American SlangA Mirror of American Society and Culture美国俚语美国社会与文化的镜子.docx

American SlangA Mirror of American Society and Culture美国俚语美国社会与文化的镜子.docx

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AmericanSlangAMirrorofAmericanSocietyandCulture美国俚语美国社会与文化的镜子

美国俚语---美国社会与文化的镜子

AmericanSlang----AMirrorofAmericanSocietyandCulture

Contents

Abstract...................................................................................................

摘要...............................................................................................................

Introduction..................................................................................................

ChapterOneTheFeaturesofAmericanSlang.........................................

1.1DefinitionofSlang...........................................................................

1.2BeingHighlycolloquial...........................................................................

1.3Brevity...................................................................................................

1.4Novelty..................................................................................................

1.5Instability...............................................................................................

ChapterTwoAmericanSlangandAmericanSubcultureGroups..........

2.1LanguageandCulture..............................................................................

2.2CharactersofAmericans..........................................................................

2.3OriginofAmericanSlang........................................................................

2.4AmericanSubcultureGroups...................................................................

2.4.1DrugCultureandItsSlang...................................................................

2.4.2GayCultureandItsSlang.....................................................................

2.4.3CollegeStudentsCultureandItsSlang................................................

2.4.4ArmyCultureandItsSlang...................................................................

ChapterThreeStatusQuoofAmericanSlang..........................

3.1AttitudetoAmericanSlang...............................................................

3.2TheFutureofAmericanSlang.................................................................

Conclusion....................................................................................................

Bibliography.................................................................................................

Acknowledgements......................................................................................

Abstract

AmericanslangisoneofthelanguagevarietiesinEnglishlanguage.Itusedtobeconsideredaslow,vulgarlanguage,whichoughtnottobeadmittedaslegitimatelanguage.Butthereisastrongrelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture,andeventhesociety.Onelanguagecouldjustcomeintobeinginaverysocietyandculture.AmericanslangwordsmanifestAmericancultureandcharactersofAmericanpeople.Withthedevelopmentofglobalization,economyandsocialsystem,Americanslanggetsmoreandmoreinfluential.ThisthesisputsAmericanslangunderthediscussionoflanguageandculture,andcanhelpusachievebetterunderstandingofAmericancultureandsociety.Thefirstpartofthisthesistalksaboutthebasicperspectiveandfeaturesofslang,whichgivesusabriefintroductiontoAmericanslang.Thesecondpartofthisthesisisthekeystone.Inthispart,wewillanalyzetherelationshipoflanguageandcultureandthesub-culturegroupsinAmerica.Alongwiththediscussion,wewillgetclearerunderstandingoftheoriginofAmericanslang,andgetfurtherknowledgeofthedevelopmentofAmericancultureandsociety.Inthelastpartofthisthesis,discussionwillbefocusedonthestatusquoofAmericanslangandtheattitudepeopleholdtoit.

Keywords:

Americanslang,origin,sub-culturegroups

摘要

语言和社会文化是相互影响的。

俚语是语言的变体，也是社会文化的一种变体，在美国英语中扮演着举足轻重的角色。

从语言学或社会学的角度看对俚语进行分析和研究都是极其有价值的工作。

俚语不仅仅是重要的交际工具,同时还蕴含着丰富的文化涵义。

随着传播媒介的高度发展，美国俚语也会随着美国英语的发展而发展，因此美国俚语可以作为一面反映美国社会镜子，帮助我们对美国以至西方语言和社会文化更深刻的了解。

本论文将从社会与文化角度探讨美国俚语，通过对文化、社会和语言关系的探讨来讨论美国俚语在美国社会和文化中的重要作用。

本文拟从，讨论美国俚语的定义及特点入手。

使我们对美国俚语有一个具体而准确的认识，为后面部分的深入讨论做好铺垫。

第二部分是本论文的重点部分。

讨论美国俚语的主要使用群体，即美国社会亚文化团体，深入探讨俚语在亚文化团体中产生并兴盛的历史文化根源。

通过这一系列的探讨，说明美国俚语是美国文化和社会的特有产物。

第三部分就美国俚语的现状及发展趋势稍作分析。

对许多学者专家，英语教师及社会大众对俚语所持的态度以及态度的转变也有所涉及，说明美国俚语地位的转变。

关键词：

美国俚语，起源，亚文化团体

Introduction

AsEnglishmajor,Ihavetolearnmanynewwordseveryday.WhenIseeanewword,Ijustsimplyrememberitspronunciationandmeaning,butignoretheoriginofit,especiallywhenitislabeledasslang.Ithinkitiscommonamongthestudents,evenamongsomeEnglishteachers.DuringalltheseyearsofmyEnglishlearning,myteachershavemerelyexplainedwhatslangreallymeans.SinceIrealizedit,Idecidedtostudyonit.ThemoreIstudiedit，themoreIwasinterestedinit.AndthemoreIwasinterestedinit，themoreIwantedtoknowaboutit.Therefore，Icollectedthematerialsaboutslang.Ifeeltheneedtomakeitcleartomyself,aswellastothestudentslearningEnglishlikeme，anditisthisneedthatpushedmeaheadinthisdirection.

