…………………………………………………………………………………. 33

3. Methodology……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 34

3.1. Targeted Blogs……………………………………………………………………………………………… 34

3.1.1. Ethics………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 36

3.2. Data Collection………………………………………………………………………………………………37

3.2.1. The linguistic variables…………………………………………………………………………37

3.2.2. Locating attitudes and identity…………………………………………………………….. 38

4. Findings and Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………...40

4.1. The Influence of Attitudes………………………………………………………………………………40

4.1.1. Blog 1: 35 year-‐old male………………………………………………………………………. 40

4.1.1.1. Language use…………………………………………………………………………... 40

4.1.1.2. Attitude to American society……………………………………………………. 44

4.1.1.3. Attitude to American English…………………………………………………….46

4.1.2. Blog 2: 45 year-‐old male………………………………………………………………………. 47

4.1.2.1. Language use…………………………………………………………………………... 47



4.1.3. Blog 3: 35 year-‐old female…………………………………………………………………….52

4.1.3.1. Language use…………………………………………………………………………... 52




4.1.4.1. Language use…………………………………………………………………………... 57



BRITISH EXPATRIATE BLOGGERS IN THE US vii


4.1.5.1. Language use…………………………………………………………………………... 61



4.1.6. Correlation coefficients………………………………………………………………………... 66

4.1.7. Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 67

4.2. Discussions of Identity…………………………………………………………………………………...69

4.2.1. Identity in Blog 1…………………………………………………………………………………. 70

4.2.1. Identity in Blog 2…………………………………………………………………………………. 72

4.2.3. Identity in Blog 3…………………………………………………………………………………. 73

4.2.4. Identity in Blog 4…………………………………………………………………………………. 75

4.2.5. Identity in Blog 5…………………………………………………………………………………. 76

4.2.6. Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 77

4.3. The Influence of CMC…………………………………………………………………………………….. 78

4.3.1. The role of the readership……………………………………………………………………. 78

4.3.1.1. Style……………………………………………………………………………………...…78

4.3.1.2. Dialectal variables………………………………………………………………...…. 81

4.3.1.3. Online community…………………………………………………………………....82

4.3.2. The Internet’s influence on migrant identity……………………………………….... 83

4.3.3. Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 84

5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 85

References………………………………………………………………………………………………………………87

Appendix A – List of British and American Lexical Variables……………………………...……… 94

Appendix B – List of British and American Orthographical Variables………………………….97

BRITISH EXPATRIATE BLOGGERS IN THE US 1

1. Introduction

The way individuals perceive speech communities and the languages spoken

within these communities has a powerful influence on the linguistic behavior of the

individuals themselves. These kinds of perceptions fall into the category of language

attitudes, a relatively under-‐explored field with regard to dialects or rather, language

varieties. Recent language attitude research has concentrated on how attitudes are both

shaped and constrained by a person's habitus, i.e. the ideologies of the specific,

culturally-‐situated society into which that person was born (Bourdieu, 1977). However,

after being displaced in an entirely new social and cultural environment, as when

migrating to a new country, an individual's habitus is reconstituted, causing their

attitudes, sense of identity and use of language to shift (Hall, 2013). This thesis

approaches the concept of identity from a post-‐structuralist perspective in that

identities are considered multiple, fluid and subject to change within different social

contexts over time (Norton, 2010). Like identity, attitudes are equally fluid and just as

likely to be affected by the conceptions of a new community. The extent to which an

individual's own speech is influenced in the context of migration has often been shown

to depend on which directions the migrants' attitudes and identities have gone.

A number of past studies done by social psychologists of language have found

that migrants who form positive views of the new society -‐ including its members and

cultural practices -‐ and the language variety of that society are more likely to acquire

and use the new variety. Acquisition of the new variety has also been linked to whether

the migrant is able to identify with and successfully integrate into the community.

Those with a high degree of metalinguistic awareness will even perform “acts of

identity” by using the dialect to demonstrate their alignment with the other community

members (Le Page & Tabouret-‐Keller, 1985). It thus logically follows that both negative


attitudes and a strong connection to the native community have been seen to cause

migrants to maintain their native dialect. The present study specifically deals with the

interaction of attitudes, identities and language as seen in the writing of British

individuals after migrating to the United States, a country which despite its shared

heritage with the British has become both linguistically and culturally distinct from

Britain.

Though the US has always experienced a steady flow of British migrants, that

number has risen in recent years due to the rise of globalization – the consequences of

which include increased mobility, new technologies and the mass spread of American

language and culture through various media. The combination of American influences

with the remnants of a long, complex history between Britain and America have led

British society to hold very mixed and often extreme views of Americans and American

English today (Self, 2013). British expatriates are thus just as likely to enter America

with the idealized view of the US as a glamorous land of wealth and opportunity as they

are with more critical and traditional ideas about America being inferior and its

language less prestigious. The way that these initial attitudes progress over a period of

time can often be monitored in recently popularized online platforms called 'weblogs' –

or simply 'blogs' – which migrants tend to use as online journals to document their

personal experiences while abroad. Migrant bloggers' discussions of linguistic and

cultural differences are frequently infused with their own ideologies, opinions and

feelings about whether they belong. This makes blogs an ideal medium for analyzing

how attitudes and notions of national identity factor into the British expats' use of

American English in blog posts as they begin to acquire the dialect.

In doing both a qualitative and quantitative analysis of a small pool of expatriate

blogs, I am able to determine whether the assumption of a more American identity and


positive language attitudes correlate to a higher degree of American English. By going

further in-‐depth, I can also examine the role of the habitus in migrants' initial attitudes

and how the three elements, attitude, identity and language, emerge through the

medium of a blog.

The present study attempts to answer the following research questions:

1. How do the changing language attitudes of British expats living in the US

affect their linguistic behavior over time?

2. Does their national identity reflect their use of American English?

3. How does blogging affect British expat bloggers' treatment of attitude,

identity and British and American dialectal variables?

Through answering these questions and conducting comprehensive research, I

aim to achieve a deeper understanding of the way macro-‐level ideologies impact British

individuals' language attitudes as they are applied to American culture and American

English and furthermore, how this changes in the context of migration in a globalized

world. I also aim to determine whether there is a significant correlation between

attitudes and language development. Yet another objective is to investigate the

development of an individual's sense of national identity and whether it mirrors their

language use. Finally, I intend to expose how the three components of attitude, identity,

and British and American English manifest in CMC. Altogether, this research can help

determine the reasoning behind language variation and help predict future linguistic

trends.

The thesis is structured as follows. After the introductory first chapter, Chapter

Two gives a literature review of previous studies concerning dialect acquisition and use,

language attitudes, and identity, as well as the way these components manifest through

computer-‐mediated communication, blogging in particular. Here I list the different


approaches to attitude research and make note of the issues and benefits of different

methodologies. I also include the theoretical background for concepts discussed in my

analysis as well as a historical outline of the way the relationship between Britain and

America has evolved.

Chapter Three provides the details of my methodology including how I located

and targeted specific blogs, determined which linguistic variables I would focus on and

dealt with the data.

Chapter Four consists of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of my findings

with regard to three specific themes.

Chapter Five summarizes the study, argues for the significance of this kind of

research and offers new directions for future research.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Second Dialect Acquisition

Upon migrating to a new country with the same official language as their home

country, migrants will come into contact with a new and yet mutually intelligible

'dialect' – or what is also referred to as a 'variety' – of the official language. They may

then accommodate to members of the new speech community by modifying their

language in the direction of the new dialect (D2) and after a prolonged period of time,

fully adopt the D2 – a process which has been termed second dialect acquisition (SDA)

(Siegel, 2010; Trudgill, 1986). Whether migrants will successfully acquire the D2 or

maintain their original dialect (D1) is determined by the intersection of a number of

external (i.e. social) and internal (i.e. linguistic) factors (Siegel, 2010).

Notably, this is a study of the language use of adults who have passed critical

periods of language learning. Their repertoires are thought to have “solidified by early

adulthood” (Conn & Horesh, 2002, p. 47), thus making it highly unlikely that adults will


completely change their language unless they do so of their own accord. Oftentimes, as

Bowie (2000) states, “the changes seem to be a matter of degree rather than actual

shift” (p. 12). Most previous research on adult dialect acquisition has therefore focused

on complex identity factors, social networks, the extent of exposure, the status of the

linguistic variable and the notion of salience (Liao, 2010). There is still a significant lack

of studies on language attitudes with regard to SDA, which is surprising considering

that the historical, geographical and social associations with particular dialects often

evoke strong attitudes (Siegel, 2010). This thesis attempts to determine the influence of

both national identity and these language attitudes on the use of the D2 throughout the

process of SDA, specifically in the case of British migrants (i.e. expatriates) after living in

the United States for an extended period of time.

One of the only well-‐known studies on British migrants' acquisition of American

English (AmE) focused on more linguistic influences. In this study, Trudgill (1986)

investigated whether or not the salience of four different phonological variables caused

British speakers to acquire and use them more readily. He made consistent

observations of the linguistic development of himself and other native speakers of

British English (BrE) living the United States for the course of a year. Though he found

that more salient variants were generally acquired easily, other factors sometimes

interfered, such as in the case of /a:/ to /ae/ in terms like dance or last. Trudgill claims

that he was very conscious of the use of this American dialectal feature in his own

speech and only used it in certain contexts as a result of /ae/ being too salient in AmE.

“It is not adopted immediately because it sounds, and feels, too American. The

stereotype is too strong” (Trudgill, 1986, p. 18). This result suggests that Trudgill's

desire to maintain his British identity and slightly negative attitude towards sounding


“too American” played just as pertinent a role in his language use as salience. It also

reveals that these factors are especially powerful in metalinguistically aware adults.

As language attitudes are central to this study, I will now attempt to define

attitudes and discuss the approaches, methodologies and directions of previous attitude

research.

2.2. Attitudes

2.2.1. Definition of attitude. Since attitude has been notoriously difficult to

define as a psychological construct and relates to other types of human behavior in

addition to language, Garrett, Williams and Coupland (2003) have proposed a broad

definition which dictates that attitude is “an evaluative orientation to a social object of

some sort” (p .3). Most importantly for research, Garrett further states that “being a

'disposition', an attitude is at least potentially an evaluative stance that is sufficiently

stable to allow it to be identified and in some sense measured” (p. 3). Indeed, attitudes

have been measured using a variety of methods and have proven to be an efficient

means of explaining the maintenance and trajectory of human conduct and activity

(Baker, 1992).

According to Bern (1968), individuals can also be self-‐aware of attitudes, which

they come to recognize through observing their own actions and the way they conduct

themselves. For example, British migrants may observe themselves using AmE and

assume that they are developing a favorable attitude towards the language. Bern (1968)

regards this self-‐perceived attitude as existing parallel to the attitude detected by

outside observers.

2.2.2. Three components of attitude. Previous attitude research has taken one

of two different perspectives on the nature of attitudes. On the one hand, there is the

behaviorist view that attitudes are found in individuals' responses to social situations


(Fasold, 1984). On the other, there is the mentalist view of attitude as a state of

readiness that can be broken down into three components: cognitive, affective and

behavioral. The cognitive component consists of a person's beliefs or opinions about an

attitude object (McLeod, 2009). A favorable attitude towards BrE may, for example,

entail a belief that reflects “the traditional European notion that the British variety of

the English language is a superior model” of language (Flaitz, 1988, p. 190). The

affective component concerns actual feelings about an object, such as the American

variety of English (Baker, 1992). Such feelings may involve a British migrant's like or

dislike of the variety, their passion for American culture or their fear of being unable to

integrate into American society. The affective and cognitive components are not always

congruent as when, for instance, a person's expressed attitude toward a variety of

language does not match their deep-‐seated prejudices or anxieties (Baker, 1992). They

may not desire to make public their more private beliefs about an object.

Finally, the behavioral component – also referred to as the individual's

'readiness for action' – is “the intention or plan of action under defined contexts and

circumstances” (Baker, 1992, p. 13). For example, if the British migrant has a favorable

attitude towards AmE, they may actively attempt to learn the variety and use AmE

variants. According to Ajzen (1988), these three components can be merged into a

hierarchical model that shows the way in which an evaluation of an object, whether

favorable or unfavorable, can affect behavior (see Figure 1). He proposes that attitudes

predispose cognitive, affective and behavioral responses to the object, which are

“consistent with the overall attitude” (Ajzen, 1988, p. 23). By taking this view, I can gain

an understanding of the different aspects of the attitudes of these British expats and

how they interact.


Figure 1. Ajzen's (1988) hierarchical model of the construction of attitude.

2.2.3. Types of attitudes. This thesis concentrates on two types of attitudes

under the umbrella term of 'language attitudes.' The first type concerns attitudes

towards language variation, dialect style and particular dialectal features (Garrett,

2010). I look more generally at the way British migrants perceive the national dialect of

AmE as a whole, notwithstanding the fact that AmE is comprised of countless regional

varieties.

The second type of attitude under investigation is towards the speech

community itself, which in this case involves the ways British migrants perceive

American society, including the American people and their cultural practices. As Garrett

(2010) notes, these two types of attitudes often overlap as language is not a small part

of what defines a community. Dialects and their linguistic features may actually

“enshrine what is distinctive in the community and in a sense constitute that

community” (Garrett, 2010, p. 16). Therefore, in some cases it may be impossible to

differentiate an evaluation of a dialect – as for example, pleasant, correct or improper –

from that of the speech group. Together, these attitudes illustrate the social

conventions, prejudices and preferences that are currently prevalent in British and

American society.


2.2.4. Measuring attitudes towards dialects. As attitude is a mental construct

that is difficult to discern and represent accurately, there has been much controversial

debate as to the best methodological approach for researching language attitudes with

respect to the use of a second dialect (Baker, 1992). Previous researchers have taken

one of three main approaches: direct, indirect and societal treatment.

2.2.4.1. Direct approaches. The direct approach, which grew in popularity in the

1990s due to a rising interest in perceptual dialectological studies, involves asking

subjects to analyze their own attitudes. Researchers have used various kinds of direct

methods such as attitude scales, questionnaires, or map-‐drawing tasks where

participants were requested to label what they perceive to be the main dialect areas and

provide their own descriptions of each region (Garrett, 2007). These methods allowed

Preston (1996), one of the most notable researchers in the field of dialectology, to gain

insight into the ways Americans perceive regional varieties of AmE. Preston found that

non-‐standard varieties are generally deemed undesirable, incorrect and barely even

language. Direct methods have also been used to examine language preferences, speech

communities and the uses of language (Baker, 1992).

One of the central concerns with direct methods is that the use of a single item to

measure attitude only captures the attitude at one particular point in time (Baker,

1992). The item does not account for the fact that attitudes are continually in flux.

Potter and Wetherell (1987) insist that attitudes are so ephemeral that they cannot

sufficiently be treated as fixed and durable psychological states. The validity of these

kinds of studies is also frequently called into question due to the inherent latency of

attitudes (i.e. they are not openly expressed). Thus, it is possible that participants may

only provide what is considered a socially appropriate response, rendering the attitude

measured dishonest and inaccurate (Baker, 1992).


2.2.4.2. Indirect approaches. Indirect approaches are designed to keep subjects

from realizing that their language attitudes are being investigated. Garrett (2007)

considers this approach to be preferable to the direct approach as it inhibits

participants from “masking private attitudes” (p. 119). The matched-‐guise technique

(MGT), which was developed in the 1950s by Lambert, Hodgson, Gardner and

Fillenbaum (1960), is the most well-‐known indirect method. Its purpose is to reveal the

actual biases of participants towards particular accents, speech styles or dialects by

deceiving them into believing that are listening to different speakers when in reality,

they are listening to one skilled voice actor read a text in various accents. Participants

are then asked to evaluate each voice and speaker on either a rating or bipolar adjective

scale (Giles & Powesland, 1975).

Though the majority of research in the field of social psychology “has followed

the lead of Lambert” (Ryan, Giles & Sebastian, 1982, p. 2), some have had concerns

about whether the accents themselves are entirely authentic when produced from a

single person. This issue has been rectified by several researchers who opted for having

all different speakers read in their own dialects rather than one voice actor. In Bayard,

Weatherall, Gallois and Pittam's (2001) study of world Englishes, for example, they used

eight different speakers including one male and one female of each dialect. They found

that the American variety of English has actually been emerging as the new prestige

variety in place of the British standard variety, Received Pronunciation (RP).

Reservations have also been voiced about the decontextualized production of these

accents in that simply reading a text in an accent may not be natural and situated

enough to induce authentic responses (Garrett et al., 2003).

2.2.4.3. Societal treatment approach. Studies which use the societal treatment

approach (i.e. the content analysis approach) are usually qualitative and observational,


in that subjects are not explicitly requested to reveal their thoughts and feelings on

linguistic matters. Autobiographical texts and journals are commonly used resources in

these kinds of studies. However, in some cases these studies will additionally involve an

analysis of numerous public resources, such as “the discourse of government or

educational policy documents, employment and consumer advertisements, novels,

television programmes, cartoons, style and etiquette books” (Garrett, 2007, p. 116).

Haarman (1986a) used this approach in an investigation of language prestige as seen in

advertisements in Japan.

Interest in this type of approach was sparked by the idea that individuals'

conceptions of language originate from the way language is treated by the public and

the media (Ryan, Giles & Sebastian, 1982).

The societal treatment approach is favored in this study as it enables me to

overcome some of the methodological issues in both direct and indirect approaches. By

using written linguistic content that was produced when subjects were unaware that

their attitudes – or any of the text for that matter – would be scrutinized, I am largely

able to avoid obtaining inaccurate data. I can also circumvent the problem of attitude

impermanence and provide a more rounded overview of the role of attitude in language

production by qualitatively analyzing the changes in the subjects' linguistic behavior

and attitudes over time.

2.3. Habitus and Identity

Value judgments of language varieties neither demonstrate any actual “intrinsic

linguistic inferiorities/superiorities” nor “intrinsic aesthetic differences” (Edwards,

1982, p. 21). The same can be said of evaluations of the speakers themselves with

regard to their inherent qualities and characteristics. Rather, they are visceral

reflections of the upbringing and social experiences of the evaluator. On a macro level,


they both supply a social map of the evaluator's speech community and reveal the social

status of the speakers being evaluated.

As a member of a community, an individual will participate in particular social

circles and culturally embedded activities throughout their lives, thereby gaining a

specific type of knowledge that shapes their current set of values, beliefs, attitudes and

skills. It also provides individuals a “conceptual understanding of what is reasonable

and possible” in society, predisposing them to speak, act, think and feel in accordance

“with a prevailing ideology” (Davin & Norton, 2015, p. 9). This knowledge is what

Bourdieu (1977) refers to as 'habitus.' The concept of habitus is a valuable resource for

discussing British migrants' attitudes towards Americans and AmE in the context of

their social and cultural background. It can also be used to clarify how particular

attitudes have become so ingrained in their sense of identity.

It is beneficial therefore to provide a brief outline of the complex socio-‐cultural

and political history of the US and Britain, showing the evolution of their relationship

and attitudes towards each other, in order to understand the context in which migrants

experience America and use American language.

