Despite the vast amount of research about the Antarctic continent, little is known about the lexis of the people who temporarily live and work there. The isolation, hostile environment, and logistic limitations of this continent mean that only a select group can visit. As a result, Antarctica is known as one of the most isolated places on the planet.

Case studies of isolated communities show that they experience high levels of face-to-face contact between adults who speak varieties of the same language, which can disrupt typical transmission and diffusion processes. This can result in rapid language changes known as contact-induced language change or new dialect formation (NDF). Therefore, the inclusion of extreme and confined conditions of Antarctic research stations could result in intensified faceto- face contact between the adult populations there, which could have implications for contactinduced language change in this environment.

This doctoral study explores the effects of an intensified high-contact scenario caused by the ICE conditions of Antarctica on the specific lexis that has emerged there. To explore this, I collected and compiled examples of lexical items anonymously and from online and published sources. I used a selection of the collected lexical items to test the knowledge of former and current workers and visitors to English-speaking Antarctic research stations in a questionnaire survey. This allowed me to investigate their stability over time and space, how they were formed, and the external factors that influence them. I also explored how processes of accommodation, koineisation, NDF, transmission, as well as models of diffusion, play out in this setting.

The findings showed that there are distinct lexical items, which were created through different word-formation processes, in the responses of participants from two specific English-speaking national Antarctic programmes (ESNAPs). This tentatively suggests there might be Antarctic English lexicons in two of the larger ESNAPs, a potential lexicon for the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) and a potential lexicon for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). They also showed diffusion between stations of different ESNAPs if there were transport links connecting them.

Despite the hyper-rapid turnover of seasonal cohorts that occurs in research stations (roughly 12-monthly turnover of staff and visitors) combined with the need to pass on important information, and the intensified levels of face-to-face contact, the overall potential lexicons showed significant stability. However, when lexical change occurred these newer lexical items were morphologically similar to those they replaced, and the changes were transmitted much more rapidly than in the typical contact-induced language change and NDF scenarios of the case studies. These findings highlight how lexis might be affected by settings where isolation, confinement and extreme conditions are factors, where typical transmission and diffusion processes do not occur in communities that are close-knit with strong-network ties. In doing so, they may provide a better understanding of the processes and conditions that might facilitate lexical change and those that facilitate lexical stability.