This paper forms part of a wider study of migrant identity within the context of British lifestyle migration to south-west France. Using an integrated methodology of corpus linguistics and discourse analysis (Appraisal), the research is situated within its wider social context by examining how British migration to France is represented within the UK media. The analysis reveals common keywords and patterns of language use that carry negative evaluation with respect to the British, their settlement patterns and behaviour. Lifestyle migration is presented on different levels, with writers distinguishing between a recent and more generalised phenomenon of migration and more established migrants who are represented as having more cultural capital. Readers are positioned to make sociocultural conditioned inferences about the behaviour of the more recent migrants, which also offers a resource for writers to self-identify against such stereotypes.
Keywords: lifestyle migration; British migration; corpus linguistics; Appraisal; media discourse.