British English or American English vocabulary? A sociolinguistic study of Swedish upper secondary school pupils’ choice of vocabulary and their attitude towards the two language varieties

摘要

Institution: Göteborg University/Department of EnglishCourse: C-level paper, interdisciplinary paperSemester: Spring 2007Title: British English or American English vocabulary?A sociolinguistic study of Swedish upper secondaryschool pupils’ choice of vocabulary and their attitudetowards the two language varieties.Writer: Charlotte SpångbergPurpose: To examine Swedish upper secondary pupils’ use ofAmerican and British lexemes and their attitudes towardsthe two language varieties.Method: A quantitative study of pupils’ use of American andBritish lexemes in a questionnaire and a qualitative studyof their attitude and reasons for choosing one of the twovarieties.Material: 70 pupils’ answers to a questionnaire.Main results: A majority (70-80%) of the pupils preferred AmericanEnglish. Boys favored American English slightly morethan girls did. A difference between the two school areaswas that more pupils from the affluent school chose AmEwords than the pupils at the less affluent school. Thepupils were generally more positive towards the varietythey had chosen.