2.3.1. Historical background of Britain and America. Before migration and

war afflicted the relationship between the two societies, American life and language

were no different than that of England. This was due to the fact that 95 percent of the

first immigrants to America were English. England founded a total of thirteen colonies

all along the eastern coast of North America, the first of which was established in 1607

in Jamestown, Virginia. It was only some time after being physically and culturally

separate from England, during which time they were forced to engage with the new

environment and native population, that the first new variety of American language

developed (Algeo, 2001). The colonists eventually accepted the New World as “their


native inheritance,” branding themselves American natives – an act that became “a

powerful psychological factor molding their attitudes towards their own language and

the English of Britain” (Algeo, 2001, p. 19). Nevertheless, standardized British English

represented the variety of correct and proper English throughout the Colonial period.

American culture was also still deeply influenced by the English Puritans whose “heavy

reliance on the Bible” and “preoccupation with platforms, programs of action, and

schemes of confederation” essentially set the tone of the American political climate for

the following centuries (Boorstin, 1958, p. 19).

As the British Empire grew increasingly larger, Britain asserted itself as the

supreme colonial power, earning BrE its international prestige. Its political influence

over the colonies however was threatened by the aftermath of the Seven Years War,

which lasted from 1754 to 1763. Despite their appreciation to the British for

eliminating the French threat and opening up possibilities for western expansion, they

resented the taxes Parliament had imposed to reduce the wartime expenses (Algeo,

2001). Their initial gratitude drastically faded after the British government placed

limitations on trade with the Indians and further settlements. They began to see the

British officers as profane, crude and severe while the British viewed the colonists as

“undisciplined, insubordinate, cowardly, and unkempt” (Algeo, 2001, p. 18). British

society also frowned upon all the lexical innovations that had begun permeating

American language after the influx of immigrants from Germany, Switzerland, Africa,

and France between 1760 and 1775. It was thus during this time that the Americans

and Britons developed more adverse attitudes towards each other (Algeo, 2001).

In 1765 relations between the British and colonists worsened as a result of the

Stamp Act – a tax imposed on the use of printed paper – which the colonists saw as

having no other purpose than “raising revenue for Parliament” (Algeo, 2001, p. 21). The


colonists’ rejection of British tyranny eventually led to the American Revolution, which

ended in Britain's recognition of the colonies' complete political independence with the

Treaty of Paris in 1783. The Americans were victorious as a result of their knowledge of

the land, the help of other nations and most importantly, the ineffective tactics and

severe misjudgments of British generals. British officers had mistakenly anticipated that

the slovenly colonists would cower in the face of armed and well-‐trained Redcoats, an

assumption that Garraty (1991) believes “reflected the degree to which English and

colonial values and traditions had diverged” (p. 207).

As a means of redefining their nation as a liberated and unified political entity,

the colonies were renamed the United States of America and English traditions,

linguistic and otherwise, were abdicated whenever possible with the Founding Fathers

even entertaining the idea of adopting a new official language (Fisher, 2001). Though

English has remained the primary language of the US, with the help of Noah Webster's

dictionaries, American lexicography, orthography and phonology have all significantly

deviated from British linguistic standards.

In the early 1800s, the US focused on expanding their territory westward while

Britain engaged in the Napoleonic wars. When the British started forcing American men

into naval service and attempting to hinder American expansion, however, “old

hostilities and resentments flared” and the US declared their last real war on Great

Britain in 1812 (Algeo, 2001, p. 25). With the exception of a few minor disputes, from

that point on the two nations have maintained what Winston Churchill first called a

“special relationship,” which McCausland and Stuart (2006) argue stems from the fact

that the entire “infrastructure of the American political, legal and economic system is

British” (p. 4).


The next major instance where the US-‐UK relationship struggled was during the

American Civil War from 1861 to 1865, which was fought to determine both the future

of slavery and the independence of the southern Confederate states from the US.

Though Britain made an official claim of neutrality in order to preserve their trade

relations with the US, British ships were discovered breaking the naval law by providing

the Confederacy with military supplies. The incident pushed the two nations to the

verge of war up until Prince Albert intervened and made peace with the Union,

supporting its victory and President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation abolishing

slavery (BBC News, 2003).

In the early 1900s, the two nations collaborated on a number of social and

political matters (Reuter, 1979). They maintain a harmonious relationship up until

World War I when due to experiencing a high rate of causalities, American began to

favor a policy of isolationism in which the country attempted to distance itself from

European affairs (Algeo, 2001). Then, with the Wall Street crash in 1929, the US could

no longer trade at their previous rate with the UK, causing Britain's economy to suffer

as well.

Despite the negative political atmosphere between the nations, Britain could not

escape American cultural influences after its introduction to Hollywood motion

pictures, jazz and great American writers like Ernest Hemingway and T. S. Eliot in the

1920s. Fisher (2001) notes that the globalization of American pop culture caused

American values and even linguistic features to pervade British society as scholars saw

“an increasing number of American words … appear in British writing” (p. 70).

America's cultural domination only grew during World War II when American GIs were

sent over to occupy Britain, their arms laden with popular American goods like Coca-‐

Cola, candy and cigarettes (Hogenboom, 2012). Their arrival helped to dispel some of


the stereotypes the British had formed about Americans being the glamorous heroes

and gangsters of Hollywood films. The way that they were affecting British society,

however, caused strongly divided opinions, especially as the GIs began marrying a large

number of British women. There seemed to be almost an equal balance of those who

considered America the ideal and appreciated the economic relief the well-‐paid GIs

were providing and those who resented the negligent attitude of the GIs towards

money, worrying that the spread of American consumerism was "undermining and

eroding" British values (Hogenboom, 2012). The political events of WWII, however,

ultimately served to strengthen that special relationship that linked the two countries

once again.

Later, in the 1960s, many anti-‐American sentiments were expressed regarding

America's involvement in the Vietnam War and the fact that it did not provide Britain

and France any support during the Suez Crisis. The UK's outright refusal to send troops

to assist the US in Vietnam thrust the special relationship onto unsteady ground for the

next fifteen years or so (BBC News, 2003). Things began to improve once again when

Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and America’s President Ronald Reagan

became so-‐called “political soul mates” due to their similar views on numerous

international issues. The countries grew even closer a few years later when the whole of

America expressed solidarity with the British people after the shocking and grievous

death of Princess Diana of Wales in August of 1997. Their sympathies were reciprocated

to an even greater degree during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Following

the attacks, the Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair, became a strong advocate of

President George W. Bush's decision to bring the culprits to justice by declaring the War

on Terror. The UK then followed America's lead in sending their troops to invade Iraq.

Despite the fact that this war was generally disapproved of by the British people as was


a close alliance with Bush (Glover & MacAskil, 2006), Blair insisted that Britain “should

remain the closest ally of the US ... not because they are powerful, but because we share

their values" (BBC News, 2003). The relations between these leaders and the

unwavering support the UK continues to provide America on controversial issues have

led to the perception that the UK may now be engaged in somewhat of a one-‐sided

relationship with the US (Mix, 2015, p. 12).

On a cultural note, the way that globalization has led to a more homogenized (i.e.

Americanized) world culture, increasing the prestige of American language, has

generated mixed views on the American people and their customs (Phillipson &

Skutnabb-‐Kangas, 1996). Though there has been a consistent stream of news articles

criticizing both America and AmE, it appears that Americans are seen more favorably at

the present time than in the past few decades. In one poll taken of British attitudes

towards Americans, it was found that 81% percent of the population “now agree that 'I

like Americans as people,' a substantial increase from the 69% who agreed in 1989 and

1991 and the 66% who said the same back in 1986” (Worcester, 2002). With regard to

their opinions on the global impact of American culture, however, 52 percent said that

they think it makes the world a worse place and very few people – a mere 7 percent –

said that they actually consume American goods. Nevertheless, a YouGov survey

stipulated that British attitudes towards more specific examples of American culture

are quite positive; for instance, towards Microsoft, Disney, US television shows, Coca-‐

Cola and movie stars like Brad Pitt and Tom Hanks (Wells, 2006). Overall, Self (2013)

notes that “the British conception of America remains hopelessly confused” as American

politics and culture generally invoke “a dissonant chain reaction in the heart and mind

of the average Briton.”


In the process of immigration, however, by which Britons can experience

America up close, noting all the familiarities between people and basic structures of the

two societies, Self (2013) suggests it is likely America will appear both comfortable and

easy to adapt to, as seen with two very Americanized public figures, Christopher

Hitchens and Niall Ferguson. This thesis reveals whether British immigrants actually do

feel at ease in American society, the familiarity creating positive attitudes and a desire

to become Americanized or if they concentrate on all the differences between British

and American traditions, resentment still lingering from the countries' troubled past.

2.3.2. Language ideologies. As language ideologies constitute the foundation of

habitus, it is necessary to define them and discuss the role they have had in affecting

British and American attitudes towards language and social groups. Milroy (2000)

defines language ideologies as sets of “shared cultural conceptions” that can be used

“for the exercise and legitimation of power” (p. 66). Their existence as a “mediating

link” between language and social structure (Woolard, 2008, p. 439) has drawn the

interest of researchers who desire a deeper understanding of how these conceptions or

beliefs – such as those concerning language prestige, language variation and

bidialectalism – affect linguistic behavior. In fact, researchers have often viewed

speakers' reactions to and commentary on language and social phenomena “as

manifestations of ideological stances” (Bell, 2007, p. 107).

A small pool of studies on language attitudes looked at the way ideological ideas

about dialect prestige play into SDA. Rys (2007) investigated Belgian residents'

acquisition of the Maldegem dialect, a less esteemed and socially-‐attractive dialect than

standard Dutch, the D1. After using a scaled-‐down version of the Attitude/Motivation

Test Battery (Gardner, 1985; Vousten, 1995) – a method commonly used in studies of

second language acquisition (SLA) – Rys did in fact find that a more positive attitude


towards the D2 as well as a greater motivation to learn the D2 correlates with a higher

use of D2 features. Overall, however, subjects exhibited negative attitudes towards the

D2, which led to D1 maintenance. Walker (2014) did a study that is relevant to this

present study in that she looked into the relationship between attitudes and dialect

acquisition as seen in both British migrants in the US and American migrants in the UK.

It was discovered that due to the “relative prestige” of the British dialect, Americans

acquired all three of the phonological variables investigated in the study while British

participants only acquired one (p. 4).

Nuolijärvi (1994), in a study of migration into Helsinki, found the prestige of the

native dialect to affect both migrants' accommodation to the Helsinki vernacular and

the degree to which migrants integrated. Speakers of Finnish with a highly esteemed

Ostrobothnian dialect found it easier than those of the more negatively evaluated Savo

dialects to maintain their dialect after migration, despite the fact that some speakers of

Savo dialects did not desire to change their language. The study also revealed how

speakers with more social interaction in a professional context adapted more to the

Helsinki vernacular (standard) than those with restricted social networks.

2.3.2.1. Indexicality. Language ideologies actually expose the reasoning behind

the indexicality implicit in language (Milroy, 2000). Every linguistic form is tied to a

social, contextualized meaning that prompts an emotional response in language users.

This connection between form and meaning is what Silverstein (1992) refers to as

indexicality. These meanings often arise from ideological stereotypes that are linked to

social groups or categories (e.g., female/male, white/black, high-‐class/low-‐class,

American/British). They essentially lead to the audience or interlocutors of a speaker

making judgments and assumptions about the attributes and group membership of a

person (i.e. their 'social identity') each time they speak (Garrett et al., 2003). Therefore,


the tendency to avoid using dialects of lower prestige is likely to be a means of avoiding

being ascribed negative social characteristics attached to less prestigious varieties, such

as a lack of education and intelligence or belonging to a lower social class.

Nevertheless, Eckert (2005) argues that linguistic variables do not directly index

social identities, but rather attitudes and stances “that are in turn associated with

categories of people” (p. 21-‐22). For example, in Okamoto's (1995) study of the

language of Japanese women, young girls were often accused of trying to speak like men

when they refused to use the honorific and apologetic linguistic forms associated with

women's language. In fact, their use of “men's forms” was not to be more like men, but

rather to challenge gender stereotypes by appearing assertive. In order to clarify the

connections between variables, attitudes and identities, Silverstein (2003) suggests a

ranking system for the different levels of ideological and contextual meanings in

indexicality. This model runs parallel to Labov's (1972b) taxonomy of sociolinguistic

variables. First-‐order indexical linguistic forms or what Labov terms “indicators” are

recognized by all members of a speech community as being associated with a social

identity, but are not subject to style-‐shifting. Milroy (2000) notes that languages index

social identities – especially with regard to ethnicity and social class – “fairly reliably” in

Britain and the US (p. 64).

Second-‐order indexicality indicates the way speakers “notice, rationalize or

frame their understanding of first-‐order indexicality and then establish a new or non-‐

conventionalized social meaning onto the linguistic form in the local historical context”

(Liao, 2010, p. 60). The ability of speakers to analyze the contextualization of linguistic

forms at this stage can induce linguistic insecurity and motivate them to adjust their

own linguistic behavior away from their native language, dialect or style. Labov (1972b)

refers to variables that function at this level (i.e. that are susceptible to changes in


different contexts) as 'markers.' These second-‐order processes are where the US and

Britain differ in that they have different ideological standpoints and so-‐called

'standardized forms' from which they view people who speak specific types of language

varieties (Milroy, 2000).

2.3.2.2. Standardization in Britain and the US. Standardized language is

essentially the reference point from which indexicality and visceral language attitudes

emerge and expand. It embodies a widely recognized and “idealized” way of speaking a

language that is socially constructed and thus consistently re-‐conceptualized over time

(Rodby, 1992, p. 192). During the eighteenth century when the language of the colonists

began to diverge from that their mother country, the idea of what constitutes standard

English was the subject of much controversial debate. AmE was further distinguished

from BrE when Noah Webster produced the American Spelling Book in the nineteenth

century, the publication of which made him “chiefly responsible for the

institutionalisation of Standard American English (SAE)” (Kretzschmar & Meyer, 2013,

p. 140). According to Carver (1992), the formation of AmE was directly connected to a

sense of nationalism and the creation of a truly American identity. It essentially

cemented America's division from Britain in that it unified the colonists and

represented the speech of the everyman rather than only the upper class.

Standard English in the US – which has been termed Network American – is “not

associated with any particular social group but more broadly with the leveled dialects of

the Northern Midwest; that is, dialects where salient locally marked features have been

eradicated” (Milroy, 2000, p. 58). Wolfram (1991) describes Network American as

“colorless” since racialized language is wholly excluded. During that early period of

colonialism, white European colonists developed extreme racist views of the Africans

that were first brought to the Americas as slaves. These views have had a great and


lasting effect on their attitudes towards both non-‐English languages and “language

varieties indexing race and ethnicity” (Milroy, 2000, p. 71). In Britain, on the other hand,

“popular or political discourse” on linguistic matters often centers on class and prestige

rather than race (Milroy, 2000, p. 73). In the late nineteenth century, the British

determined RP – also known as the “Queen's English” – to be the supreme,

standardization form of English, despite the fact that only a very small percentage of the

population actually spoke it (Milroy, 2000, p. 61). RP was the language of the elite and

highly educated, thereby making it indexical of a high social status.

The differing notions of correctness have caused Britons to label a number of

features commonly used in AmE “vulgar Americanisms” -‐ for example, the placement of

stress on the second syllable of a word like controversy or the use of the double-‐

negative, as in “you don't know nothing” (Garrett, 2010, p. 8-‐9). In fact, the double

negative was even featured as one of the top ten linguistic complaints in the BBC Radio

Four series English Now that was broadcast in 1986, with one commenter claiming that

it “made their blood boil” (Cheshire, 1998, p. 114). Language attitudes are also likely to

be influenced by the opinions of public leaders, such as Prince Charles who was quoted

in 1995 in The International Herald Tribune as declaring that AmE is “very corrupting”

and “we must act to ensure that English – and that to my way of thinking means English

English – maintains its position as the world language well into the next century.”

Kovecses (2000) notes that this attitude about BrE being superior – held even by

Americans – has been “amply documented in the long history of the language debate

between the British and Americans” (p. 88). Nevertheless, AmE continues to become

more influential on an international level, especially with regard to vocabulary, as a

result of globalization.


Standard language ideology clearly permeates certain attitudes British expats

hold and express towards features of AmE. An understanding of how it differs in each

country also helps elucidate why Britons may either value or disdain varieties of AmE in

an entirely different way than Americans.

2.3.3. The self as a reflexive project. The extent to which these ideologies as

integrated components of habitus constrain individuals changes as they navigate new

situations, particularly those involving more extreme social and cultural experiences

such as migration (Hall, 2013). Anderson (1991) argues that people “can acquire the

[new] culture – including the self-‐image fostered by that culture … – even if they started

from some other culture, some other set of internalized and projected images” (p. 7).

Previous research has even suggested that the migrants’ involvement and interaction

with the members of an entirely different cultural community can completely alter their

preconceived perceptions of both their new and original communities, as well as the

linguistic behaviors associated with each community. The more deeply a migrant

integrates into the new society, the greater the likelihood of old social networks,

attitudes, and ideological prejudices being broken down and undercut, ultimately

leading to the conscious and unconscious acquisition of the D2. This is why Siegel

(2010) states that “the most important reason for SDA, especially in naturalistic

contexts involving migration, appears to be integration – the desire to be a part of the

new community and be viewed as a local” (Siegel 2010, p. 152).

This idea is supported by Auer, Barden and Grosskopf's (1998) two-‐year long,

longitudinal study of Saxons who migrated to the western cities of Saarbrücken and

Constance in Germany. The Saxons with no interest in either integrating or

accommodating to the new dialect only formed open and unstable social networks with

the locals, were generally dissatisfied with their lives and did not acquire the D2. Those


who became fully immersed in local networks not only acquired the local dialect, but

were “highly satisfied with their new social environment” and developed positive

attitudes towards the locals (Auer, 2007, p. 113). The reformation of their attitudes was

thus connected with their social relationships, their identification with new social

groups and participation in the new community's communicative practices.

The idea that individuals have multiple, fluid and dynamic identities with equally

changeable linguistic repertoires is in alignment with the post-‐structuralist conception

of language and identity (Bell, 2007). Under this view, both social identities and

attitudes are seen as being “established, attributed, negotiated and manifested through

social processes” or contexts (Riley, 2007, p. 87). Contrary to the structuralist view of

individuals as being caged within the rigid boundaries of the cultures, traditions and

social groups into which they were born, post-‐structuralists view individuals as having

the ability to choose how they project their identities, particularly through the use of

language. As Giddens (1990) states, “the self today is for everyone a reflexive project – a

more or less continuous interrogation of past, present and future” (p. 30). In other

words, the habitus is “continually being reconstituted” (Hall, 2013, p. 36). This study

examines that process as British migrants navigate social situations in the US and begin

to make linguistic choices that are interconnected with their newly formed attitudes

and re-‐imagined identities.

2.3.3.1. Agency and acts of identity. As Hall (2013) argues, while ideologies and

“social identities influence our linguistic actions, they do not determine them” (p. 34).

Individuals are predisposed to make certain linguistic choices, but they always have the

ability to resist or adhere to cultural pressures as they become aware of them. This

conscious power that individuals have to define and redefine themselves is called

'agency' -‐ an ability for which language is the primary resource (Coupland, 2007). The


fact that communication practices and linguistic forms are both culturally-‐mediated and

linked to social identities can even benefit individuals who desire to proclaim group

membership through language (Riley, 2007). A large number of sociolinguists have

confirmed that individuals exploit the knowledge that language is an identity marker,

finding that strong group identification translates into a greater use of the group's

language and vice versa. Le Page and Tabouret-‐Keller (1985) have labeled the use of

language as a means of either resembling or becoming distinguished from a particular

group in various contexts as 'acts of identity' (p. 181). These acts are essentially

milestones in an individual's cultural reconstructive process after migrating.

