美国俚语的特征分析.docx

美国俚语的特征分析.docx

《美国俚语的特征分析.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《美国俚语的特征分析.docx（4页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

美国俚语的特征分析

邯郸学院外国语学院

SchoolofForeignLanguagesofHandanCollege

论文题目：

美国俚语的特征分析

Title：

AnAnalysisofCharacteristicsofAmericanSlang

AnAnalysisofCharacteristicsofAmericanSlang

Abstract:

Withthedevelopmentofthesociety,slangiswidelyusedbymoreandmorepeople,especiallyinAmerica,slangcanbefoundfavorableintheAmericans’eyes.SlanghasgraduallybecomepopularamongEnglishspeakers,sinceitappearedinEnglishlanguageinthe16thcentury.ItisverypopularintheEnglish-speakingcountriesnowadays.RichandcolorfulslangisanimportantcomponentinEnglish.However,itisdifficultforpeopletounderstand.Therefore,itisnecessaryforustostudyit.TohaveaglimpseintothenatureofEnglishslangishelpfultounderstand.ThisthesisexpoundsthecharacteristicsofEnglishslang.ItconcludesthatslangisplayingamoreandmoreimportantroleinthesocietyofEnglish-speaking.

Keywords:

slangcharacteristicsAmerican

Introduction

Slangisaratherspecialparole.Itisneitherthewordthatbeyondtheregularroleofgrammaticalusage,norruraldialect.Althoughitisquitedifferentfromacrolectwhichusedontheformaloccasion,peoplequiteliketouseitindailyspeech.Thatistosay,slangcanbedefinedtocommoncolloquiallanguage,andslangisusuallyusedascolloquialwordsandphrase.Inotherwords,slangisNonstandard-English.Itisbrimmingwithyouthvigor.Itisratheraspokenlanguagethanawrittenone.Unlikestandardlanguage,itdoesnotfromitsowngrammarrules.Mainlyemployedbysub-culturalgroups,slangishighlycolloquial,informalandessentiallynotrespectable.Mostofslangismoreforceful,emotionalorhumorousformsthanstandardwords.Slangisveryinformalandcommonlyusedinspeech.Betweenpeoplefromsamesocialgrouporwhoworktogether,notconsideredsuitableforformalcontextsandoftennotinusedforlong.SlanghasbecomeanindispensablepartofmodernEnglish.Withthepopularityofslang,weshouldknowhowtouseslangandmasteritscharacteristics.

ThispaperintendstomakeatentativestudyonthecharacteristicsofslanginAmerica.

1.HighlyColloquial

Slangishighlycolloquial,non-standardinformallanguage.Beingthequintessenceofcolloquialspeech,slangisalwaysrelatedtoconvenienceratherthantoscientificlaws,grammaticalrulesandphilosophicalideas.Itdoesnotbelongtotheregisteroflanguageusedinformalrecords,epics,poetry,religiousproseandothervarietiesofliterature.Asitoriginatesfromcolloquialspeech,soitflourishesbestincolloquialspeech.

Slang,asawhole,ismainlyemployedineveryday,oralcommunicationsbetweenfriendsandacquaintancesorjustwithinsomespecialgroups.Oninformal,privateoccasions,slangisthefavoritemeansfororalcommunication.Onsomefriendlyoccasion,whenyoutalkinveryformalway,maybeitwillgiveothersafeelingthatyouaretalkingwiththeminacommandingtone.Suchfeelingwillbroadenthedistancebetweenyouandyourfriend.However,whenyouaddsomeproperslanginyourtalking,youcanhavethetalkingatmospheremorefriendlily.

Forexample,apersonwantstogethisfriend’sagreementeagerly.Ifthefriendcanunderstandthespeakers’feelingandhiseagerness,hemaysaythefollowingsentences:

“Iwilldrinkthatsentence.”Itmeans“Idefinitelyagreewithyou.”or“Iwilltoacceptadvice.”Notonlycanthefriendhavehiscompanionrelaxed,butalsoexpresshisagreeableattitude.

2.Transienceofslang’slife

Slangisgenerallytransient.Generallyspeaking,slangspreadsveryquicklyyetitisunstableandtemporary.Thatistosay,slangisthemostunstableelementofEnglishanditslifeexpectancyisgenerallyshort.UsuallyapopularslangoflastyearmaynolongerbeheardthisyearorsomeslangonceusedbyonegenerationmaysoundGreektothenext.Theuseofslangiscloselyrelatedtothecircumstancesinwhichitisused.Oncethecircumstanceschanged,theslangrelevanttoitdisappearstoo.However,notalltheslangwordsdiesoonafteritsbirth.Somelingerondecadeafterdecade,centuryaftercentury,neverbecomingrespectableordyingout.Taketheword

“booze”forexample;itwasusedasslangintheMiddleAges,yetnowitisstillrankedamongslanginsomedictionaries.Theword“dough”,aslangwordformoney,isjustashardlypossibletobecomeastandardwordasiteverwas,thoughnomorerespectable.Manyoldwordshavebeencutoffandalargeamountofnewwordsareaddedtoslang.People’sattitudestowardslangvaryfrompersontoperson.Somethinkthatslangcannotbeusedontheformaloccasion,fortheilliteratepeoplespeakitonlyandtheslangtermsaresocoarse.However,othersholdtheoppositeidea.TheythinkthatslangplayanimportantroleinEnglishlanguage,becauseofitsfresh,lifelike,humorandadequateexpressions.

