On the Origins and Functions of American Slang 美国俚语起缘及其功能分析副本Word下载.docx

On the Origins and Functions of American Slang 美国俚语起缘及其功能分析副本Word下载.docx

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ThispaperelaboratesthereasonofAmericanslangexistencefromtheanglesofhistory,society,psychologyandpersonalityofAmericans.Ontheotherhand,thispaperanalyzestheexistencevalueofAmericanslangfromtheaspectsofrefractionfunctionandusagefunction.Theslangrefractsthediscrepancyofsocialidentity,thetrendoforalEnglishandthelifeofordinarypeople.Atthesametime,itrefractsakindofattitudebywhichthepeopletreatthereality.Itsusagefunctionincludesovercomingthecommunicativebarrierandprovokingthevigoroflanguage.

KeyWords:

Americanculture;

slang;

function

摘 

要

现代美国俚语是一种非书面性语言的创新，是历史和文化的结晶，俚语是客观存在的被许多人经常使用的语言，是词汇中不可或缺的组成部分，已成为及其重要的交际工具。

但它常常留给人粗俗，轻佻的印象。

实际上，作为人们交际工具的语言，本身没有阶级性。

美国俚语发展迅速，它作为美国文化一种特殊的载体，具有浓厚的文化色彩。

本文将从历史，社会，心理以及美国人的性格特征等方面分析了美国俚语产生的原因。

另一方面，又将从俚语的反映功能和使用功能来阐述美国俚语存在的价值。

它反映了一种现实包括语言的身份差异，英语口语的发展方向，普通民众的真实生活。

同时它还反映了一种态度：

人们通过语言而表明自己对现实的态度。

它的使用功能则包括了在使用中克服语言交际障碍，激发语言的活力。

关键词 

:

美国文化;

俚语;

功能

Introduction

InAmerica,moreandmorepeoplearepartialtousingslangintheirdailylifecommunicationandwritingtechnique.Inthepast,people’simpressionofslangmaybethatslangisrude,dirty,andindecent;

buttoday,asahighlycolloquialspeechwhichhasbecomethemostcolorfulandvividmemberofthefamilyoflanguages.“ThevocabularyofanordinaryAmericagenerallyisestimatedat10,000---20,000words…accordingtomyconservativeestimationabout2,000wordsareslang.”（Chapman,R.ed.4）ThenumbershowstheimportantstatusofslanginAmericanEnglish,thereforeweshouldeliminatethetraditionalbiasofslang.SlangispopularinAmericabecauseofitsfreshness,lifelikeness,humor,anditisaneffectivewayofcommunication;

atthesametime,italsocarriesstrongculturalimplicationsofAmericabecausemostslangwordscomefromeachsub-culturalgroup,whichreflecttheiractuallife.“itisimpossibletoacquireathoroughknowledgeofEnglish（orofanyotherlanguage,forthatmatter）withoutbeingfamiliarwithslangandvulgarism.Whoeverisuninitiated…willbeatalosstounderstandmanyofthemasterpiecesofEnglishliterature?

Nay…hewillscarcelybeableeventounderstandanEnglishnewspaper.”（Partridge.73）Asitwere,anEnglishlearnercannotcommunicatewithforeignersattheirpleasurewithoutmuchunderstandinginAmericanslang.Fromthispoint,slangisabridgeforEnglishlearnerstomakeuptheculturalgap,soweshouldknowandtreatslangwithacorrectattitude.Thereisnosuchthingasgoodorbad,rightorwronginlanguage.Asaspecialformoflanguage,itsexistenceisakindofoutcomeofcultureandhistory.

Asahighlycolloquialspeech,itisespeciallyeffectiveoncasualandintimateoccasions.Theattitudestowardslangarealsoverycontradictoryamongcommonpeopleespeciallyscholars.Nowadays,moreandmorepeoplebegintheirresearchonslangforitswidespread.Inthispaper,theauthoristryingtoanalyzetheoriginsandfunctionsofAmericanslangfromvariousaspects,suchashistory,psychologyetc.Firstly,thepaperwillexpoundthedefinitionofslang,intheauthor’smind,slangislikejeanswhichhasbeenwidelyacceptedbymostofAmericans.Althoughthejeanscannotbewornintothemagnificentparty,itispleasurable,comfortable,freeandhasbeenpopularinthewholeAmericaeventheworld.Itisthemythinthecapriciousfashioncircle.Slangisthemythinthelanguagekingdomjustasjeans.

.Secondly,thepaperwillexpoundtheoriginofslang;

scholarsdifferintheirdescriptionsoftheoriginofslang.Butmostofthemfocusononeaspect,suchasDaiXiaobinandWeiZhizhong（2003）analyzetheoriginofslangonthebaseofsocietybutignoreotherfactors.Theauthortendstoanalyzetheoriginofslangfromvariousangles,history,society,psychology.Similarly,onthefunctionsofslang,thescholarsHuJiaying（2003）,LiuJinmei（2005）expoundthefunctionofslangfromsocialfunctions.TheauthorwillanalyzetheexistencevalueofAmericanslangfromtheaspectsofrefractionfunctionandusagefunction.Theslangrefractsthediscrepancyofsocialidentity,thetrendoforalEnglishandthelifeofordinarypeople.Atthesametime,itrefractsakindofattitudethatthepeopletreatthereality.Itsusagefunctionincludesovercomingthecommunicativebarrierandprovokingthevigoroflanguage.