Due to the fact that in most cases migrants in a new dialect region do not often

need to acquire the D2 to resolve communication issues (i.e. misunderstandings), “the

process of SDA is often understood to be entwined with . . . [an] overt shift of social

identity” (Fix, 2013, p. 72). Foreman (2003) qualitatively analyzed the role of national

identity in the language use of North Americans living in Australia, finding the subject to

be difficult and complicated for participants to discuss, as many were “unsure of their

identity” (p. 235). Nonetheless, eight of the twelve subjects who reported having at

least a partly Australian identity did acquire some features of the Australian dialect

(D2). For the most part, those who acquired none of the D2 claimed that they still had a

Canadian or American identity. This study shows how migration is a social context –

which Pavlenko (2002) calls “a site of identity construction” – where people are prone

to change, and yet have a strong ability to resist it when they still identify with the

people of their native country.

Stanford (2007) drew on this idea of a highly influential social identity to explain

why Sui women who got married and moved to Southwestern China for their husbands

had not changed their speech in the slightest, even after living in the new dialect region


for forty years or more. After interviewing the women – who claimed they still

identified with and were strongly connected to their father's clan – Stanford (2007)

determined their resistance to the D2 to be a performance of “clan identity” that

“overrides the norm of dialect acquisition” (p. 40).

In another study conducted in Sweden, Ivars (1994) found that migrants have

the capability of developing a sort of dual identity which can also play an integral role in

linguistic behavior. Subjects communicated that they felt they belonged to both Naerpes

(their D1 region) and Eskilstuna (their D2 region) with the result that the subjects

experienced additive dialect acquisition, i.e. maintained their D1 and simply added the

D2 to their linguistic repertoire. Ivars concluded that the subjects' frequent code-‐

switching caused the two varieties to become “the linguistic expression of the double

identity they have assumed” (p. 221). This thesis attempts to expose incidents where

British migrants consciously choose to use particular dialectal forms in order to

maintain a strong British identity, inhabit a new American identity, or even assert a

double-‐identity.

However, it is important to note that a lack of agency, as in the case where a

speaker is either unable to alter their language or unaware of its indexicality, can

actually have negative consequences for them (Bell, 2007). Since the identities of

individuals are co-‐constructed, the way their whole persona and language use are

perceived by the rest of the world also play into their self-‐image (Hall, 2013). One

woman who moved from the north of England to London had many unfortunate

encounters as a result of the way Londoners perceived her identity. She is quoted in the

British women's magazine Bella as stating: “People can’t see further than my voice and

assume I’m aggressive and common. They think I should own pigeons and have an

outside toilet.” Regardless of why, this woman appears powerless to change her


language and the perceptions of her interlocutors. Therefore, it must be considered that

the transition of British expats into more Americanized versions of themselves through

their language use may be unintentional and even unconscious.

2.4. Computer-mediated Communication and Migration

In addition to determining whether correlations exist between language use and

both attitude and identity factors, this study examines the way these three elements

manifest and evolve in blogging, just one application of computer-‐mediated

communication (CMC). CMC is what Herring (1996) defines as any type of

“communication that takes place between human beings via the instrumentality of

computers” (p.1). The digital affordances of CMC allow it to serve as an outlet for

divulging and exchanging feelings, experiences and information without many of the

physical and mental restraints in place during face-‐to-‐face communication. This mode of

discourse has thus “expanded what is socially imaginable” (Davin & Norton, 2015, p. 3)

for users around the world – especially immigrants – causing researchers to re-‐

conceptualize attitudes and identity within new parameters of possibility.

In the 1990s, before digital technology became one of the primary means of

communication, “migration was viewed as a one-‐way movement from a country of

origin to a country of settlement” (David & Norton, 2015, p. 5). The migrants' complete

disconnect from their native country made it more likely that they would adopt the

language or dialect of their host country – even when it was not necessary for

communication – in order to more easily integrate, blend into the new environment and

gain linguistic capital (i.e. power and resources) (Davin & Norton, 2015). A lack of

continued exposure to the D1 might also have played a role. The recent phenomenon of

globalization, however, has transformed the entire migratory process. Due to the

consequent development of new technologies and widespread use of CMC, migrants are


now able to “traverse transnational spaces and oscillate between online and offline

worlds, transforming notions of public and private domains, citizenship and identity”

(Davin & Norton, 2015, p. 5). The seemingly limitless number of spaces in which people

can exist has opened up opportunities for them to inhabit a greater number of identities

(Norton, 2010). For migrants, this means that they may keep up regular contact with

their D1 community which would in turn allow them to more easily maintain their

native dialect if they so desire. By enabling people to transcend social categories in their

identity exploration on the Internet, globalization has also increased the level of

intensity, fearlessness and forthrightness with which people can express their attitudes.

2.4.1. Presentation of identity online. In face-‐to-‐face communication, people

are simply unable to surpass the automatic group memberships into which they were

born. Their ability to present and define themselves in certain ways is always

obstructed by visible, ascribed social categories such as biological sex, race, ethnicity

and social class (Collins & Kuczaj, 1991). The Internet, however, provides a platform for

communicating where physical attributes become flexible and users have the choice to

be truly anonymous or even someone else entirely (Huffaker & Calvert, 2005). A male,

for example, can potentially portray himself as a female if that identity is preferential in

a particular online context, since no one who has not met him in an offline environment

can determine who he really is with certainty. As Ellison (2013) states, “identity is

essentially typed into being” (p. 2). Therefore, in online environments people have even

more freedom than in face-‐to-‐face communication to use language as a tool for

constructing and projecting their identity – or indeed identities – of choice.

For this reason, the complicated relationship between identity and language use

online has actively been explored by scholars, especially as CMC applications “typically

capture vast amounts of behavioral data about their users” (Ellison, 2013, p. 2). Wu


(1999), for example, looked at the way Chinese immigrants living in the US establish

their cultural identities online. Wu found that they were able to sustain and strengthen

their Chinese identities by creating an online community that was enclosed by linguistic

boundaries (i.e. only those who spoke their language were considered members). In this

case, CMC extended to these migrants the option to continue developing their national

identities as Chinese citizens by allowing for a communal space that could not have

existed otherwise. My study similarly examines the way features of CMC benefit British

migrants attempting to locate their national identity after being displaced in a

geographically foreign environment. It provides them the ability to choose which

national identity they would like to embody on the Internet. They may opt to maintain

their sense of “Britishness” or British citizenship, which is made easier by the fact that

Internet allows them to stay connected with their D1 community, or to project a more

Americanized version of their self without the fear of not looking like an American. CMC

essentially gives them the power to better monitor their social networks and identities,

which indirectly allows them more control over their own language production. I

investigate the extent they maneuver this control in their exploration of their national

identity(ies) online.

The limiting effect of indexicality on Internet language, however, cannot be

ignored. According to Herring (2008), status characteristics and physical aspects of

groups are only really “inferable from the content of their messages, not from their

language use” (p. 9). This is negated by the fact that the readers or audiences of users

can indeed presume that a person belongs to a particular social group by the linguistic

variants that were used, despite there being no guarantee that their assumptions were

correct. Though the element of anonymity on the Internet increases the amount of

agency users have as they present their online self, users must be aware of the social


meanings tied to the language they use in order to assert more complete control over

their online identity. Just as in face-‐to-‐face communication, it is still possible online that

British migrants who are unaware of whether a variant belongs to BrE or AmE may

unintentionally identify themselves as more British or American. Part of my

investigation thus seeks to expose the (mis)match between the migrants' ideal online

selves and the reality of their self-‐presentations.

2.4.2. Expression of attitudes online. Since people are consistently pursuing

the goal of creating positive impressions (Ellison, 2013, p. 4), they often abstain from

stating beliefs and opinions that might soil others' perceptions of them in face-‐to-‐face

communication. It is generally considered more difficult to receive critical or

antagonistic feedback in person than in writing, especially when it is specifically

directed at one's true and very vulnerable self. Therefore, the lack of physicality on the

web and its tendency to be used as a written medium both minimizes users sense of

vulnerability and makes them feel freer to express their attitudes more honestly and

openly (Kim & Raja, 1991; Joinson & Paine, 2007). Herring (1996) further argues that

this decreased sense of inhibition can lead “to self-‐disclosure on the one hand and

increased expression of hostility on the other” (p. 4). In one experiment conducted to

determine how willing individuals are to express their opinions in an online

environment as opposed to in person, participants were directly asked to note in which

context they felt more comfortable. Ho and McLeod (2008) found that a number of

social-‐psychological factors such as fear of isolation or future opinion congruence make

participants more apprehensive of expressing opinions in face-‐to-‐face communication

than in online discussions. Ho and McLeod thus concluded that CMC abates these

factors, ultimately creating an environment “conducive for public deliberation” (ibid., p.

201).


Overall, research has found that the conditions of CMC that allow for anonymous

individuals to express themselves freely actually “level the social playing field by

encouraging more lively discussions and by generating more interesting arguments”

(Ho & McLeod, 2008, p. 191). There is essentially an “equalization effect” that causes

those who fear participating in face-‐to-‐face discussions or debates due to the

superiority of other participants to more frequently and comfortably express their

attitudes and contribute their ideas (Siegel et al., 1986; Ho & McLeod, 2008; Kiesler,

Siegel & McGuire, 1984). This phenomenon makes CMC an ideal data source for

accessing the hidden attitudes of users and attaining a more valid account of their

perceptions.

2.4.3. Blogs.

2.4.3.1. Definition of blogs. The CMC application utilized in the present study is

the weblog – more commonly referred to as a 'blog.' Puschmann (2013) defines the blog

as a multi-‐modal (i.e. with both textual and audio-‐visual components) and multi-‐

functional “form of online publishing, communication, and expression” (p. 83). Content

is usually posted in daily or monthly segments. Though blogs exist in a great variety of

genres, the most common type – and the one on which this study concentrates – is the

text-‐based author-‐centric blog, which functions as an online diary or online narrative

(Herring, Scheidt, Bonus & Wright, 2004). Author-‐centric blogs are typically written in

the first-‐person voice by single individuals and narrate the internal worlds of the

authors (i.e. 'bloggers') including their daily lives, thoughts, and feelings, much of which

as Pavlenko (2007) notes is “inaccessible to experimental methodologies” (p. 164).

Hookway (2008) believes blogs offer even more research opportunities than offline

diaries due to their being low-‐cost and readily available in the public sphere. They are

thus valuable resources for obtaining easily accessible, intimate and authentic data on


identity and attitude construction. Despite the fact that they provide such “a rich source

of qualitative data” (Hookway, 2008, p. 92) and have recently become widely popular,

scholars have rarely explored their potential contributions to linguistic research.

There are a number of technological features that actually distinguish blogs from

other forms of CMC, one of which includes “ease-‐of-‐use” as creating and posting on a

blog no longer require any programming skills or knowledge of HTML (Herring et al.,

2004; Huffaker, 2004). In 1999, web-‐hosting sites reconfigured the publishing tools for

blogs to be easy to use, making blogging appeal to “a new mass generation of bloggers”

of all ages and genders (Lankshear & Knobel, 2006, p. 18). The way that posts are now

automatically archived in chronological order also gives both bloggers and researchers

the opportunity to refer back to previous expressions and behaviors – linguistic or

otherwise – as they develop over any period of time. Indeed, Puschmann (2013) refers

to time as “the core cohesive element of a blog” (p. 91). This archiving feature thus

makes blogs a particularly valid resource for diachronic research on developmental

changes in attitudes, identity and linguistic habits.

2.4.3.2. Style. Depending on the blogger's purpose for having the blog and how

they would like to be perceived, blogs are either styled in a very formal and academic

manner or a more colloquial manner similar to speech. Due to their similarity to diaries,

author-‐centric blogs have a tendency to be more informal, containing a combination of

discourse markers that are often “used in spoken language or in writing that

consciously imitates speech” (Puschmann, 2013, p. 100). Nevertheless, the

asynchronous nature of blogs would still make the style of each entry more conscious

and thought-‐out than free-‐speech. Asynchronous media, which also includes email and

other types of social media like discussion forums, is not instantaneous communication.

They allow users to take as much time as they need before posting an entry or response


online, thereby giving them the opportunity to “carefully compose and edit messages –

even showing them to others for feedback before sending” (Ellison, 2013, p. 5).

Asynchronicity thus provides bloggers more agency with regard to their language use

and presentation of self than synchronous CMC applications (i.e. instantly

communicative media like Skype) or face-‐to-‐face communication.

2.4.3.3. Audience. The style and content of a public blog are largely mediated by

the blogger's conception of their audience or rather, their readership, which on the

whole is relatively hidden. Readers can render themselves visible by leaving comments,

advice and feedback, but they can still do so anonymously. The invisibility of the

audience is a benefit to researchers in that they may avoid the “Observer's Paradox” and

observe without their presence influencing the production of data. It does make it

difficult, however, to discern for whom the blogger is writing, a problem that is

minimized somewhat when investigating author-‐centric blogs. These type of blogs –

especially when they concern expat experiences of living abroad – are usually created

for readers that know the blogger offline and want to keep updated about the blogger's

daily life. This could have the effect that authors of these blogs do not allow their virtual

self to deviate too far from their offline self (Puschmann, 2013; Ellison, 2013). In other

words, a familiar readership can somewhat dampen the blogger's opportunities for

fabricating identity. One study by Vasalou and Joinson (2009) actually found that

compared to users of other sorts of online media, bloggers tend to present the most

accurate reflection of self in order to gain a loyal and trusting readership.

Bloggers can however remain completely anonymous if they really want to as a

result of the fact that users do not need to input any personal information when setting

up a blog (Huffaker & Calvert, 2005). Therefore, the nature of the blog itself encourages

bloggers to be “relatively unselfconscious about what they write” (Hookway, 2008, p.


93) and how they filter their linguistic output. Even if bloggers do essentially stay true

to themselves, as seen in Ko's (2013) study, they may still be more forthcoming about

expressing negative attitudes and controversial opinions than in “real” life. After

examining the author-‐centric blogs of 283 Taiwanese bloggers, Ko found both habit and

self-‐benefit to have an even greater impact on how often and openly they disclosed

information than reader commentaries or other social benefits. It is unquestionable that

the way readers and bloggers interact within online communities – sending each other

comments, emails and links to other blogs – affects self-‐expression and the overall

construction of identity online (Huffaker & Calvert, 2005). It should simply be

considered that this influence does not necessarily set limits.

3. Methodology

As a comprehensive analysis of sets of data produced over the span of two years,

the present study necessitated that I only focus on a small pool of select subjects (i.e.

bloggers). Subjects were targeted based on the consistency, quality, content and dearth

of their blog posts to ensure that I would attain a rich set of qualitative data and a wide

range of quantitative variables. The measures I took to locate, select and investigate the

blogs are detailed and justified in the following chapter.

3.1. Targeted Blogs

After a thorough search of the expatriate blog directory, expatsblog.com, I

procured an initial selection of blogs detailing the thoughts and exploits of British

expatriates living in the US. Many of these blogs contained a series of external links to

other expat blogs, which I was able to follow to access an even broader sampling of

blogs. Each blog was briefly scanned and evaluated with regard to a number of factors,

such as the age and written ability of the subjects, the extent to which attitudes and


notions of identity were expressed in the posts, the level of frequency at which subjects

posted, the subjects' length of residence in the US and the length of each post.

It was necessary that the blogs chosen reflected the thoughtful insights, opinions

and analyses of educated adults over the age of eighteen who had not previously lived in

the US and been Americanized at a young age. This ensured the quality of the data and

that I would be able to do an in-‐depth assessment of the subjects' identities and

language attitudes at the time of writing. Older subjects are also more likely to be aware

of their linguistic behavior and use particular British and American variants for specific

purposes (Siegel, 2010). In order to follow the progression of the subjects' attitudes,

identity and language use from their time of arrival to the end of the two year mark, the

subjects needed to have lived in the US for at least two years and have posted at a

relatively frequent rate throughout those two years (i.e. at least two posts per month). I

chose the two-‐year time span as a way of making sure that migrants would have at least

encountered all features of the American dialect by the final entries. It is also highly

possible that subjects had completed the acquisition process by the end of this period,

since Chambers (1992) suggests “dialect acquirers make most of the lexical

replacements they will make in the first two years” (p. 680). However, the majority of

previous studies have indicated that there is no real correlation between dialect

acquisition and the length of residence (Siegel, 2010), so there was no guarantee that a

dialect shift would be visible in the blog. Finally, I required that the majority of blog

posts consisted of at least 500 words to maximize the probability that I would find a

sufficient number of linguistic variables.

A summary of the characteristics of the authors of the blogs I included in my final

selection is presented in Table 1.


Table 1. Characteristics of subjects

Blog 1 Blog 2 Blog 3 Blog 4 Blog 5

Sex M M F F F

Est. age 35 45 35 30 35

Time of arrival 2007 2011 2009 2013 2010

City of residence in US New York Florida New York Georgia Illinois

Intention to stay Yes Yes No Yes Yes

Since multiple studies have shown there to be no statistically significant

difference between men and women as far as SDA, it was not a requirement that I use

an even amount of both sexes. However, both sexes are represented in my final

selection with two males and three females, as shown in Table 1. The ages of each

subject could only be estimated due to the fact this information is commonly excluded

or vaguely insinuated in blogs. Table 1 also shows that the subjects were residing in

four very different regions of the US, which was beneficial in that it allowed me to gain

different perspectives on the aspects of American culture that were accentuated in

these particular regions and these subjects' reactions to them. Whether the subjects

intended to stay in the US is important to mention as it may have had an effect on their

motivation to integrate. I could not provide any further identifying information,

including the actual names of the subjects or their blog user-‐names, for the reasoning

outlined in the following section.

3.1.1. Ethics. There has been no real consensus about whether researchers must

have authorial permission from subjects to record their posts. However, Hookway

(2008) argues that “there is a strong case for blog researchers to adopt the 'fair game-‐

public domain' position” (p. 105). From this perspective, blog content is freely available

to the public and as such should be treated in a similar way to television content or art

pieces in a public gallery. Furthermore, users who do not desire their content to be


apart of the public domain or reproduced have the option of setting their blog to

“private,” thereby negating the opposing argument that all personal blogs are private.

As this study did not require that I contact the subjects, I have taken the “fair game”

position by waiving the use of consent forms. However, in order to preserve the

anonymity of subjects who would not want to be recognized from this study, I have also

adopted a policy of “moderate disguise” which allows researchers to record quotes as

long as identifiable information is taken out or disguised (Bruckman, 2002, p. 229). This

policy thus favors identity protection over crediting the author (Hookway, 2008).

3.2. Data Collection

After collecting five relevant blogs, I proceeded to copy and paste two years

worth of blog entries into separate Word documents. From an initial reading of the

blogs I was able to determine which of the types of linguistic variables that distinguish

British and American English could be found and coded within the posts.

3.2.1. The linguistic variables. Although the most distinguishable type of

variable that divides the two dialects is phonological, I could not examine this in a

written text. I was able, however, to note the subjects' attitudes towards this type of

feature in a qualitative manner later on. What was immediately apparent in the posts

was the subjects' frequent use of American lexical variants, which is unsurprising due to

lexical differences being easily recognizable by “all speakers of the varieties concerned

without any linguistic training or analysis” (Trudgill, 1986, p. 25). In general, lexical

variants are also the first to be acquired (Chambers, 1992). I also discovered a large

amount of American orthographical variants in all of the blogs. This type of variable also

strongly differentiates British and American English, but has been under-‐researched

with regard to SDA due to researchers primarily concentrating on spoken language.