WemaysafelyarguethatthecorrectuseandunderstandingofEnglishslangcanbetterthecommunicationbetweentwospeakers，especiallybetweenthenativeEnglishspeakersandtheEnglishlanguagelearners.

ThisthesisputsAmericanslangunderthediscussionoflanguageandculture,andcanhelpusachievebetterunderstandingofAmericancultureandsociety.Slangoriginallydenotedcant,ortherestrictedspeechofthelow，oftencriminalclassesofsociety.However，theideaofslanggraduallyevolvedtodenotemoresubculturalspeech，bothhighandlow，aswellasmoregeneralbutunconventionalvocabulary.

Americanslanghasbeenexaminedanddiscussedbymanyscholarsintheirrespectivefieldsofresearch.BasedonthepastresearchonAmericanslang，mythesisaimstoproposeanalternativeapproach.ItfocusesontheoriginofAmericanslangandthemajorusinggroups—Americansubculturegroups.ThroughthiswecangetaclearerandcloserinsightofAmericanslang.

Chapter1FeaturesofAmericanSlang

1.1DefinitionofSlang

Whatisslang?

Asarough-and-readylabelforanabstractionthatencouragesasmuchappreciationasdispraise，slanghasfrequentlyinspireddiscordant，sometimesantagonistic，definitions.Thepublicemploysthetermsimplyasasynonymforasubjectively“bad”English.Itmaywellbethatthewordmostoftenappearsintheparentaladmonition“Don’tslang!

”.Nocommonlyaccepteddefinitionofslanghaswonmuchfavoramonglinguists，whomostlyregardtheboundariesbetweenslangandotherlevelsofdiscourseastooinsubstantialforanalysis.Yetdifferentinterpretationsofthewordslangdonotcomeaboutbecauseitdesignatesanexteriorphenomenonofineffableorelusivequalities;theyariseinsteadbecausetheinterpreters---dictionarymakers，schoolteachers，andarbitersofdiction---differintheirpreconceptionsaboutlanguage，viewlanguagefromvaryingangles，andexamineitforverydifferentpurposes.Itemsasdissimilarassnackbar，ain’t，gentrification，sandwich，bikini，redcoat，daterape，motel，andwusshavenowandagainbeencitedasslangorformerslangbyvariouscommentators，ashastheinterjectionalsay!

（“Oh，say，canyouseebythedawn’searlylight…?

），aclaimthatlumpedwithalltheothers.

　Inderivingadefinitionofslangsoastolimitthescopeofthepresentworkandtokeepitscontentsasmuchofapieceaspossible，wemaydefineslangbrieflyas:

aninformal，non-standard，nontechnicalvocabularycomposedchieflyofnovel-soundingsynonymsforstandardwordsandphrases.

Butslanghasavitalsocialdimensionaswell:

itturnsupespeciallyinthederisivespeechplayofyouthful，raffish，orundignifiedpersonsandgroups;andpartlyowingtothisandpartlybecauseoftheunconventionalimagesslangoftenevokes，theuseofslangoftencarrieswithitstrikingovertonesofimpertinenceorirreverence，especiallyforidealizedvaluesandattitudeswithintheprevailingculture.Oftentoo，theuseofslangsuggests,asstandardspeechcannot，anintimatefamiliaritywithareferentialobjectoridea（compare，forexample，thedifferencebetweenprofessionaldancerandhoofer,waittablesandslinghash，prisonandthejoint，beerandsude，intellectualandwonk）.

Theuseofslangalsosuggestssomethingabouttheslangorientationtotheinterlocutor.Itimpliesthattheotherpersonidentifiesfullywiththespeaker’sattitudes.

　Infact，atrulyunexpurgatedcollectionofslangremindsusthattheworldofdiscourse，liketheworldofsense，issavageaswellassublime.Forslang，romanticizedas”thepoetryofeverydaylife”，hasaregrettablesidetoo，asideoftenstupidlycoarseandprovocative.TheculturalfocusofslanginBritain，America，Australia，andelsewhereasanadversaryofdignityandtastehasalwaysinclinedtowardtheignoble.

　　Slangeveninarestrictedsenseisarowdycategory;itsexistencehingesentirelyonitscontrastwithacultivatedstandardlexicon.Withoutthecontrastofarecognizedstandardvocabulary,anybasisfordistinguishingslangfromsomethingelsedisappears.Thisisnottosaythattheentirepopulacemustbeequallydiscerningofthatstandard，stillnessthatthelowestcommondenominatoroftastebeconsultedwhenjudgingthestatusofagivenexpression.PubliceducationandcontinualexposuretomassmediahavepresumablysensitizedallofAmericanstoverbalandstylisticnuancemorethoroughlythancouldanyphenomenaofpriorcenturies，andsotheslangeffectremainssalientespeciallyforthosewhosetrainingorexperiencehasencouragedthemtoattendcloselytoverbalnuanceingeneral.

1.2BeingHighlyColloquial

Slangisalwaysdefinedasanon-standardinformallinguis