The Influence of American Media on British Slang: A Sociolinguistic Analysis

This article examines the influence of American media on British slang from a sociolinguistic perspective. Drawing on a content analysis of popular media (2018–2025), a survey of 120 British students aged 16–21 and thirty semi-structured interviews, the study traces how American lexical items enter British youth speech and which social factors – peer influence, platform exposure, age and identity work – govern their adoption. The findings indicate that American media does not displace British slang but diversifies it: borrowed items undergo semantic adjustment and combine with local forms into hybrids, and their use remains strictly register-sensitive.