Since there is very little morphological or syntactical variation in the two language


varieties to begin with, I decided to just focus on the use of both lexical and

orthographical variables.

Using relatively comprehensive charts of these variables (see Appendix A and

Appendix B), I then entered each variant into the 'Find' bar in Word to locate all

linguistic tokens that matched a particular variant and color-‐coded them based on what

type of variable they were. Each of the four types of variants (i.e. British lexical, British

orthographical, American lexical and American orthographical) was assigned a specific

color. Once the color-‐coding process was complete, for each post, I counted the number

of each type of variant and calculated the percentages of these types in relation to the

overall number of British and American variables. This allowed me to determine the

degree to which subjects used AmE as opposed to BrE in a single post. These

percentages are what I later used to create graphs showing language change over time.

The total number of variables found in each blog as well as the number of words and

posts I worked through are given in Table 2.

Table 2. Characteristics of analyzed data


Time frame

2 yrs 2 yrs 2 yrs 2 yrs 2 yrs

# of posts 160 50 85 96 55

Total word count in blog

88049 31834 58961 84870 45336

Average word count per post

550 636 693 884 824

Total BrE & AmE Variables 1145 324 767 1034 492

3.2.2. Locating attitudes and identity. In order to assess the subjects' attitudes

in the blog, I first collected quotes from each post that conveyed the subjects' views on

American society, including American people and culture, as well as on AmE. I used

these quotes to do both a quantitative and qualitative analysis. Based on my


interpretation of how favorably or unfavorably these aspects of America were treated in

the quotes, I labeled each post highly positive (+2), positive (+1), neutral (0), negative (-‐

1), highly negative (-‐2) for each type of attitude separately. If a post did not contain any

quotes related to either attitude, the post was determined to be neutral. After

completing this process and realizing there were too few posts overtly expressing the

subjects' attitudes towards AmE, I decided against using this quantitative data. The

results for this type of attitude were better expressed using qualitative measures.

In addition to pulling attitude-‐related quotes throughout the blogs, I recorded

any and all information that revealed the influence of the subjects' habitus and that

related to their national identity. I first organized all of these quotes in a Word

document in chronological order, stating from which post they came and later divided

up the quotes thematically as they related to each main concept dealt with in this thesis.

Once I had collected both the quantitative and qualitative data, I produced a

series of graphs in order to demonstrate the chronological progression of subjects'

linguistic habits in relation to their changing attitudes to American society. These

graphs give the percentages of British versus American linguistic variants in each post

and show whether the attitude in each post was highly positive (+2), positive (+1),

neutral (0), negative (-‐1), or highly negative (-‐2). The thick black line in each graph

represents the progression of this attitude. One type of graph deals only with the use of

lexical variables, another only with orthographical variables and the last type with the

overall use of AmE by showing both types of variables together.

Finally, I determined whether there was a statistically significant correlation

between these attitudes to American society and the subjects' linguistic behavior by

using the Pearson product-‐moment correlation coefficient.


4. Findings and Data Analysis

4.1. The Influence of Attitudes

The following chapter provides a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the

extent to which each subject used American lexical and orthographical variables in their

blogs and whether this has a relationship to their language attitudes. Within my

qualitative discussions, I also include instances where each subject noted the role of

their habitus in the development of their attitudes. In the last section, I present a

statistical analysis of the correlation between the use of American linguistic variants

and the subjects' attitude to American society.

4.1.1. Blog 1: 35 year-old male.

4.1.1.1. Language use. As seen in Figure 2 and Figure 3, this subject consistently

uses a high degree of American lexical variants throughout the entire blog – about 69.5

percent overall – with no visibly significant increase or decrease over time. Just six of

the 160 posts contained only British variants while 54 posts comprised of only

American variants.


Figure 2. The ratio of British to American lexical variants in relation to the attitude to American society for Blog 1, post # 1-‐80 (see Figure 3 for post # 81-‐160).



Figure 4 and Figure 5, however, show his very minimal and sporadic use of

American orthographical variants at just 29.6 percent on average. There are no

significant changes or patterns in his use.



Figure 5. The ratio of British to American orthographical variants in relation to the attitude to American society for Blog 1, post # 81-‐160 (see Figure 4 for post # 1-‐80).

In Figure 6 and Figure 7, there appears to be a slight increase in his use of BrE.

Notably, in eight of the first 80 posts, he uses entirely AmE whereas none of the posts

contain just BrE. The second half of the posts (the last 80) only contain three posts with

all AmE variants while four have only BrE. His overall use of AmE, nonetheless, is still

higher at an average of 56.5 percent.


Figure 6. The ratio of British to American total variables in relation to the attitude to American society for Blog 1, post # 1-‐80 (see Figure 7 for post # 81-‐160).

Figure 7. The ratio of British to American total variables in relation to the attitude to American society for Blog 1, post # 81-‐160 (see Figure 6 for post # 1-‐80).

4.1.1.2. Attitude to American society. This subject's attitude to American

society appears to fluctuate continuously, though his general attitude, which averages


out to -‐0.51, is negative. There is a period in the beginning and middle wherein he

demonstrates more extreme negative views about America, but his attitude improves in

a large chunk of the later posts (between Posts 118 and 128 as well as between Posts

144 and 150). Just as his general attitude fails to correlate with his strong use of AmE,

the positive development of his attitude parallels a greater amount of BrE rather than a

decrease. This result could actually reflect his fear of becoming too American and need

to reassert his British identity (see Section 4.2).

The subject's more adverse views developed in spite of the fact that his

experience of America before living there was largely shaped by positive associations

with American television:

US telly played an unquestionable (although on some level, highly questionable) role in my cultural upbringing. . . . More than anything, it was US sitcoms that I loved. Whether it was Willis in Diff’rent Strokes, Balki in Perfect Strangers, or Becky in Roseanne, I took deep into my life the characters that appeared on my screen every week. (Post 148)

In referring to America's early influence on him as “questionable,” he reveals

how since migrating and gaining a more intimate, close-‐up perspective, he has re-‐

evaluated his positive previous conceptions (i.e. habitus) in favor of a more critical

view.

What positive posts were found throughout the blog were primarily written to

deny this subject's negative feelings about the US, despite the fact that the majority of

his posts criticize various aspects of the country, such as its politics, food, religion,

customer service and culture of consumerism, among other things. In Post 16, he calls

America his “adopted country,” implying that he has taken on the country as his own,

but yet he still cannot help infusing this disclaimer with a negative critique of the

American president and the eating habits of Americans:


A few people have asked me why my blog sometimes comes across as anti-‐American, given that I’ve made an active decision to live and work here. And the simple answer is that I’m not remotely anti-‐American. While it may have a morally dubious leader, and an alarming ability to turn fast food into a way of life, I actually have deep affection for my adopted country. (Post 16)

In Post 68, nearly a year into his time in the US, he states that the entire purpose

of the blog is to be “an affectionate love note to my adopted home” and that his

complaints are his way of “gently teasing America in the same way that most kids used

to pull the hair of the classmate they thought was prettiest at school.” His self-‐perceived

attitude can thus be clearly distinguished from his observed attitude and behavior. It

can be inferred then that there is a correlation between his high use of AmE and the

positive attitude that he perceives himself to have. As noted by Bern (1968), a person’s

self-‐perceived attitude can exist parallel to an attitude interpreted by observers (see

Section 2.2.1).

4.1.1.3. Attitude to American English. In general, this subject maintains a highly

negative view of AmE, especially with regard to lexicography and phonology. Therefore,

there is no relationship between this type of attitude and his language use either.

Towards the beginning of the blog in Post 16, he shows a strong aversion to acquiring

the language by stating “if I ever get used to saying cellphone or garbage can, something

has gone horribly horribly wrong.” He does, however, explain that despite his dislike of

the language, he still knowingly uses AmE out of obligation: “The Special One and I have

just made our way back from the supermarket, or the grocery store as I now apparently

have to call it (though always through gritted teeth, and with two fingers crossed

behind my back)” (Post 42). However reluctant he is to use American lexical variants

such as grocery store in place of British variants like supermarket, he clearly feels it

necessary (see Section 4.3.1.2). This attitude does not change, as in one of the last posts,

he claims that while immersing in American culture is acceptable, using American


vocabulary is not: “Being able to explain the nuances of baseball while sitting in a bar

watching the Yankees play the Mets is a healthy sign of assimilation; using words such

as ‘geez’ or ‘awesome’ without the faintest sense of tongue in cheek irony is a step too

far” (Post 155).

He continually critiques American pronunciation as well, even going so far as to

say his “greatest fear as an expat is losing my accent” (Post 155). These attitudes are

mirrored by his family and friends, who he claims “regularly threaten to bring down all

manner of violence on me if they ever hear even the slightest indication of a mid-‐

Atlantic twang” (Post 82). The only entry that concedes there is at least logic to the

structure of the American dialect is Post 115, where he states that taking out letters and

simplifying language makes “a certain amount of sense. After all, who really needs the

extra ‘a’ in anaesthetic? Language should, I guess, be made to fit our needs and ease,

rather than being rigidly rule-‐ or tradition-‐based.” Thus, his rejection of AmE may not

be a reflection of a traditional belief in the long-‐held prestige of BrE and rigid linguistic

rules, but of a fear that he will no longer belong to his previous social groups or be

accepted by his family.

4.1.2. Blog 2: 45 year-old male.

4.1.2.1. Language use. It is evident from Figure 8 that there is no noticeable

change in the amount of lexical variables that this subject uses. Although there looks to

be roughly an even amount of British and American lexical variants throughout the blog,

his average use of American lexical items is slightly less, totaling at 42.5 percent.


Figure 8. The ratio of British to American lexical variants in relation to the attitude to American society for Blog 2.

As seen in Figure 9, the overall ratio of British to American orthographical

variants is very nearly equal at 51.3 to 49.7 percent. However, there is a brief peak

between Post 9 and Post 27 where he uses a greater amount of American orthography

than in other periods.


Figure 9. The ratio of British to American orthographical variants in relation to the attitude to American society for Blog 2.

Like the two previous graphs, Figure 10 similarly shows a lack of dialect shift

and, more or less, an even amount of American and British variants, his total use of AmE

averaging out to 46 percent.


Figure 10. The ratio of British to American total variables in relation to the attitude to American society for Blog 2.

4.1.2.2. Attitude to American society. The fact that this subject uses slightly less

American than British English does appear to correspond to his negative attitude

towards America. However, as his attitude is so overwhelmingly negative, with extreme

lows up until Post 37, his use of AmE should be far less for the correlation to be highly

significant. Additionally, the period where he uses more American orthographical

variants does not coincide with any positive posts. It is also notable that in his one

positive post in the entire blog, he uses only BrE.

This subject explains that his optimism and openness towards experiencing a

new culture was shattered after a bad first impression:

I fancied the adventure of a major life change . . . My idea of the embassy was somewhat romantic, however. In my mind’s eye, it was a rather grand place, a hangout for sophisticated diplomats . . . The reality was rather different, of course. The building looked somewhat grim and grey from the outside, with only the famous eagle attached to the front to give it any gravitas. (Post 2)

From this point, he spent the bulk of his posts discussing the cultural differences

between American and Britain, only to conclude that Britain is far superior. For


example, he states in Post 16: “In general terms, I must say that British politics seems

rather civilized compared to the raging cauldron of hate that is often modern American

politics.” His negativity appears to stem from an inability to comprehend the quirks of

American culture that differ from Britain, claiming that even “after a year of living in the

USA, I quite often feel that I understand it less now than I did when I arrived” (Post 31).

Like the first subject, however, he does not perceive himself to be as negative as

he comes across, asserting in Post 32: “My feelings about the USA are pretty mixed, I

love some things and don’t like others, but despite, or maybe because of the

ambivalence, I do find it a fascinating and exciting place.” Therefore, his claim of

neutrality towards American society does actually correlate to his relatively even use of

American and British English.

4.1.2.3. Attitude to American English. Though initially this subject appears to

take a more negative view of AmE, declaring in a note to himself “Do not attempt to

pronounce oregano the way that the Americans do” (Post 7), he later claims to have a

more favorable attitude. He criticizes pretentious British attitudes towards language in

general and as result of having always spoken a stigmatized, non-‐standard variety of

BrE, esteems America's more democratic approach to language:

I never really minded Americanisms appearing in Britain and I would hate there to ever be some sort of national council sitting to decide the official rules for what words can and can’t be officially used, as happens in France. . . . I am also generally skeptical of anti American English opinions expressed in the UK and suspect that they are rooted in snobbery. . . . One possible reason for my own relaxed attitude to English is that I grew up speaking with a regional accent and back in the 1970s, when received English (“BBC English”) was still seen by some as the “proper” way to talk. In the class-‐ridden UK, regional accents were generally looked down upon, which I resented . . . I think it made me more sympathetic to the attitudes towards language found in the “New World” countries, with their generally more egalitarian approach. (Post 26)

His approval of America's ideals about language does not necessarily equate to a

positive attitude to all aspects of American language in itself. However, his remarks


about feeling “relaxed” and “sympathetic” towards languages in combination with his

opposition to Anti-‐American sentiments suggest that he likely perceives AmE from a

more neutral perspective, which does correspond to his relatively even use of American

and British English.

4.1.3. Blog 3: 35 year-old female.

4.1.3.1. Language use. This subject uses only slightly more American than

British lexical variants overall at 55.7 percent, but as seen in Figure 11, her use

fluctuates somewhat over time. There is a gradual increase in the use of these variants

from the beginning entries up until Post 25, after which her use significantly decreases

from Post 40 to 55 and then increases again in the last set of posts.


With regard to the orthographical variables in Figure 12, however, she hardly

uses American variants at all (only 9 percent on average), a result which may reflect the

fact that she may not have acquired much of this aspect of AmE.



Throughout the majority of the blog, her use of American orthographical variants

appears to be random. This strong lack of orthographical variants significantly lowered

her average use of AmE to 41.5 percent. Nevertheless, the modest increase of overall

American variants in the second half of the blog shown in Figure 13 suggests that she

may be in the process of acquiring more American variants.



4.1.3.2. Attitude to American society. The SDA process could very well be

spurred on by her generally positive attitude towards American society, which averages

out to +0.26. There does not seem to be a correlation between this attitude and her

overall language use, neither does her increased use of AmE in the end posts

correspond to a larger number of positive posts. In fact, posts that show increased use

of lexical variants in the first half of the blog, rather than paralleling positive attitudes,

actually precede them, a result that does not follow any logic. However, in an inspection

of posts later than the two-‐year period after she has acquired more variants, the

correlation could be more significant.

Despite her general positivity, this subject goes through two short periods (Post

19 to 25 and Post 61 to 68) where she consistently expresses negative attitudes,

primarily towards the American mantra “bigger is better” since as she states, the British

tend to resisting going “over the top” (Post 23). These periods are rendered relatively


trivial, however, by her claims of “loving the country” and being exceedingly happy to

live in it.

From the beginning she expresses an openness and desire to immerse in

American culture: “Back home, we ate barbequed ribs and hot dogs on the porch, and

watched the Manhattan fireworks on TV, to a soundtrack of patriotic American songs. I

think perhaps we are becoming indoctrinated.....” (Post 8). This early immersion is what

appears to lead to her feelings of positivity and belief that America “really does feel like

home now. . . . crossing the Throgs Neck Bridge back to Long Island, the landscape

seemed familiar and friendly” (Post 27).

While the graphs do not indicate any attitude change from her arrival to a year

in, the subject perceives a change in herself, stating with regard to America's

celebration of July 4th, “if you'd asked me a year ago, I probably would have been quite

cynical about American parading and flag-‐waving. But it seemed entirely appropriate,

and, I have to say, was great fun. Americans know how to celebrate in style” (Post 53).

The cynical attitudes are not overtly reflected in her earliest posts.

This change is mentioned again when she reveals that her habitus is likely to

have caused negativity and misconceptions about America, as evidenced by its role in

her initial resistance to sending her kids to an American summer camp:

When I signed up to the boys' new kindergarten I was asked whether I would be interested in sending them to 'summer camp'. I automatically said no. . . . I admit, I had images of kids in dormitories, being forced to swim in lakes and chop up wood – gleamed from 70s Disney films . . . About 50 different camps . . . have converged on the beach for a free concert. They're having a fantastic time, singing, dancing, mucking around. . . . So am I a total fool, I wonder, opting to spend the summer chasing after my children with a sunscreen bottle?” (Post 11).

After one year, having reformulated many of her previous conceptions about

America, she reports to have “come around to the idea of summer camp” (Post 58) and

proceeds to send her children to one. This shows that her perceived attitude change


may mirror her inclination to further assimilate. Like the first two blogs, this perceived

attitude, which in this case is increasingly positive, also corresponds to her increase in

American language use and perhaps her acquisition of the dialect.

4.1.3.3. Attitude to American English. In the same way she recognized a change

in her cultural attitudes to America, she saw a change in her attitudes towards the

American dialect, pronunciation in particular. In one of her early posts, she expresses a

fear that her children will begin to sound American after building social networks in

school:

The boys will make new friends, people from nursery that I don't know, and probably start speaking with American accents. Already little words are creeping in ... (I feel sad about this – I like their little British accents and would really quite like to be Mummy, not Mommy, for a bit longer.) (Post 18).

Far later, however, in Post 75 she reacts more favorably to the idea of her sons

picking up American accents, remarking that “Funnily enough, this no longer bothers

me. So what if they sound like little Yankees.” This may not exactly be classified as a

positive statement, but it shows a more favorable attitude than previously. Where she

discusses her own use of AmE, she shows that she holds mixed views to different lexical

variants:

While there are some American words I’ve picked up pretty quickly, there are some words I still can’t bring myself to say. . . . there are some words I’ve been forced to adopt. . . . I’m trying desperately to exchange ‘pavement’ for ‘sidewalk’, or I’ll be thought of as a really bad mother. Because here, when I tell the boys to ‘get back on the pavement,' I’m actually telling them to stand on the road (Post 30).

She thus feels obligated to use the dialect so as not to distinguish herself from

other American mothers in a negative sense. Her feelings of obligation combined with

her improved attitude towards AmE may contribute to the explanation of the change in

her language behavior in the blog.



4.1.4.1. Language use. Though more posts towards the end of this blog have

only American variants, Figure 14 reveals that the blog contains a high degree of

American lexical items all throughout, averaging at 63.2 percent.


As seen in Figure 15, this subject uses a very low percentage of American

orthographical variants up until Post 61 when she steadily includes more and more

American variants. By her final few posts, she uses almost purely American variants.

Again, this could be evidence of the acquisition of more dialectal variants during her

second year abroad.



Regarding her overall use of AmE, as shown in Figure 16, there is a visible spike

from Post 32 to 47, which then decreases slightly before gradually increasing again in

the second half of her blog.



4.1.4.2. Attitude to American society. The increases in her use of AmE, both

overall and with regard to the orthographical variants, do not directly correspond to

any changes in this subject’s attitudes to American society. On the whole, the blog

contains a large number of posts expressing extreme positivity, the subject's general

attitude averaging out to be +0.90. Indeed, there are only nine out of 86 entries that

reveal her more negative views, five of which are found towards the end of the blog.