Sotheauthorwandermoreandmorepeoplecaneliminatetheirabusesofslanganddrawuphowvivid,poetic,convenientandcolorfulslangis.AbetterunderstandingofAmericanslangandsomenewanddeepimpressionofitmaybeachieved.

.

Ⅰ．TheDefinitionofSlang

Asforslang,itisnearlyimpossibletobedefinedclearlyandtherehasbeendifferentdefinitionsandmanycontroversies.Wecanrefertosomeofthemtogiveusaspecialinsightintoourunderstandingofslang.ThemoreauthoritativeandobjectivedefinitionisofferedbyTheoxfordEnglishDictionary,“languageofahighlycolloquialtype,consideredasbelowthelevelofstandardeducatedspeech,andconsistingeitherofnewwordsorofcurrentemployedinsomespecialsense.”;

“language,wordsorphrasesofavigorous,colorful,facetious,ortaboonature,inventedforspecificoccasions,oruseofthestandardvocabulary”isdefinedbytheSCD.Atthesametime,somescholarsgiveusmanymorevividandimpressivedescriptions.“Slangislanguagewhichtakesoffitscoat,spitonitshands-andgoestowork（Carl.23）;

“slangisthespeechofhimwhorobstheliterarygarbagecansontheirwaytothedumps”（AmbroseBierce.4）“Apeculiarkindofvagabondlanguage,alwayshangingontheoutskirtsoflegitimatespeech,butcontinuallystrayingorforcingitswayintothemostrespectablecompanyiswhatwecallslang.”（GreenoughandKittredge.55）.Inthefaceofmanyvariousdefinitions,it’sdifficulttogiveusanaccuratedefinitionofslang;

meanwhile,thereisnocriterionforustodistinguishslang.Somepeoplewillthinkslangisthesynonymofvulgarandunmeaninglanguage,whichiscommonlyusedbylowsocialgroupsanduneducatedpeople,andtheupperclassshouldrefuseusingslang;

anotherpeoplemaythinkslangiseasytosayandconvenienttocommunicationforitsfree,humorous,relaxedstyles,evensomepeopleholdthattake‘Americanslang’inplaceof‘AmericanEnglish’foritspopularity.ThefeatureofinformalitydistinguishslangfromthestandardEnglishandwritinglanguage,thewideusagetellsslangfromjargon,cant,argotwhichareonlyusedamongsomespecialsocialgroups.AlthoughmanypeopleandEnglishlearnerstendtothinkslangisa‘languagewastes’,wecannotjudgethatslangisgoodorbadjustaswecannotcometoconcludeamanisanangeloradevil.Agoodmanalsohassomeshortcomings;

onthecontrary,abadmanhashisownmerits.Infact,itisalsohardtodistinguishwhetherawordbelongstoslangornotfromtheanglesoflinguisticsandpragmatics.Forexample,‘bread’meansakindoffoodasastandardEnglish,butrefersto‘money’asaslangword;

‘sweat’becomes‘trouble’asaslangwordfromitsoriginalmeaning‘liquidwhichcomesoutthroughyourskinwhenyouarehotorfrightened’asastandardEnglish;

theformerslang‘ok’becomesthestandardEnglishforitshigh-frequentusage.Mostly,somewordshavetwocharacters,theyarestandardEnglishinsomecontext,butexpressanotherdifferentmeaningasaslangundersomegivensituation;

thisisthemainreasonforustohavenostandarddefinitionofslang,evenintheauthoritativedictionaries.Sometimes,thereisalittledistancebetweenslangandotherlanguageforms.Anyway,ourattitudestoslangshouldbetendtomoreobjective,moderate,considerate,whichisbeneficialforustohaveagoodgripofslang.Asforme,slangcomesfromtheusuallife,isthereflectionandmirrorofthesubculturegroups,theordinarypeople,thespecialcommunities;

itistheproductsofsocialcultureinspecificperiod,theinnovationoflanguagespeech;

slangjustlikethejeanswhichhasbeenwidelyacceptedbymostofAmericans.Althoughthejeanscannotbewornintothemagnificentparty,itispleasurable,comfortable,freeandhasbeenpopularinthewholeAmericaeventheworld.Itisthemythinthecapriciousfashioncircle.Slangisthemythinthelanguagekingdomjustasjeans.

Ⅱ．TheOriginofSlang

A．History

Inthe‘WestwardMovement’of19century,manyAmericasmovedtothewestwhichcausedlarge-scalemigration.TheAmericangovernmentpayslessattentiontothe‘standardEnglish’andstandardizestheEnglish.ThehistoryofAmericaisnotaslongasothercountries,soithasnottraditionalrestrictiontothepeople’slanguageform,whichisdifferentfromBritishpeoplewhostressontheso-called‘theking’sEnglish’.Therefore,thedialectandthejargonofeachlevelaremixedtogether,andwhichspreadquicklyamongthemajority.Suchdialectandjargonevolvedtheslanglittlebylittlefortheirwideusage.

B．Society

Americaiscalledthe‘meltingpot’.TothepolarizeAmericaopinion,thereisnothingquitelikesubjectofimmigration.Americaisanewlyemergingcountrywhichiscomposedofmanyvari