3.AbundanceofSynonyms

Slangisabundantofsynonyms.Bythephrase“abundantofsynonyms”,itreferstotwophenomena.Oneisthatslangalmostexistssidebysidewithanothermoregeneraltermforthesamething.Forexample,theslangphrase“asluckwouldhaveit”hasbeenusedbysomespeakersinthemeaning“fortunately”.Thedifferencebetween“asluckwouldhaveit”and“fortunately”canbestatedonlyinreferencetothepeoplewhousetheword.Somesay“Asluckwouldhaveit,IfoundexactlywhatIwaslookingfor”,others“Fortunately,IfoundexactlywhatIwaslookingfor”,“Asluckwouldhaveit“isslangand“fortunately”isnot.Because“Asluckwouldhaveit”isusedbylimitedpartofpopulation,whereas,“fortunately”isusedbyeveryone.Itisfoundthatslangcanberegardedaswordsandphrasesorparticularmeaningsofwordsincommoninformaluse,butgenerallyitisnotseenasstandardinalanguagethatusedbyspecifiedexpressionorclass.Itisnaturaltoreferitasthewordsthatarecommonlyused,andcanbeunderstoodbyallpeopleinAmerica.

4.Visualizationoflanguage

Youcanexpressthesamemeaningwiththestandardlanguageaswellasslang.Nevertheless,slangmaybeusedtomakeyourlanguagemorepicturesque.Itrevealssomethingaboutthefeelingorattitudesofthespeaker.Forexample,abosswasveryangrywithhisworkersbecausetheyweredilatoryindoingthings.Toemphasizehisanger,hesays,“Twohoursoffwiththepay,whythehellaretheydraggingtheirtails.Theslang

“dragone’stail”means,“Dosomethingtooslowly”.Thespeaker’sangryisdisplayed.Takeanothercaseforexample“Thomas,asadapple.Canhefinishsuchspecialtask?

”Inhissentence,“sadapple”means“apersonwhoisalwaysdiscouraged”Thespeakerexpresseshisdeepsuspicionwiththeaidofslangbetterthanintheformalway.

Inaword,colloquialismisoneofthecharacteristicsofslang.Itisspokenratherthanwritten.AlthoughmoreandmorewritersmakeuseofAmericanslangofcontemporaryteenagers,nomatterhowmanyslangwordsonecanfindinthenovel,theyareallusedinthedialoguesorconversationofitscharactersinsteadofinthenarrationordescription.Therefore,theyarestill“spoken”thoughinwriting.

Conclusion

Intherecentyears,slanghasbeenchangingwitheachpassingdayandwiththeworld’sdevelopment.Manyoldwordshavedisappearedandlotsofnewwordsareaddedtoslang.Inaword,sinceslang’sappearance,ithasbeengainingrespectfulnessandplaysimportantroleinthesocialstatus.Inthesociallife,eventhewords“hi”and“bye-bye”areslangwords.Therefore,itiswrongifsomeoneneglectslang’sstudyandslangtranslation.Slanghasitsspecialmeansandprinciples.Althoughslangispopularnow,thepeopleshouldselectivelyuseit.Ifitisnotspecialsituationandhasnocontext,wemustnotuseitrandomly.Slangcanexpressdifferentmeaninganddifferentinformation,butwhatitcanperformactuallydependonthelanguagebackground.Ifwedonotconsidertheoccasionoftalking,butonlywanttochoosesomeslangtoshowoutlanguagecharacter,maybeourtalkingwillbethoughtasuncivilandimproper.

Bibliography

DeKlerk,V.Hall.NewDictionaryofAmericanSlang[M].NewYork:

HarperandRow,1986

Rodman.HouseHistoricalDictionaryofAmericanSlang[M].NewYork:

Cambridge,1994

Wentworth,Harold&StuartBergFlexner.DictionaryofAmericanofSlangSecondsupplementedEdition

[M].NewYork:

ThomasYCrowell,1975

Greenough,J.B,G.L.Kittredge,WordsandTheirWaysinEnglishSpeech[M]NewYork:

LongmanGroupLtd.,1985

霍利.美国口语惯用例句集粹[M].北京：

北京大学出版社，1996

“空中英语”编委会.美国俚语精选[M].北京：

机械工业出版社，2003

牛津高阶英汉双解词典[Z].美国：

牛津大学出版社，2002

汪福祥.《英语口语精学本》[J].外文出版社2004

王爵鸾.英语俚语及其风格特征[J].外语学刊，1999

（1）

（注：

可编辑下载，若有不当之处，请指正，谢谢!

）