The extreme negativity in these posts can be attributed to the fact that she

created them in fulfillment of her commenters' requests to reveal both what she loves

and hates about living in America. These posts, labeled “5 Things I Hate about being an

Expat in America” were thus dedicated to expressing her more negative attitudes.

Notably though, in the beginning of each post, she uses a disclaimer like the following:

“Hate is a strong word. When I say hate I don’t mean it, it’s more like the things I find

different/that annoy me/that I miss about good old England!” (Post 59). She also

attempts to reassure her audience of her positivity, stating with emphasis “I LOVE it

here! There are just some differences I find weird/difficult to get to grips with!” (Post

59). The subject is thus ensuring that the negative posts are not interpreted as her

general attitude.

Even before coming to America, this subject had very favorable views of the

country and an openness to a new cultural experience: “Did I think twice about moving

to the big, huge land across the pond…erm NOPE! I was up for that…new adventures, a

hot, sunny summer in the land of the free – hell yes!” (Post 1). She credits these views to

the American films she was exposed to growing up in Britain, which glamorize

American life: “Oh how I love a marching band! These are something we don’t get in the

UK and I’ve always wanted to see one, again because of the movies!” (Post 79).


After already living in America for a few weeks, she even referred to the process

of getting her visa as a step closer to achieving the “American dream” (Post 22), a

concept revolving around the idea that living in America allows people to gain wealth

and happiness no matter their previous identity or social status. Clearly, this subject

shares in the opinion that a number of Britons have assumed since the 1920s about

America being the ideal (see Section 2.3.1).

Many of her posts also show that both she and her husband take and indeed

enjoy every opportunity to assimilate into American society:

Yep we can immerse ourselves in the American culture and check out the 4th of July parade and things like Braves, Hawks and Falcons games. Yep we can explore the delights of Georgia and head to places like Stone Mountain, the Georgia Aquarium, the mountains and Lake Lanier that we would never have seen if we’d have stayed in the UK. . . . we can drive down the road for a few hours (well about 8!) and we get to the beautiful beaches of Florida and chow down on some of the most amazing American food ever!” (Post 27).

She considers it necessary as an expatriate to embrace the culture or else risk

being an outsider, an idea she reiterates continuously throughout the blog and again in

her overview of her first two years in the US:

There is no way you could live the British lifestyle and fit in with your surroundings. You could try but I’m pretty sure you’d feel a little alienated. You need to head out to those American gatherings, play some beer pong, eat out every night (well maybe not every night but our time in restaurants has definitely increased) and embrace your new home (Post 96).

Her inclination to integrate with American society as well as her intense

enjoyment and acceptance of American cultural practices are likely to be indirectly

leading to her further acquisition and use of the American language variety.

4.1.4.3. Attitude to American English. This subject's views on AmE generally

match her positive cultural attitude, though they are not expressed as overtly. In one

blog entry, even though she thought it wrong to refer to her British mother with the

American lexical item momma rather than mummy, she felt inclined to use it because


she “thought it sounded better” (Post 24). This shows her preference for using an

American variant even when the use of it threatens her British identity.

This favorable attitude can also be detected in the multiple entries she spends

lamenting the fact that despite being motivated to learn the American dialect, she has

difficulties acquiring certain words:

I actually think the American word is better in this situation, I mean, a cart seems to describe the aim of the device better than a trolley, right? . . . 18 months in and I’m attempting to get the hang of going to the gas station instead of the petrol station and I do often use gas instead of petrol but I still struggle and the word doesn’t come out of my mouth as easily as petrol does. . . . It’s hard when you’ve used the same words for so long! (Post 83)

It appears that certain British variants like trolley and petrol are too ingrained

into her speech habits, a problem that previous studies have proven are likely to do

with her age since at 30, she is no longer in a stage where language learning comes

easily and naturally (see Section 2.1.). Her favorable attitude and motivation to learn the

dialect are also what Gardner (1985) would argue were more direct factors in

prompting her increased use and acquisition of the dialect.


4.1.5.1. Language use. Figure 17 shows that this subject's use of American

lexical variants is both strong – averaging at about 61.2 percent – and varied. There is

no recognizable pattern or change of habits.



She uses considerably fewer American orthographical variants (only 21.6

percent), as seen in Figure 18, and again, relatively the same amount from the beginning

to the end of the blog with the exception of two posts (Post 34 and Post 42). These are

the only two instances where she uses only American variants.



Altogether, as seen in Figure 19, her use of AmE – despite averaging out to be

54.1 percent – seems to decrease slightly in the last 20 posts. Only two of the 55 posts

(Post 3 and Post 15) are fully American and they are found towards the beginning of the

blog. Like the author of Blog 1, this subject seems to be suppressing her use of AmE and

perhaps resisting acquisition.



4.1.5.2. Attitude to American society. With only ten out of 55 positive posts

overall, this subject's general attitude to American society is negative, averaging out to

-‐0.53. This negativity does not correlate to her tendency to use more AmE. Throughout

the blog, her attitude fluctuates to a large degree and seems to significantly worsen

following Post 22 and very slightly improve in a few of the end posts. This can be

explained by how shortly after arriving, she wrote a series of positive entries about her

desire to engage in some American cultural practices, such as cooking and dressing up

for Halloween, as well as her approval of the friendly approach Americans take towards

strangers:

In four days we were offered no fewer than four rides, twice by perfect strangers, once they realised we didn’t have a car. . . . It is genuinely touching how kind Americans can be, and how willing to give you rides in situations where British people would never think of offering. (Post 18)

In Post 23, her resentment about moving to a new country seems to set in:

“Evanston is a rubbish place to get a drink. The only nice bar is the Celtic Knot, and


that’s an Irish pub, which seems a bit wrong for the would-‐be embracer of the American

experience.” In calling herself a “would-‐be” embracer she is showing that her skepticism

of America has caused her to resist fully adjusting to the culture and to continually seek

out reminders of home like British establishments, which she perceives as better than

the American ones. As she continues to face challenges such as finding new friends, a job

and getting pregnant without the same healthcare benefits as in the UK, her attitude to

America remains extremely negative for some time. She even claims that while before

she felt that British and American cultures were very similar, her pregnancy made her

feel differently: “the more I find out about American approaches to birth and babies, the

more I realise how different the two countries’ cultures are” (Post 35). Once she gives

birth, however, her attitude shifts again:

I am now a much happier expat than before I gave birth. . . . But what I mean by ‘happier’ is that I’m not feeling nearly so resentful of living abroad. . . . Could it be that by having the major life experience of giving birth here I’ve finally become a proper expatriate? By which I mean, I suppose, that I’ve become a resident alien, rather than someone tapping my foot waiting for the next plane out. Somewhere in the midst of the sleep deprivation I have let down my guard and accepted that my life is actually happening here, in America. (Post 45)

This subject perceives herself as having had consistently negative feelings

towards living in America that only improved after coming to terms with the American

lifestyle and her place in American society. The result that she uses less AmE in her final

posts does not at all correspond to her increased attitude.

4.1.5.3. Attitude to American English. Though this subject rarely expresses her

attitude towards American language, when she does, it is generally negative. Despite

preferring to use the American lexical variant sneakers over trainers in Post 2, she calls

it a “ludicrous word.” In a later post, she comments on the difficulties of shopping in

America as an expat who is unaware of all the linguistic differences between the two

English dialects:


In American baby shops, you have to learn a whole new language: buggies are strollers, cribs are bassinets, cots are cribs, babygros are onesies and nappies are diapers. Thus far I have not been able to bring myself to say any of these words out loud; if this condition persists we will have to do a lot of internet shopping. (Post 33)

Her strong reluctance to speak AmE, even when it is necessary to be understood,

shows her closed way of dealing with differences and suggests that she may be inwardly

harboring linguistic prejudices.

Towards the end of the blog, after participating in birthing classes, she criticizes

both American language and culture: “The American practice of calling your partner as

a ‘coach’, when he is generally even more clueless than you are about the whole birth

thing, is deeply irritating to me and more than a mere linguistic quirk” (Post 42).

This comment indicates that she might believe the American system to be sexist,

due to the fact that it uses language to elevate the role of males and give them a

leadership position where it is undeserved. This in turn leads to negative feelings about

the language variety as well. Her attitude does not have any particular correlation to her

overall even use of British and American English, nor her behavioral change in the final

posts.

4.1.6. Correlation coefficients. A Pearson product-‐moment correlation

coefficient was computed to assess the relationship between each of the subjects'

attitudes to American society and their use of American variants. Table 3 reveals that

while none of the blogs showed a negative relationship between these two aspects,

there is still no or a very negligible correlation. The only blog that very nearly exhibits a

positive relationship is Blog 2, but this may be due to the fact that it contains a limited

amount of posts (50 in total) by which an accidental correlation is statistically more

likely. The significance of each correlation, as represented by the p-‐values, was also


calculated; however, due to the relatively low r-‐values, an interpretation of these values

is inconsequential.

Table 3. Correlation of attitudes to American society to...


Am. lexical variants r = .03 (p > .63) r = .10 (p < .46) r = .08 (p > .41) r = .12 (p < .21) r = .04 (p < .73)

Am. orthographical variants r = .06 (p < .41) r = .16 (p > .25) r = .02 (p > .79) r = .06 (p < .53) r = .01 (p < .91)

Am. English overall r = .00 (p > .98) r = .19 (p < .17) r = .09 (p > .39) r = .09 (p < .36) r = .02 (p > .83)

4.1.7. Summary. With regard to the linguistic behavior of the subjects, they

generally used an even amount of British and American English, most subjects tending

to favor American variants slightly more. Their adoption of American lexical variants

proved to be especially strong while their use of orthographical variants was so low that

it significantly brought down the average of the total use of the variables, especially

with Blog 3. All subjects used American variants from the very beginning of their blogs,

revealing that they had acquired some aspects of AmE even before migrating, a result

that reflects the influence of globalization. The increased use of AmE in Blog 3 and Blog

4 indicate that SDA might be underway, a process that could be instigated by both

subjects' generally positive attitudes. Based on the graphs, it looks as if only two of the

subjects (Blog 2 and Blog 4) exhibited an overall attitude to American society that

showed a positive (though weak) relationship to their use of AmE throughout the blog.

Blog 4 contained a consistent amount of positive posts which corresponded to an

overall use of AmE that slightly exceeded her use of BrE, while Blog 2 primarily

contained negative posts which also weakly correlated to the fact that the author used a

smaller percentage of American than British English. The statistical analysis of the

correlation coefficients supported the observation that there is no real significant


correlation between this type of attitude – once operationalized – and linguistic

behavior.

Additionally, none of the attitude changes concerning American society – as

detected in the posts and presented in the graphs – correspond to any language shifts.

However, four of the five subjects (Blogs 1 to 4) revealed attitudes that they perceived

themselves to have which were not reflected in their blog posts and more positively

corresponded to their language use. The author of Blog 1, which showed the strongest

use of AmE, contradicted the majority of his more critical blog posts, stating that he had

extremely warm and favorable feelings towards America. The self-‐perceived attitudes in

Blog 2 and Blog 3 similarly negated the attitudes projected in the blog. In fact, the

author of Blog 3 stated that she perceived herself as having a more positive attitude a

year into her time living in America that correlated to an increase in her use of AmE.

Despite his consistently negative posts, the author of Blog 2 claimed to enjoy living in

America and that he generally has mixed views on its culture, a more neutral view that

matches his nearly equal use of the two dialects throughout the blog.

This finding through the qualitative analysis brought to light some of the

complications of attempting to translate interpreted attitudes into numerical values

without the aid of the subjects themselves. A future experiment on language attitudes

and behavior in blogs would benefit from including the subject's input. One means of

improving this study's accuracy, for example, would be to examine the blogs as they are

being written, occasionally or even frequently sending the subjects questionnaires to

more directly gain information about their attitudes. Using the questionnaires in

accompaniment with the researcher's interpretation of the blogs would ensure that the

subject's actual attitudes at the time of writing were not misconstrued.


As far as the subjects' attitudes to AmE, three of the five blogs (Blogs 2 to 4)

exhibited attitudes that matched their linguistic behavior. In addition to her more

positive attitude, the author of Blog 4 showed that her high level of motivation was also

a contributing factor to her SDA and language use. Blog 3 was the only blog that showed

a change in this type of attitude over time, which also corresponded to this subject’s

increased use of AmE. The other blogs either did not contain enough information to

show any significant changes or consistently expressed the same language attitude.

Thus, there appears to be a more positive relationship between this type of attitude and

language use.

Finally, regarding the role of the habitus, two of the subjects (the authors of Blog

3 and Blog 5) stated that the previous conceptions they had developed about America

through their families or television had morphed after living in the US for some time.

The other subjects (the authors of Blog 1, Blog 2, and Blog 4) strongly maintained their

previous views as a result of still being deeply connected with their families, community

and culture back home, a concept explored further in the next section.

The following two sections also provide explanations for why the authors of Blog

1 and Blog 5 continued to use a high degree of AmE despite their unfavorable language

attitudes concerning both American society and language.

4.2. Discussions of Identity

This section explores how subjects negotiated their national identities during the

first two years of their time abroad. I expose whether subjects began forming new

American identities by changing their speech habits in the direction of AmE and

participating in American cultural practices or instead, resisted the Americanization of

their British self, attempting where they could to maintain their old and long-‐held

habits. I also show whether subjects were able to fully control and assert their identities


through their language and behavior or if they lacked the agency and appropriate social

networks, thus becoming entrapped in certain practices. By examining the subjects'

desired identity, use of dialectal features, and their self-‐proclaimed involvement in

American society, I am able to show if a mismatch exists between their real and

imagined selves.

4.2.1. Identity in Blog 1. As discussed in the previous section (4.1.1.), the author

of Blog 1 has a very negative attitude towards AmE and yet, frequently uses features of

this variety from the beginning to the end of the blog. He does so knowingly as

evidenced by his consistent habit of showing the full variable and crossing out the

British variant, as in the example: “It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that you’ll go

into a bar on your own . . . and find yourself deep in conversation about footballsoccer”

(Post 15). This subject never actually indicates a desire to take on a more American

identity, which suggests that the use of American variants in his blog is likely for

another purpose (see Section 4.3.1.2. for a detailed discussion).

In fact, in a few of the entries at the beginning of his blog, the subject expresses

his disbelief that he would ever become more American due to his strong aversion to

the use of so-‐called Americanisms like 'waz crackalackin' in his speech. He sarcastically

refers to this American slang phrase as his “favourite” in Post 52:

I quickly Google searched ‘what’s up’ to see if I could shed any light on its origin. My personal favourite though is 'waz crackalackin'. And you wonder why I’m confident that I’m not going to find myself Americaniszed?”

This subject strongly desires to remain British, as his nationality is something he

takes pride in: “I have to say that ‘being British’ is something I enjoy and am proud of”

(Post 121). In order to prevent the process of Americanization, he attempts to continue

immersing himself in British culture through various means, as exemplified by the

following statement:


I’m taking active measures to ensure that [Americanization] never happens, including listening to plenty of podcasts from British radio, and a compulsory three hours of BBC America every week. I’ve even persuaded [my wife] to watch the first series of Spooks with me, having picked the DVD up on a whim at Heathrow Airport. She’s not so keen on the presence of Keeley Hawes, but as I’ve presented it as a means to maintain my British identity, I think I’m going to get away with it. (Post 102)

His wife's support of his attempt to maintain his British identity is also likely to

make it easier for him to indulge in these habits. In multiple posts later on, however,

this subject expresses a fear that his Americanization “may already be under way” (Post

82). This kind of statement usually precedes a discussion of how he unintentionally

inserted an American variant into his spoken language. One example of this is in Post 95

where he relates a story of how he used the American pronunciation zee /ziː/ of the

letter “z” rather than the British pronunciation zed/zɛd/:

Today in a phone conversation with an American colleague, I managed to suggest (without even missing a beat) a series of non-‐specific options by using the phrase “we’ll need to go back to them with ‘ex’, ‘why’ and ‘zee’”. I was part way through the next sentence by the time I realised what I’d done, and had to stop myself and drop a random ‘zed’ into the conversation just to reiterate my Britishness (Post 95).

While he does not feel it necessary to assert his British identity in the blog, he

clearly does beyond the realm of the digital world. In his spoken language, he seems to

lack the agency that he has in his blog with regard to which variant he uses – a side-‐

effect of how instantaneous speech does not allow for editing the way asynchronous

media like blogging does (see Section 2.4.3.2.).

By the end of the blog, this subject shows that he eventually accepts that his

inevitable involvement in some aspects of American culture together with his continued

participation in other more British cultural activities have caused him to form a dual

identity:

The thing about being a British expat in America is that your life becomes a weird meld of cultures and experiences that you create for yourself over a period of time. . . . you accept some alternatives into your heart (baseball is a more than acceptable


summer replacement for cricket) and you reject others (the day I regard corn dogs as OK is the day I pack up and go home). As a result, your life becomes a constant succession of choices as you slowly create your new normality, horse trading with yourself to ensure that you assimilate without losing your sense of where you come from (Post 151).

In attaining an identity that incorporates both national cultures, he can function

within American society without standing out or feeling as though he has completely

compromised himself. The way he code-‐switches between dialects in his blog as well as

(from what I can ascertain from the content of his posts) in his spoken English does

reflect his dual identity.

4.2.2. Identity in Blog 2. Like the author of Blog 1, this subject shows a high

degree of metalinguistic awareness and knowledge of British and American language

differences by purposefully code-‐switching between American and British variants. In

some instances, he uses both dialectal variants of the same variable in a single post by,

for example, putting humor (AmE) into one part of a post and humour (BrE) in another.

With regard to his spoken English, he states that before living in the US he resolved to

“stick to my English pronunciation” and that for the most part, he feels he has done so,

in part as a way of following the maxim of his “hero,” Quentin Crisp, who he quotes as

having said: “the English you sound, the more likely you are to be believed” (Post 19).

Throughout the blog he also discusses how easily he can maintain his British

identity through watching British television programs and even buying British cuisine

in international food markets. In Post 20, it is clear that he finds this to his advantage:

“I'm a migrant in a digital golden age. I can watch what I want to watch and be who I

want to be.” This subject's resistance to using AmE in his speech and engaging in

American cultural practices once again show that his use of American variants in the

blog are not in fact “acts of identity” (Le Page & Tabouret-‐Keller, 1985).


Some of his posts reveal that his inability to relate to American people, due to

their differing or opposing values and beliefs, is a likely cause of his resistance: “In the

US (certainly down here in North Florida) you definitely have the sense that you are the

one who is part of an underdog minority as an atheist” (Post 38). He further states in a

later post that for all expatriates including himself, “suddenly having nobody around us

who shares any of the major experiences from our previous life can be unnerving and

troubling” (Post 44). Overall, this subject appears to hinder an obvious identity shift.

Thus, his frequent use of both American and British variants in his blog is not a

performance of a dual or more American identity. The reasoning for his code-‐switching

is given in the following section (4.3.1.2.).

4.2.3. Identity in Blog 3. The author of Blog 3 shows a strong identity shift that

she welcomes more openly than the first two subjects. In the beginning of the blog, she

focuses on the cultural aspects of America that differentiate the two countries and

essentially make her feel like a “stranger in a strange land” (Post 25). Despite not feeling

like an American, she purports to use AmE from the very beginning, occasionally

showing her knowledge of the differences between the dialects in her apologies for

initially using the British variant: “We turn up late for the estate agent, sorry, realtor”

(Post 2).

Later, however, after becoming accustomed to her new home, this subject claims

to accept her more American identity despite still holding onto some British traditions:

Sometimes I feel as if I am getting the hang of being a Mommy. That's as opposed to an English Mummy, who is blithely ignorant of customs and culture. . . . However, I am still clinging to my Britishness in some regards. … We did not give, or attend, a Superbowl party. . . . We will be having pancakes next Tuesday. According to the internet, cooking up a pancake with lemon and sugar is a firmly British tradition, despite celebrations of Mardi Gras etc. But, I might serve them with maple syrup. After all, when in Rome...... (Post 42)


Her last remark “when in Rome” – a part of an idiom that is commonly followed

by “do as the Romans do” – reveals that her participation in American practices –

perhaps both cultural and linguistic – are a result of the context of living in America

rather than feelings of deep connectedness with the America community.

In certain social situations, she attempts to suppress her British identity so as

not to be misunderstood or draw negative attention to her Britishness:

When people ask me how I am, I often restrain myself from replying 'fine' and answer "I'm good." Which is definitely bad grammar, but doesn't instantly mark me out as a Brit. . . . But I still find myself using the wrong words. . . . I complained to a neighbour the other night about the amount of midges around at the moment. "Midgets?" she spluttered, horrified, no doubt thinking I'd made some horrific un-‐PC faux pass. So, you see, I haven't quite yet gone native. (Post 54)

In being unable to produce the American variant, she shows her lack of agency

with regard to her spoken English. This idea is also supported by her unintentional use

of AmE in some social environments, as seen in the quote below:

I found myself speaking American today at the supermarket, even without realising it. Standing at the deli counter, I ordered 'a half pound of toona salad'. And I said "Can I get" instead of "please can I have", in my polite British accent. But, the man understood everything I said, rather than peering at me as if I was an alien and asking me to repeat myself. I realised that I must have been listening in to what the other deli counter customers say, and attuning myself to it over time......” (Post 54)

This subject appears to be aware of both being in the process of acquiring AmE

and unable to fully manage it. In the end of the blog, she concludes that her identity as a

mother has fully evolved into an Americanized form: “It's finally happened. I am

becoming the sort of American 'mom' who ferries her sons around to endless sports

classes” (Post 71). She has thus taken on a dual identity that – though in some respects

was unintended – she accepts and even facilitates through her active participation in

American society. Her identity shift does match her increased use of AmE seen in

Section 4.1.3.


4.2.4. Identity in Blog 4. This subject reveals her awareness of British and

American linguistic differences by consistently either pointing out that the variant she

used was American or putting the British variant in parentheses beside it, as in the

following examples:

I even directed him to the nearest store (I’m trying to switch to the American lingo so I don’t look like an idiot over here!!) where he could get me one. (Post 2)

Anyway I was told to pull the car up to the curb (very American I know!!) and wait for the examiner. So I did. (Post 7)

On Saturday night the German and I went to the movies! (Yes, I did just say movies and not cinema – I’ve gone all American on your asses!). (Post 54)

These quotes – where she uses the American variants store, curb, and movies –

suggest that she actually is trying to use the language to assert a more American

identity, one that she deems necessary in order to fit in with American society and avoid

negative social consequences.

Context also seems to play a role, as evidenced by her statement in Post 3: “He’s

taking me to the Fox Theater (sorry about the American spelling but seen as though it’s

in America and all that I thought I’d better be American…).” This subject also continually

expresses the importance of integrating into American society – by building a wide

social network of American friends and participating in various types of distinctly

American activities – as much as possible in order to “embrace” the expatriate

experience. By the end of her first year, she states that her and her husband have

already fully “immersed in American life” (Post 55).

Her intention to perform an American identity is mostly successful as she does

use more American variants than British, especially towards the end of her blog when

she changes from using primarily British orthographical variants to American (see

Section 4.1.4.).


4.2.5. Identity in Blog 5. Like the other subjects, this blogger is both aware of

the differences between AmE and BrE and afraid of marking herself as an outsider

through her use of British variants, especially in her spoken language. In one post, she

discusses the way she is unable to hide her accent and how she would rather not speak

at all than receive potentially negative attention for being different:

Another weird self-‐conscious thing I had was the mute phase. Everything would be OK – I could pass as American, I understood how things worked just about well enough – so long as I never opened my mouth to speak. I became acutely aware of that moment when I revealed my Britishness to my interlocutors and saw them do a double take as they adjusted to my accent. And so I tried not to speak. But it didn’t work. (Post 6)

This could also explain her frequent use of American lexical variants in her blog

since the assertion of an American identity cannot. While there are a couple instances

where this subject allegedly claims to have "gone native” after changing some habits –

like working in cafes for hours, which is something she states that British people do

very rarely (Post 20) – in most cases she claims to be too British or “not American

enough” to involve herself in most aspects of American culture. For example, after going

to see the play "Who's afraid of Virginia Wolf?" she and her husband had a negative

reaction, which she attributes to their identities: “maybe we’re just not American

enough for this American classic. But in any event there’s a serious inflation of the

standing ovation going on Chicago” (Post 21).

This subject also indulges in a habit of regularly watching British television like

Masterpiece Theater, about which she states: “I suck it all up very, very happily – even

Lewis – revelling in a comforting weekly dose of Britishness" (Post 28). She thus

refrains from fully experiencing America.

Although she was never exactly pro-‐American, this subject describes in one of

her ending posts how since becoming pregnant, she has never been "as homesick and


irrationally pro-‐British" (Post 33), primarily because she did not want to live without

certain benefits like healthcare that Britain provides. Once she has her baby, she

expresses a fear that child will take on a fully American identity: "Please do NOT

imagine that I have been neglecting blogging because I have a) gone native (I still freeze

in response to the conversational gambit ‘So the baby will be an American!’) or b) lost

all my former scepticism. Oh no. OK, apology over” (Post 41).

For the most part, this subject maintains her British identity, allowing herself to

only accept a few aspects of America and reject most. Her language in the blog does not

reflect this identity.

4.2.6. Summary. All of the subjects have a wide knowledge of the variables that

distinguish British and American English and a metalinguistic awareness that appears

to largely enable them to use the variant of their choice in their blogs. However, they do

not claim to have the same agency in their spoken language as when they are blogging.

The authors of Blog 1 and Blog 3 describe experiences in which they had no control

over the AmE that poured from their mouths. As blogging is an asynchronous form of

communication that can be edited, the bloggers have less of an issue and can think long

about how to construct their posts. With the exception of the author of Blog 4, the other

four subjects convey that they use AmE as a sort of mask by which they can blend in

with their surrounding community. They are not necessarily using the dialect to

perform an "act of identity" wherein they want to identify themselves as Americans and

part of a community to which they are strongly connected. They also appear to believe

that in the context of living in America, it is necessary to use the language of the country.

However, two subjects (Blog 1 and Blog 3) experienced an intentional shift into a more

dual identity that does reflect their linguistic behavior.


The author of Blog 4 greatly differs from the other subjects due to both her

extremely positive attitudes towards America, as seen in Section 4.1.5, and her intense

desire to involve herself in American society as much as possible -‐ including the use of

AmE to be more American -‐ in order to fully enjoy her American experience. Her

embodied of a completely Americanized version of herself also reflects her language

use.

4.3. The Influence of CMC

In this section, I unveil my findings with regard to the audience's ability to affect

how attitudes and discussions of identity emerge in the blogs. I also show the ways

subjects participate in online communities with other expats and how other online

resources impact their migrant experience.

4.3.1. The role of the readership. The readership had a crucial impact on the

way each subject styled their language and monitored their use of British and American

variables. Both the subjects' concepts of their readership as well as the commentary

dictated how open and explicit each subject was with regard to their expression of

attitudes and notions of identity and how the subjects used dialectal features to ensure

the readers' understanding (see Section 2.4.3.3).

4.3.1.1. Style. The majority of the subjects use humor as a means of dampening

the effect of strong, offensive or controversial attitudes in order to continue to appeal to

their readers, as in the following examples:

There’s one easy way to make tourists feel that they’re welcome in this city, and indeed the United States as a whole – do something about those immigration officers. They’re generally the first person that tourists meet once they step foot on American soil, and yet they manage to combine all the charm of a serial killer with the zealous administrative intransigence of a recently-‐jilted Inland Revenue employee. (Blog 1, Post 9)

Don’t forget to leave a tip every time you go to the bar and buy a beer. Remember that the USA is the most generous tipping culture in the world and that they thrust


dollars at people just for looking in their general direction – okay that’s a slight exaggeration. (Blog 2, Post 7)

Got to love the suing culture over here! Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not slating the fact they did this – it’s kind of nice that they’re looking out for you and making sure you know what to do/staying safe. However, it’s really just common sense isn’t it? (Blog 4, Post 43)

By making a joke out of a criticism, they were able to reduce the seriousness of

their attitudinal expressions. In fact, in the complaints continually expressed in Blog 1,

the subject uses humor almost every time. As can be seen in the last quote from Blog 4,

this subject even backtracks from her sarcastic statement by making certain that the

readers do not presume that she is being completely negative.

One of the subjects (the author of Blog 2) discusses how it is necessary to treat

matters of national identity and culture with a certain amount of sensitivity, as the

readership consists of both Britons and Americans with opinions of their own:

There are perils associated with writing a British expat blog. Probably the hardest thing for me sometimes is finding the balance between how you treat your homeland and how you treat your host country. If you appear to treat either of them too unfavourably, people get upset. Even praising one country can appear to damn the other in some eyes. . . . I could, of course, make my opinions . . . as bland as possible and avoid all possibility of controversy, but that’s not me, and frankly, I personally prefer to read an expat blog where someone actually says something. Experiencing the expat blogger’s impressions, opinions, viewpoints is the whole point reading a blog, methinks? (Blog 2, Post 16)

Despite stating his intention to assert his opinions no matter the costs and even

defining these assertions as the purpose of his blog, his admission that he grapples with

“finding a balance” in the way he treats Britain and the US shows that his expressions

are still inevitably influenced by his potential readership. He later affirms that his

avoidance of being “bland” was simply a tactic for appearing more engaging to his

audience:

After a while you also realize that the topic area can be a bit of minefield. That’s because you are dealing with issues of national identity and people can get very passionate about that stuff – hell, people have fought wars over it throughout the ages! . . . My priority has always been to try and make my blog engaging, however,


even if I risk ruffling feathers on occasion, as the thing that I always fear the most is my blog being bland. I do love getting comments from different corners of the world and hearing other experiences and viewpoints and see the comments as being integral to the blog’s success. (Blog 2, Post 22)

Here he notes the possible outrage and negative attention that a mistreatment of

the subject of identity in particular can cause, which is not something he necessarily

wants by being overly forthcoming in his own perceptions. By concluding that the

readers and their commentary are not only significant but “integral” to his blog, he

admits that maintaining a readership is perhaps more important than broaching

identity and culture in an indelicate manner.

The author of Blog 5 is the only subject to initially express a worry about the way

she treats American customs and traditions due to the possible reactions of her

readership, only to completely disregard her intention to remain neutral. The following

example refers to her experience of the traditional American holiday Thanksgiving in

the home of an American family:

Each family supposedly has its own take on a dish of green beans cooked in the oven with some variation on slivered almonds, fried onions and cream of mushroom soup. (Dissing this on a blog can get you into trouble, so I won’t even start.) . . . We were very grateful to be invited to a vegetarian Thanksgiving, and I was reconciled in advance to there being no turkey (or even tofurky), but it was a little disappointing that they didn’t serve the disgusting confection that is sweet potatoes with marshmallow. (Blog 5, Post 16)

Her statement that she would rather not get into “trouble” with her readership

by not criticizing Thanksgiving food is forgotten by the end of the post where she calls

the sweet potatoes a “disgusting confection.” She refuses to change her tone or hide her

attitudes in later posts as well, stating in relation to her negative experience with job

searching in America: “I’m not in the mood to put up with anyone telling me I shouldn’t

have blogged about this, so if you don’t like the sound of it, please stop reading now”

(Blog 5, Post 25). Here the anonymity that the subject is able to maintain – a result of


the lack of physicality in online mediums (see Section 2.4) – is likely to be playing a role

in her indifference to the audience's perceptions and reactions.

4.3.1.2. Dialectal variables. The fact that these subjects conceive of their

readership as being a mix of Britons and Americans is often reflected in their conscious

use of both British and American linguistic variants. In many instances where the

subjects encounter a variable that they know differentiates British and American

English, they try to include both variants in a number of ways, as seen in the examples

below:

I’ve also been sorting out my resume (American for CV!). (Blog 4, Post 12)

So, it seems I’ve taken another unscheduled blogging vacation (holiday for you Brits back home. (Blog 4, Post 81)

In Britain, if a dustbin (trash can) gets rifled, the number one suspect is usually an urban fox. (Blog 2, Post 9)

It isn’t much fun cycling on a main road (what would be called a “dual carriageway” in the UK). (Blog 2, Post 46)

These all appear to be attempts by the subjects to cater to their different

audiences and ensure that readers can understand the text. Some of the subjects

exhibited their obligation to use AmE in the context of living in American and speaking

about their experiences of America by showing the whole variable and crossing out the

British variant – a tactic that is used for both lexical and orthographical variables, as in

the following examples:

Other hours, some well-‐meaning but in practice hugely irritating business would pledge ‘Challenge Funding’ so that if enough was pledged by the public they would write a huge cheque check. (Blog 5, Post 15)

My British CV resume looks pretty eccentric. (Blog 5, Post 38)

The subjects were also seen to initially prefer the British variant, but then

apologize and state the American variant to show their belief that it is necessary to now

use AmE, as the examples below illustrate:


For the uninitiated, this shop -‐ sorry, store -‐ is an Aladdin's cave of household goods. (Blog 3, Post 21)

All so much better than my experiences with Royal Mail, although the queues (sorry LINES) at the Post Office for purchasing stamps are just as long. (Blog 3, Post 34)

In these cases, it is clear that use of the American variants is contextual rather

than preferable from the way that they are italicized or put into all capitals. These

stylistic choices have negative tonal implications.

Two of the subjects (Blog 1 and Blog 2) indicated that their choice of variant is

dependent on who is being addressed. One of these subjects considers it a skill – which

he possesses – to know when and where to use the appropriate language, including

within his blog:

Where I’m most proud is that – unlike Hillary Clinton – I seem to have developed the ability to pick the right word at the right time to suit my audience. (Blog 1, Post 82)

The author of Blog 2, on the other hand, states that in the past, he had difficulties

deciding which variant – especially with regard to orthography – is more appropriate:

One practical problem that I have on an everyday level with regard to the British English vs American English debate is, of course, spelling. When should I use British English spelling, and when should I use American English spelling? This problem is especially profound when it comes to the internet, which has no national boundaries. My solution has been to use American English when my writing is mainly aimed at Americans and British English when my writing is aimed at Brits. And when my writing is aimed at either or both, like with this expat blog, I just spell the words however I like! (Blog 2, Post 26)

He acknowledges the lack of boundaries on the internet to emphasize that

although bloggers have the possibility of gaining a very general audience, they can use

language specifically directed at the readers to whom they think their content applies.

4.3.1.3. Online community. The majority of the subjects' readership that actively

comments and interacts with them consists of other British expats that share similar

experiences or contradict assumptions subjects have made, serving to reshape some of


the subjects' opinions. The author of Blog 2, for example, references his disagreement

with a fellow expat blogger on the subject of religion:

In the USA, religion is big and brassy and most American people are very up front about telling you all about their religion and beliefs. I know that [another blogger] found this approach refreshing, but for me, I must confess that I can find it awkward and I can easily end up smiling and nodding vaguely, as people tell me at length about Jesus and their experience of being saved, or whatever. (Blog 2, Post 29).

Another subject (the author of Blog 3) shows the way her audience changed her

perceptions on the behavior of Americans. She first states in Post 38: “When it's cold,

snowy or even just a little bit chilly, Americans don't appear to take their children

outside. At all.” Then, in the following post she concedes: “Well, it took a trip into

Manhattan to prove what several of the commenters on the previous post pointed out:

Americans in cities DO go out in the cold” (Post 39).

These quotes show the way some of the subjects' posts are essentially part of

conversations with other expatriate bloggers. Together these expats form a social

network that also appears to help foster relationships and identifications to aspects of

the subjects' native community, allowing them to more easily keep each in touch with

their own 'Britishness.' This can be seen in a statement made by the author of Blog 1:

Reading David Hepworth’s blog today, I was struck by a real moment of homesickness. Not because of friends and family, who clearly I always miss being away from. But strangely, considering that I could never be considered particularly patriotic, it was all because of a national anthem. (Blog 1, Post 14)

His indirect interaction with the community of bloggers reminded him of his

heritage and produced a strong feeling of connectedness with his home, thus drawing

him out of his more Americanized life and re-‐imagined self.

4.3.2. The Internet's influence on migrant identity. By allowing these subjects

to have continued contact with their native community, whether through email, social

media (e.g., Facebook), news sites, online video streaming, etc., the Internet gives them


the opportunity to more easily maintain their British identities. All of the subjects

comment on the way they use online resources to stay connected and how it sometimes

keeps them from becoming fully involved with the physical community surrounding

them, as seen in the following examples:

Because of the internet, my news sources regarding the riots in the UK are exactly the same here in the USA as they were in the UK, mainly the BBC and The Guardian online (although I can also get pretty much get any US or UK tv channel or newspaper over the internet). (Blog 2, Post 24)

Technology means the world has certainly grown smaller -‐ as an expat now, I feel pretty connected to what's going on in the UK. I even know, from Facebook and Twitter, if it happens to have snowed in the last hour. (Blog 3, Post 67)

Catching up with everyone's comments on Twitter and Facebook. Events like these are really where social media comes into its own -‐ and keep me really connected to what my friends are thinking back in the U.K. (and in the blogosphere). (Blog 3, Post 82)

Things do go on without me back home, but thanks to the joys of social media, FaceTime and WhatsApp I’m kept in the loop, and when I do see people again, it’s like we’ve never been apart. (Blog 4, Post 85)

One subject even states that technology enables her to escape the expatriate

experience, an advantage that she fully indulges as a result of having been forced to

migrate to the US:

Sometimes I feel a little ashamed of myself: perhaps I would have settled in better if I’d embraced all things American more wholeheartedly. But since a) I never wanted to move here in the first place and b) we’re going back in a year or two, I have been happily using modern technology to pretend that, essentially, I am still living in Britain.” (Blog 5, Post 36)

4.3.3. Summary. As far as the readership's role in the subjects' expression of

attitudes, many of the subjects tried to use humor or disclaimers to be taken less

seriously when they were being more negative and critical. Only one of the subjects (the

author of Blog 5) stated their opinions without much heed to the perceptions of their

audience. The subjects generally attempted to cater to both their British and American

readers by using both American and British linguistic features. In some cases where


both features were used, the American variant was highlighted as the more appropriate

variant in the context of living in America. Two of the subjects felt that when choosing a

variant, a blogger should consider whom they are trying to address and write for that

audience. Subjects also tended to involve themselves in online communities of other

expat bloggers as well as use other types of online media as a way of maintaining their

connections to Britain and ultimately their identity as a Briton.

5. Conclusion

Since previous attitude and identity research has primarily focused on spoken

language, it could not have been predicted that the context of being a migrant in

America and writing for a specific audience about one’s experience of America would

play such a large role in the British expatriate bloggers’ use of American and British

English in a blog, perhaps even larger than their language attitudes and sense of

national identity. All bloggers show that their concept of their readership was a primary

reason for their inclusion of both American and British variants of the same variable.

Overall, the bloggers generally used an equal amount of the two language varieties,

which also supports the idea that they cater both British and American audiences.

With regard to attitude, this thesis does expose that how positively or negatively

migrants perceive their attitudes to be may have an effect their dialect acquisition and

language use over time; however, there is neither a statistically nor qualitatively

significant correlation between the attitudes detected and the extent to which they used

American and British lexical variants in each blog post. In general, identity appears to

have a stronger influence than attitudes as three of the five bloggers renegotiated a

national identity that reflected either changes to or their overall use of language. One of

the five bloggers is distinct from the rest in that their positive attitudes and


identification with the American community caused them to perform “acts of identity”

(Le Page & Tabouret-‐Keller, 1985).

Both blog research and attitude studies with respect to dialects have rarely been

done, but yet are crucial to a thorough understanding of the reasoning behind language

variation. In investigating the interaction of three main factors – attitudes, identities and

the influence of CMC – my research could even be used to help predict future linguistic

trends in blogs. By additionally incorporating theoretical concepts like habitus

(Bourdieu, 1977) and “acts of identity” (Le Page & Tabouret-‐Keller, 1985) into my

analysis, this research also sheds light on how ideologies and speech habits are

reflected in the fluctuating attitudes, identities and language use of migrants.

This study could be improved and taken further with the inclusion of the

bloggers’ participation throughout the study to ensure that the attitudes detected in the

blog are accurate and relevant. Future research would also benefit from extending the

project to a three-‐year time span due to the fact that some changes in the use of

language could be only be seen towards the very end of the two year period.


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Appendix A

List of British and American Lexical Variables

(Taken from English-‐hilfen.de, EnglishClub.com, and LearnEnglish.com)

British Variants

American Variants

adverts/advertisements

advertisements/ commercials

anti-‐clockwise counter-‐clockwise arm bands water wings arse ass aubergine eggplant autumn autumn, fall bank holiday public holiday barmaid/barman bartender bill bill/check biscuit cookie/cracker block of flats apartment building bloke guy/dude bonnet hat boob tube tube top booking reservation boot trunk braces suspenders bumbag fanny pack busker/busking street performer/

performing candyfloss cotton candy car bonnet car hood car park parking lot/ car lot caravan trailer caretaker janitor cash point ATM chemist's shop drugstore/

pharmacy chest of drawers dresser chicken wings buffalo wings

chips fries cinema movies city centre downtown clothespeg clothespin coffin coffin/casket cooker stove costume swimsuit cot crib cotton bud cotton swab courgette zucchini crisps potato chips crossroads intersection/

crossroads current account checking account CV resume dialing code area code diary journal/diary diversion detour draughts checkers drawing-‐pin thumbtack dressing gown robe drink-‐driving drunk driving drinks party cocktail party driving licence driver's license dual carriageway divided highway dummy pacifier dungarees overalls dustbin garbage can/

trash can dustman garbage collector duvet comforter engaged busy


engine engine/motor estate agent real estate agent/

realtor estate car station wagon expiry date expiration date fag cigarette fancy dress costume father christmas santa claus filling station gas station film film/movie fire brigade fire department fizzy drink pop/ soda/ coke flannel face cloth/

washcloth flat apartment flyover overpass football soccer fortnight two weeks fringe bangs garden yard/ lawn gearbox transmission girl guide girl scout grated cheese shredded cheese grill broil ground floor ground/first floor handbag purse/shoulder

bag headmaster principal hen night bachelorette party high street main street hire a car rent a car holiday vacation hoover vacuum ice box cooler ice lolly popsicle icing sugar powdered sugar indicator turn signal/blinker jelly babies jelly beans jug jug/pitcher

jumper sweater ladybird ladybug lay the table set the table lift elevator lollipop lady crossing guard loo/watercloset bathroom/ john loose cover slipcover lorry truck luggage luggage/baggage mackintosh raincoat mad crazy/insane main road highway maize corn manager coach managing director chief executive

officer marks grades match game maths math minced meat chopped beef mobile phone cell phone motorbike motorcycle motorway freeway/

expressway/ interstate

mum mom/ mommy/ momma

nappy diaper national insurance number

social security number

naughts and crosses

tic-‐tack-‐toe

newsreader newscaster notes bills pants/underpants/ knickers

underwear/ drawers/panties

pavement sidewalk pepper bell pepper pet hate pet peeve petrol gas/ gasoline


pocket money allowance polo neck turtle neck porter bellboy/bellhop post mail postbox mailbox postcode zipcode postman mailman/ mail

carrier power point electrical outlet pram baby carriage/

buggy/stroller prawn shrimp primary school elementary school pub bar public toilet restroom/

public bathroom queue line railway railroad repeat rerun return ticket round-‐trip ticket reverse charge collect call road surface pavement/blacktop row argument/quarrel rowing boat rowboat rubber eraser Rubbish trash rucksack backpack sailing boat sailboat serviette napkin shop store silencer muffler single ticket one-‐way ticket snog kiss solicitor lawyer/attorney spanner wrench spirits hard liquor stag night bachelor party starter appetizer stock inventory

stockholder shareholder sultana raisin supermarket grocery store sweets candy take away takeout tap faucet taxi taxi/ taxi cab tea towel dish towel telly/ TV television/TV term semester The Plough Big Dipper Third-‐party insurance

liability insurance

timetable schedule tin can torch flashlight traineeship internship trainers sneaker trolley shopping cart trousers pants tube subway underground subway undertaker mortician vest undershirt waistcoat vest wallet wallet/billfold wardrobe closet wellington boots rubber boots/

rain boots windscreen windshield wing fender worktop countertop year grade zebra crossing crosswalk zip zipper


Appendix B

List of British and American Orthographical Variables

(Taken from Tysto.com)

British Variants

American Variants

accessorise accessorize accessorised accessorized accessorises accessorizes accessorising accessorizing acclimatisation acclimatization acclimatise acclimatize acclimatised acclimatized acclimatises acclimatizes acclimatising acclimatizing accoutrements accouterments aeon eon aeons eons aerogramme aerogram aerogrammes aerograms aeroplane airplane aeroplanes airplanes aesthete esthete aesthetes esthetes aesthetic esthetic aesthetically esthetically aesthetics esthetics aetiology etiology ageing aging aggrandisement aggrandizement agonise agonize agonised agonized agonises agonizes agonising agonizing agonisingly agonizingly almanack almanac

almanacks almanacs aluminium aluminum amortisable amortizable amortisation amortization amortisations amortizations amortise amortize amortised amortized amortises amortizes amortising amortizing amphitheatre amphitheater amphitheatres amphitheaters anaemia anemia anaemic anemic anaesthesia anesthesia anaesthetic anesthetic anaesthetics anesthetics anaesthetise anesthetize anaesthetised anesthetized anaesthetises anesthetizes anaesthetising anesthetizing anaesthetist anesthetist anaesthetists anesthetists anaesthetize anesthetize anaesthetized anesthetized anaesthetizes anesthetizes anaesthetizing anesthetizing analogue analog analogues analogs analyse analyze analysed analyzed analyses analyzes analysing analyzing


anglicise anglicize anglicised anglicized anglicises anglicizes anglicising anglicizing annualised annualized antagonise antagonize antagonised antagonized antagonises antagonizes antagonising antagonizing apologise apologize apologised apologized apologises apologizes apologising apologizing appal appall appals appalls appetiser appetizer appetisers appetizers appetising appetizing appetisingly appetizingly arbour arbor arbours arbors ardour ardor armour armor armoured armored armourer armorer armourers armorers armouries armories armoury armory artefact artifact artefacts artifacts authorise authorize authorised authorized authorises authorizes authorising authorizing axe ax backpedalled backpedaled backpedalling backpedaling

bannister banister bannisters banisters baptise baptize baptised baptized baptises baptizes baptising baptizing bastardise bastardize bastardised bastardized bastardises bastardizes bastardising bastardizing baulk balk baulked balked baulking balking baulks balks bedevilled bedeviled bedevilling bedeviling behaviour behavior behavioural behavioral behaviourism behaviorism behaviourist behaviorist behaviourists behaviorists behaviours behaviors behove behoove behoved behooved behoves behooves bejewelled bejeweled belabour belabor belaboured belabored belabouring belaboring belabours belabors bevelled beveled bevvies bevies bevvy bevy biassed biased biassing biasing bingeing binging bougainvillaea bougainvillea


bougainvillaeas bougainvilleas bowdlerise bowdlerize bowdlerised bowdlerized bowdlerises bowdlerizes bowdlerising bowdlerizing breathalyse breathalyze breathalysed breathalyzed breathalyser breathalyzer breathalysers breathalyzers breathalyses breathalyzes breathalysing breathalyzing brutalise brutalize brutalised brutalized brutalises brutalizes brutalising brutalizing caesarean cesarean caesareans cesareans calibre caliber calibres calibers calliper caliper callipers calipers callisthenics calisthenics canalise canalize canalised canalized canalises canalizes canalising canalizing cancelled canceled cancelling canceling candour candor cannibalise cannibalize cannibalised cannibalized cannibalises cannibalizes cannibalising cannibalizing canonise canonize canonised canonized canonises canonizes canonising canonizing

capitalise capitalize capitalised capitalized capitalises capitalizes capitalising capitalizing caramelise caramelize caramelised caramelized caramelises caramelizes caramelising caramelizing carbonise carbonize carbonised carbonized carbonises carbonizes carbonising carbonizing carolled caroled carolling caroling catalogue catalog catalogued cataloged catalogues catalogs cataloguing cataloging catalyse catalyze catalysed catalyzed catalyses catalyzes catalysing catalyzing categorise categorize categorised categorized categorises categorizes categorising categorizing cauterise cauterize cauterised cauterized cauterises cauterizes cauterising cauterizing cavilled caviled cavilling caviling centigramme centigram centigrammes centigrams centilitre centiliter centilitres centiliters centimetre centimeter


centimetres centimeters centralise centralize centralised centralized centralises centralizes centralising centralizing centre center centred centered centrefold centerfold centrefolds centerfolds centrepiece centerpiece centrepieces centerpieces centres centers channelled channeled channelling channeling characterise characterize characterised characterized characterises characterizes characterising characterizing cheque check chequebook checkbook chequebooks checkbooks chequered checkered cheques checks chilli chili chimaera chimera chimaeras chimeras chiselled chiseled chiselling chiseling circularise circularize circularised circularized circularises circularizes circularising circularizing civilise civilize civilised civilized civilises civilizes civilising civilizing clamour clamor

clamoured clamored clamouring clamoring clamours clamors clangour clangor clarinettist clarinetist clarinettists clarinetists collectivise collectivize collectivised collectivized collectivises collectivizes collectivising collectivizing colonisation colonization colonise colonize colonised colonized coloniser colonizer colonisers colonizers colonises colonizes colonising colonizing colour color colourant colorant colourants colorants coloured colored coloureds coloreds colourful colorful colourfully colorfully colouring coloring colourize colorize colourized colorized colourizes colorizes colourizing colorizing colourless colorless colours colors commercialise commercialize commercialised commercialized commercialises commercializes commercialising commercializing compartmentalise compartmentalize compartmental-‐ised

compartmental-‐ized


compartmental-‐ises

compartmental-‐izes

compartmental-‐ising

compartmental-‐izing

computerise computerize computerised computerized computerises computerizes computerising computerizing conceptualise conceptualize conceptualised conceptualized conceptualises conceptualizes conceptualising conceptualizing connexion connection connexions connections contextualise contextualize contextualised contextualized contextualises contextualizes contextualising contextualizing cosier cozier cosies cozies cosiest coziest cosily cozily cosiness coziness cosy cozy councillor councilor councillors councilors counselled counseled counselling counseling counsellor counselor counsellors counselors criminalise criminalize criminalised criminalized criminalises criminalizes criminalising criminalizing criticise criticize criticised criticized criticises criticizes criticising criticizing

crueller crueler cruellest cruelest crystallisation crystallization crystallise crystallize crystallised crystallized crystallises crystallizes crystallising crystallizing cudgelled cudgeled cudgelling cudgeling customise customize customised customized customises customizes customising customizing cypher cipher cyphers ciphers decentralisation decentralization decentralise decentralize decentralised decentralized decentralises decentralizes decentralising decentralizing decriminalisation decriminalization decriminalise decriminalize decriminalised decriminalized decriminalises decriminalizes decriminalising decriminalizing defence defense defenceless defenseless defences defenses dehumanisation dehumanization dehumanise dehumanize dehumanised dehumanized dehumanises dehumanizes dehumanising dehumanizing demeanour demeanor demilitarisation demilitarization demilitarise demilitarize demilitarised demilitarized


demilitarises demilitarizes demilitarising demilitarizing demobilisation demobilization demobilise demobilize demobilised demobilized demobilises demobilizes demobilising demobilizing democratisation democratization democratise democratize democratised democratized democratises democratizes democratising democratizing demonise demonize demonised demonized demonises demonizes demonising demonizing demoralisation demoralization demoralise demoralize demoralised demoralized demoralises demoralizes demoralising demoralizing denationalisation denationalization denationalise denationalize denationalised denationalized denationalises denationalizes denationalising denationalizing deodorise deodorize deodorised deodorized deodorises deodorizes deodorising deodorizing depersonalise depersonalize depersonalised depersonalized depersonalises depersonalizes depersonalising depersonalizing deputise deputize deputised deputized deputises deputizes

deputising deputizing desensitisation desensitization desensitise desensitize desensitised desensitized desensitises desensitizes desensitising desensitizing destabilisation destabilization destabilise destabilize destabilised destabilized destabilises destabilizes destabilising destabilizing dialled dialed dialling dialing dialogue dialog dialogues dialogs diarrhoea diarrhea digitise digitize digitised digitized digitises digitizes digitising digitizing disc disk discolour discolor discoloured discolored discolouring discoloring discolours discolors discs disks disembowelled disemboweled disembowelling disemboweling disfavour disfavor dishevelled disheveled dishonour dishonor dishonourable dishonorable dishonourably dishonorably dishonoured dishonored dishonouring dishonoring dishonours dishonors disorganisation disorganization


disorganised disorganized distil distill distils distills dramatisation dramatization dramatisations dramatizations dramatise dramatize dramatised dramatized dramatises dramatizes dramatising dramatizing draught draft draughtboard draftboard draughtboards draftboards draughtier draftier draughtiest draftiest draughts drafts draughtsman draftsman draughtsmanship draftsmanship draughtsmen draftsmen draughtswoman draftswoman draughtswomen draftswomen draughty drafty drivelled driveled drivelling driveling duelled dueled duelling dueling economise economize economised economized economises economizes economising economizing edoema edema editorialise editorialize editorialised editorialized editorialises editorializes editorialising editorializing empathise empathize empathised empathized empathises empathizes

empathising empathizing emphasise emphasize emphasised emphasized emphasises emphasizes emphasising emphasizing enamelled enameled enamelling enameling enamoured enamored encyclopaedia encyclopedia encyclopaedias encyclopedias encyclopaedic encyclopedic endeavour endeavor endeavoured endeavored endeavouring endeavoring endeavours endeavors energise energize energised energized energises energizes energising energizing enrol enroll enrols enrolls enthral enthrall enthrals enthralls epaulette epaulet epaulettes epaulets epicentre epicenter epicentres epicenters epilogue epilog epilogues epilogs epitomise epitomize epitomised epitomized epitomises epitomizes epitomising epitomizing equalisation equalization equalise equalize equalised equalized equaliser equalizer


equalisers equalizers equalises equalizes equalising equalizing eulogise eulogize eulogised eulogized eulogises eulogizes eulogising eulogizing evangelise evangelize evangelised evangelized evangelises evangelizes evangelising evangelizing exorcise exorcize exorcised exorcized exorcises exorcizes exorcising exorcizing extemporisation extemporization extemporise extemporize extemporised extemporized extemporises extemporizes extemporising extemporizing externalisation externalization externalisations externalizations externalise externalize externalised externalized externalises externalizes externalising externalizing factorise factorize factorised factorized factorises factorizes factorising factorizing faecal fecal faeces feces familiarisation familiarization familiarise familiarize familiarised familiarized familiarises familiarizes familiarising familiarizing

fantasise fantasize fantasised fantasized fantasises fantasizes fantasising fantasizing favour favor favourable favorable favourably favorably favoured favored favouring favoring favourite favorite favourites favorites favouritism favoritism favours favors feminise feminize feminised feminized feminises feminizes feminising feminizing fertilisation fertilization fertilise fertilize fertilised fertilized fertiliser fertilizer fertilisers fertilizers fertilises fertilizes fertilising fertilizing fervour fervor fibre fiber fibreglass fiberglass fibres fibers fictionalisation fictionalization fictionalisations fictionalizations fictionalise fictionalize fictionalised fictionalized fictionalises fictionalizes fictionalising fictionalizing fillet filet filleted fileted filleting fileting


fillets filets finalisation finalization finalise finalize finalised finalized finalises finalizes finalising finalizing flautist flutist flautists flutists flavour flavor flavoured flavored flavouring flavoring flavourings flavorings flavourless flavorless flavours flavors flavoursome flavorsome flyer / flier flier / flyer foetal fetal foetid fetid foetus fetus foetuses fetuses formalisation formalization formalise formalize formalised formalized formalises formalizes formalising formalizing fossilisation fossilization fossilise fossilize fossilised fossilized fossilises fossilizes fossilising fossilizing fraternisation fraternization fraternise fraternize fraternised fraternized fraternises fraternizes fraternising fraternizing fulfil fulfill fulfilment fulfillment

fulfils fulfills funnelled funneled funnelling funneling galvanise galvanize galvanised galvanized galvanises galvanizes galvanising galvanizing gambolled gamboled gambolling gamboling gaol jail gaolbird jailbird gaolbirds jailbirds gaolbreak jailbreak gaolbreaks jailbreaks gaoled jailed gaoler jailer gaolers jailers gaoling jailing gaols jails generalisation generalization generalisations generalizations generalise generalize generalised generalized generalises generalizes generalising generalizing ghettoise ghettoize ghettoised ghettoized ghettoises ghettoizes ghettoising ghettoizing gipsies gypsies glamorise glamorize glamorised glamorized glamorises glamorizes glamorising glamorizing glamour glamor globalisation globalization globalise globalize


globalised globalized globalises globalizes globalising globalizing glueing gluing goitre goiter goitres goiters gonorrhoea gonorrhea gramme gram grammes grams gravelled graveled grey gray greyed grayed greying graying greyish grayish greyness grayness greys grays grovelled groveled grovelling groveling groyne groin groynes groins gruelling grueling gruellingly gruelingly gryphon griffin gryphons griffins gynaecological gynecological gynaecologist gynecologist gynaecologists gynecologists gynaecology gynecology haematological hematological haematologist hematologist haematologists hematologists haematology hematology haemoglobin hemoglobin haemophilia hemophilia haemophiliac hemophiliac haemophiliacs hemophiliacs haemorrhage hemorrhage

haemorrhaged hemorrhaged haemorrhages hemorrhages haemorrhaging hemorrhaging haemorrhoids hemorrhoids harbour harbor harboured harbored harbouring harboring harbours harbors harmonisation harmonization harmonise harmonize harmonised harmonized harmonises harmonizes harmonising harmonizing homoeopath homeopath homoeopathic homeopathic homoeopaths homeopaths homoeopathy homeopathy homogenise homogenize homogenised homogenized homogenises homogenizes homogenising homogenizing honour honor honourable honorable honourably honorably honoured honored honouring honoring honours honors hospitalisation hospitalization hospitalise hospitalize hospitalised hospitalized hospitalises hospitalizes hospitalising hospitalizing humanise humanize humanised humanized humanises humanizes humanising humanizing humour humor


humoured humored humouring humoring humourless humorless humours humors hybridise hybridize hybridised hybridized hybridises hybridizes hybridising hybridizing hypnotise hypnotize hypnotised hypnotized hypnotises hypnotizes hypnotising hypnotizing hypothesise hypothesize hypothesised hypothesized hypothesises hypothesizes hypothesising hypothesizing idealisation idealization idealise idealize idealised idealized idealises idealizes idealising idealizing idolise idolize idolised idolized idolises idolizes idolising idolizing immobilisation immobilization immobilise immobilize immobilised immobilized immobiliser immobilizer immobilisers immobilizers immobilises immobilizes immobilising immobilizing immortalise immortalize immortalised immortalized immortalises immortalizes immortalising immortalizing immunisation immunization

immunise immunize immunised immunized immunises immunizes immunising immunizing impanelled impaneled impanelling impaneling imperilled imperiled imperilling imperiling individualise individualize individualised individualized individualises individualizes individualising individualizing industrialise industrialize industrialised industrialized industrialises industrializes industrialising industrializing inflexion inflection inflexions inflections initialise initialize initialised initialized initialises initializes initialising initializing initialled initialed initialling initialing instal install instalment installment instalments installments instals installs instil instill instils instills institutionali-‐sation

institutionali-‐zation

institutionalise institutionalize institutionalised institutionalized institutionalises institutionalizes institutionalising institutionalizing intellectualise intellectualize intellectualised intellectualized


intellectualises intellectualizes intellectualising intellectualizing internalisation internalization internalise internalize internalised internalized internalises internalizes internalising internalizing internationali-‐sation

internationali-‐zation

internationalise internationalize internationalised internationalized internationalises internationalizes internationalising internationalizing ionisation ionization ionise ionize ionised ionized ioniser ionizer ionisers ionizers ionises ionizes ionising ionizing italicise italicize italicised italicized italicises italicizes italicising italicizing itemise itemize itemised itemized itemises itemizes itemising itemizing jeopardise jeopardize jeopardised jeopardized jeopardises jeopardizes jeopardising jeopardizing jewelled jeweled jeweller jeweler jewellers jewelers jewellery jewelry judgement judgment kilogramme kilogram

kilogrammes kilograms kilometre kilometer kilometres kilometers labelled labeled labelling labeling labour labor laboured labored labourer laborer labourers laborers labouring laboring labours labors lacklustre lackluster legalisation legalization legalise legalize legalised legalized legalises legalizes legalising legalizing legitimise legitimize legitimised legitimized legitimises legitimizes legitimising legitimizing leukaemia leukemia levelled leveled leveller leveler levellers levelers levelling leveling libelled libeled libelling libeling libellous libelous liberalisation liberalization liberalise liberalize liberalised liberalized liberalises liberalizes liberalising liberalizing licence license licenced licensed licences licenses


licencing licensing likeable likable lionisation lionization lionise lionize lionised lionized lionises lionizes lionising lionizing liquidise liquidize liquidised liquidized liquidiser liquidizer liquidisers liquidizers liquidises liquidizes liquidising liquidizing litre liter litres liters localise localize localised localized localises localizes localising localizing louvre louver louvred louvered louvres louvers lustre luster magnetise magnetize magnetised magnetized magnetises magnetizes magnetising magnetizing manoeuvrability maneuverability manoeuvrable maneuverable manoeuvre maneuver manoeuvred maneuvered manoeuvres maneuvers manoeuvring maneuvering manoeuvrings maneuverings marginalisation marginalization marginalise marginalize marginalised marginalized

marginalises marginalizes marginalising marginalizing marshalled marshaled marshalling marshaling marvelled marveled marvelling marveling marvellous marvelous marvellously marvelously materialisation materialization materialise materialize materialised materialized materialises materializes materialising materializing maximisation maximization maximise maximize maximised maximized maximises maximizes maximising maximizing meagre meager mechanisation mechanization mechanise mechanize mechanised mechanized mechanises mechanizes mechanising mechanizing mediaeval medieval memorialise memorialize memorialised memorialized memorialises memorializes memorialising memorializing memorise memorize memorised memorized memorises memorizes memorising memorizing mesmerise mesmerize mesmerised mesmerized mesmerises mesmerizes mesmerising mesmerizing


metabolise metabolize metabolised metabolized metabolises metabolizes metabolising metabolizing metre meter metres meters micrometre micrometer micrometres micrometers militarise militarize militarised militarized militarises militarizes militarising militarizing milligramme milligram milligrammes milligrams millilitre milliliter millilitres milliliters millimetre millimeter millimetres millimeters miniaturisation miniaturization miniaturise miniaturize miniaturised miniaturized miniaturises miniaturizes miniaturising miniaturizing minimise minimize minimised minimized minimises minimizes minimising minimizing misbehaviour misbehavior misdemeanour misdemeanor misdemeanours misdemeanors misspelt misspelled mitre miter mitres miters mobilisation mobilization mobilise mobilize mobilised mobilized mobilises mobilizes

mobilising mobilizing modelled modeled modeller modeler modellers modelers modelling modeling modernise modernize modernised modernized modernises modernizes modernising modernizing moisturise moisturize moisturised moisturized moisturiser moisturizer moisturisers moisturizers moisturises moisturizes moisturising moisturizing monologue monolog monologues monologs monopolisation monopolization monopolise monopolize monopolised monopolized monopolises monopolizes monopolising monopolizing moralise moralize moralised moralized moralises moralizes moralising moralizing motorised motorized mould mold moulded molded moulder molder mouldered moldered mouldering moldering moulders molders mouldier moldier mouldiest moldiest moulding molding mouldings moldings


moulds molds mouldy moldy moult molt moulted molted moulting molting moults molts moustache mustache moustached mustached moustaches mustaches moustachioed mustachioed multicoloured multicolored nationalisation nationalization nationalisations nationalizations nationalise nationalize nationalised nationalized nationalises nationalizes nationalising nationalizing naturalisation naturalization naturalise naturalize naturalised naturalized naturalises naturalizes naturalising naturalizing neighbour neighbor neighbourhood neighborhood neighbourhoods neighborhoods neighbouring neighboring neighbourliness neighborliness neighbourly neighborly neighbours neighbors neutralisation neutralization neutralise neutralize neutralised neutralized neutralises neutralizes neutralising neutralizing normalisation normalization normalise normalize normalised normalized

normalises normalizes normalising normalizing odour odor odourless odorless odours odors oesophagus esophagus oesophaguses esophaguses oestrogen estrogen offence offense offences offenses omelette omelet omelettes omelets optimise optimize optimised optimized optimises optimizes optimising optimizing organisation organization organisational organizational organisations organizations organise organize organised organized organiser organizer organisers organizers organises organizes organising organizing orthopaedic orthopedic orthopaedics orthopedics ostracise ostracize ostracised ostracized ostracises ostracizes ostracising ostracizing outmanoeuvre outmaneuver outmanoeuvred outmaneuvered outmanoeuvres outmaneuvers outmanoeuvring outmaneuvering overemphasise overemphasize overemphasised overemphasized


overemphasises overemphasizes overemphasising overemphasizing oxidisation oxidization oxidise oxidize oxidised oxidized oxidises oxidizes oxidising oxidizing paederast pederast paederasts pederasts paediatric pediatric paediatrician pediatrician paediatricians pediatricians paediatrics pediatrics paedophile pedophile paedophiles pedophiles paedophilia pedophilia palaeolithic paleolithic palaeontologist paleontologist palaeontologists paleontologists palaeontology paleontology panelled paneled panelling paneling panellist panelist panellists panelists paralyse paralyze paralysed paralyzed paralyses paralyzes paralysing paralyzing parcelled parceled parcelling parceling parlour parlor parlours parlors particularise particularize particularised particularized particularises particularizes particularising particularizing passivisation passivization

passivise passivize passivised passivized passivises passivizes passivising passivizing pasteurisation pasteurization pasteurise pasteurize pasteurised pasteurized pasteurises pasteurizes pasteurising pasteurizing patronise patronize patronised patronized patronises patronizes patronising patronizing patronisingly patronizingly pedalled pedaled pedalling pedaling pedestrianisation pedestrianization pedestrianise pedestrianize pedestrianised pedestrianized pedestrianises pedestrianizes pedestrianising pedestrianizing penalise penalize penalised penalized penalises penalizes penalising penalizing pencilled penciled pencilling penciling personalise personalize personalised personalized personalises personalizes personalising personalizing pharmacopoeia pharmacopeia pharmacopoeias pharmacopeias philosophise philosophize philosophised philosophized philosophises philosophizes philosophising philosophizing


philtre filter philtres filters phoney phony plagiarise plagiarize plagiarised plagiarized plagiarises plagiarizes plagiarising plagiarizing plough plow ploughed plowed ploughing plowing ploughman plowman ploughmen plowmen ploughs plows ploughshare plowshare ploughshares plowshares polarisation polarization polarise polarize polarised polarized polarises polarizes polarising polarizing politicisation politicization politicise politicize politicised politicized politicises politicizes politicising politicizing popularisation popularization popularise popularize popularised popularized popularises popularizes popularising popularizing pouffe pouf pouffes poufs practise practice practised practiced practises practices practising practicing pressurisation pressurization

pressurise pressurize pressurised pressurized pressurises pressurizes pressurising pressurizing pretence pretense pretences pretenses primaeval primeval prioritisation prioritization prioritise prioritize prioritised prioritized prioritises prioritizes prioritising prioritizing privatisation privatization privatisations privatizations privatise privatize privatised privatized privatises privatizes privatising privatizing professionalisation

professionalization

professionalise professionalize professionalised professionalized professionalises professionalizes professionalising professionalizing programme program programmes programs prologue prolog prologues prologs propagandise propagandize propagandised propagandized propagandises propagandizes propagandising propagandizing proselytise proselytize proselytised proselytized proselytiser proselytizer proselytisers proselytizers proselytises proselytizes proselytising proselytizing


psychoanalyse psychoanalyze psychoanalysed psychoanalyzed psychoanalyses psychoanalyzes psychoanalysing psychoanalyzing publicise publicize publicised publicized publicises publicizes publicising publicizing pulverisation pulverization pulverise pulverize pulverised pulverized pulverises pulverizes pulverising pulverizing pummelled pummel pummelling pummeled pyjama pajama pyjamas pajamas pzazz pizzazz quarrelled quarreled quarrelling quarreling radicalise radicalize radicalised radicalized radicalises radicalizes radicalising radicalizing rancour rancor randomise randomize randomised randomized randomises randomizes randomising randomizing rationalisation rationalization rationalisations rationalizations rationalise rationalize rationalised rationalized rationalises rationalizes rationalising rationalizing ravelled raveled ravelling raveling

realisable realizable realisation realization realisations realizations realise realize realised realized realises realizes realising realizing recognisable recognizable recognisably recognizably recognisance recognizance recognise recognize recognised recognized recognises recognizes recognising recognizing reconnoitre reconnoiter reconnoitred reconnoitered reconnoitres reconnoiters reconnoitring reconnoitering refuelled refueled refuelling refueling regularisation regularization regularise regularize regularised regularized regularises regularizes regularising regularizing remodelled remodeled remodelling remodeling remould remold remoulded remolded remoulding remolding remoulds remolds reorganisation reorganization reorganisations reorganizations reorganise reorganize reorganised reorganized reorganises reorganizes reorganising reorganizing


revelled reveled reveller reveler revellers revelers revelling reveling revitalise revitalize revitalised revitalized revitalises revitalizes revitalising revitalizing revolutionise revolutionize revolutionised revolutionized revolutionises revolutionizes revolutionising revolutionizing rhapsodise rhapsodize rhapsodised rhapsodized rhapsodises rhapsodizes rhapsodising rhapsodizing rigour rigor rigours rigors ritualised ritualized rivalled rivaled rivalling rivaling romanticise romanticize romanticised romanticized romanticises romanticizes romanticising romanticizing rumour rumor rumoured rumored rumours rumors sabre saber sabres sabers saltpetre saltpeter sanitise sanitize sanitised sanitized sanitises sanitizes sanitising sanitizing satirise satirize satirised satirized

satirises satirizes satirising satirizing saviour savior saviours saviors savour savor savoured savored savouries savories savouring savoring savours savors savoury savory scandalise scandalize scandalised scandalized scandalises scandalizes scandalising scandalizing sceptic skeptic sceptical skeptical sceptically skeptically scepticism skepticism sceptics skeptics sceptre scepter sceptres scepters scrutinise scrutinize scrutinised scrutinized scrutinises scrutinizes scrutinising scrutinizing secularisation secularization secularise secularize secularised secularized secularises secularizes secularising secularizing sensationalise sensationalize sensationalised sensationalized sensationalises sensationalizes sensationalising sensationalizing sensitise sensitize sensitised sensitized sensitises sensitizes


sensitising sensitizing sentimentalise sentimentalize sentimentalised sentimentalized sentimentalises sentimentalizes sentimentalising sentimentalizing sepulchre sepulcher sepulchres sepulchers serialisation serialization serialisations serializations serialise serialize serialised serialized serialises serializes serialising serializing sermonise sermonize sermonised sermonized sermonises sermonizes sermonising sermonizing sheikh sheik shovelled shoveled shovelling shoveling shrivelled shriveled shrivelling shriveling signalise signalize signalised signalized signalises signalizes signalising signalizing signalled signaled signalling signaling smoulder smolder smouldered smoldered smouldering smoldering smoulders smolders snivelled sniveled snivelling sniveling snorkelled snorkeled snorkelling snorkeling snowplough snowplow

snowploughs snowplow socialisation socialization socialise socialize socialised socialized socialises socializes socialising socializing sodomise sodomize sodomised sodomized sodomises sodomizes sodomising sodomizing solemnise solemnize solemnised solemnized solemnises solemnizes solemnising solemnizing sombre somber specialisation specialization specialisations specializations specialise specialize specialised specialized specialises specializes specialising specializing spectre specter spectres specters spiralled spiraled spiralling spiraling splendour splendor splendours splendors squirrelled squirreled squirrelling squirreling stabilisation stabilization stabilise stabilize stabilised stabilized stabiliser stabilizer stabilisers stabilizers stabilises stabilizes stabilising stabilizing standardisation standardization


standardise standardize standardised standardized standardises standardizes standardising standardizing stencilled stenciled stencilling stenciling sterilisation sterilization sterilisations sterilizations sterilise sterilize sterilised sterilized steriliser sterilizer sterilisers sterilizers sterilises sterilizes sterilising sterilizing stigmatisation stigmatization stigmatise stigmatize stigmatised stigmatized stigmatises stigmatizes stigmatising stigmatizing storey story storeys stories subsidisation subsidization subsidise subsidize subsidised subsidized subsidiser subsidizer subsidisers subsidizers subsidises subsidizes subsidising subsidizing succour succor succoured succored succouring succoring succours succors sulphate sulfate sulphates sulfates sulphide sulfide sulphides sulfides sulphur sulfur

sulphurous sulfurous summarise summarize summarised summarized summarises summarizes summarising summarizing swivelled swiveled swivelling swiveling symbolise symbolize symbolised symbolized symbolises symbolizes symbolising symbolizing sympathise sympathize sympathised sympathized sympathiser sympathizer sympathisers sympathizers sympathises sympathizes sympathising sympathizing synchronisation synchronization synchronise synchronize synchronised synchronized synchronises synchronizes synchronising synchronizing synthesise synthesize synthesised synthesized synthesiser synthesizer synthesisers synthesizers synthesises synthesizes synthesising synthesizing syphon siphon syphoned siphoned syphoning siphoning syphons siphons systematisation systematization systematise systematize systematised systematized systematises systematizes systematising systematizing


tantalise tantalize tantalised tantalized tantalises tantalizes tantalising tantalizing tantalisingly tantalizingly tasselled tasseled technicolour technicolor temporise temporize temporised temporized temporises temporizes temporising temporizing tenderise tenderize tenderised tenderized tenderises tenderizes tenderising tenderizing terrorise terrorize terrorised terrorized terrorises terrorizes terrorising terrorizing theatre theater theatregoer theatergoer theatregoers theatergoers theatres theaters theorise theorize theorised theorized theorises theorizes theorising theorizing tonne ton tonnes tons towelled toweled towelling toweling toxaemia toxemia tranquillise tranquilize tranquillised tranquilized tranquilliser tranquilizer tranquillisers tranquilizers tranquillises tranquilizes

tranquillising tranquilizing tranquillity tranquility tranquillize tranquilize tranquillized tranquilized tranquillizer tranquilizer tranquillizers tranquilizers tranquillizes tranquilizes tranquillizing tranquilizing tranquilly tranquility transistorised transistorized traumatise traumatize traumatised traumatized traumatises traumatizes traumatising traumatizing travelled traveled traveller traveler travellers travelers travelling traveling trialled trialed trialling trialing tricolour tricolor tricolours tricolors trivialise trivialize trivialised trivialized trivialises trivializes trivialising trivializing tumour tumor tumours tumors tunnelled tunneled tunnelling tunneling tyrannise tyrannize tyrannised tyrannized tyrannises tyrannizes tyrannising tyrannizing tyre tire tyres tires unauthorised unauthorized


uncivilised uncivilized underutilised underutilized unequalled unequaled unfavourable unfavorable unfavourably unfavorably unionisation unionization unionise unionize unionised unionized unionises unionizes unionising unionizing unorganised unorganized unravelled unraveled unravelling unraveling unrecognisable unrecognizable unrecognised unrecognized unrivalled unrivaled unsavoury unsavory untrammelled untrammeled urbanisation urbanization urbanise urbanize urbanised urbanized urbanises urbanizes urbanising urbanizing utilisable utilizable utilisation utilization utilise utilize utilised utilized utilises utilizes utilising utilizing valour valor vandalise vandalize vandalised vandalized vandalises vandalizes vandalising vandalizing vaporisation vaporization vaporise vaporize vaporised vaporized

vaporises vaporizes vaporising vaporizing vapour vapor vapours vapors verbalise verbalize verbalised verbalized verbalises verbalizes verbalising verbalizing victimisation victimization victimise victimize victimised victimized victimises victimizes victimising victimizing videodisc videodisk videodiscs videodisks vigour vigor visualisation visualization visualisations visualizations visualise visualize visualised visualized visualises visualizes visualising visualizing vocalisation vocalization vocalisations vocalizations vocalise vocalize vocalised vocalized vocalises vocalizes vocalising vocalizing vulcanised vulcanized vulgarisation vulgarization vulgarise vulgarize vulgarised vulgarized vulgarises vulgarizes vulgarising vulgarizing waggon wagon waggons wagons watercolour watercolor


watercolours watercolors weaselled weaseled weaselling weaseling westernisation westernization westernise westernize westernised westernized westernises westernizes westernising westernizing womanise womanize womanised womanized womaniser womanizer womanisers womanizers womanises womanizes womanising womanizing woollen woolen woollens woolens woollies woolies woolly wooly worshipped worshiped worshipping worshiping worshipper worshiper yodelled yodeled yodelling yodeling yoghourt yogurt yoghourts yogurts yoghurt yogurt

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DM Master's Thesis