从文化和语言视角探讨美国俚语文档格式.docx

1、摘 要摘要：美国俚语是一种特殊的语言形式，是美国语言不可缺少的重要组成部分，它反映了文化影响语言的内在作用，还具有其他词汇层所无或不全具备的独特风格，是一种极富文化涵义的词汇，是美国文化的特殊载体。要深入研究美国文化，俚语是重要的手段之一。对于美国俚语的研究可以帮助我们对美国英语及美国文化有更深的理解。该论文将从文化和语言学的角度对美国俚语进行探讨。通过美国俚语透视美国文化及形成该文化的社会土壤。关键词：美国俚语 美国文化 语言特征 文化特点ContentsABSTRACT I摘 要 I1. Introduction 11.1 The Definition of Slang 11.2 The

2、Nature of Slang 11.3the Characteristics of American Slang 11.3.1 Brevity 11.3.2 Novelty 11.3.3 Instability 11.3.4 Plural Synonym 11.4 The Emergence of Slang in the United States 12. The Linguistic Features of American Slang 12.1. Rhetoric Features 12.1.1. Euphemism 12.1.2 Figure of Speech 12.1.3 Hyp

3、erbole 12.2 Semantic Features 12.2.1 Phonetic Humor 12.2.2 Lexical Humor 13. American Slang as a Mirror of American Culture 13.1 Two Characteristics of American Slang Embodied in American Dominant Culture 13.2 Slang as an Insight into a Culture 13.3 Dominant American Cultural Patterns 13.4 Three Ame

4、rican Slang Mapping American Subculture and Counterculture 13.4.1 Introduction of Subculture and its Relationship with American Slang 13.4.2 Introduction of Counterculture and its Relationship with American Slang 14. Conclusion 1Bibliography 1Acknowledgements 11. IntroductionIn America, more and mor

5、e people are partial to using slang in their daily life communication and writing technique. In the past, peoples impression of slang may be that slang is rude, dirty, and indecent; but today, as a highly colloquial speech which has become the most colorful and vivid member of the family of language

6、s. “The vocabulary of an ordinary America is generally estimated at 10,000-20,000 wordsabout 2,000 words are slang, according to the survey conducted by the Oxford University” The number shows the important status of slang in American English, therefore we should eliminate the traditional bias of sl

7、ang. Slang is popular in America because of its freshness, lifelikeness, humor, and it is an effective way of communication; at the same time, it also carries strong cultural implications of America because most slang words come from each sub-cultural group, which reflect their actual life. “it is i

8、mpossible to acquire a thorough knowledge of English without being familiar with slang and vulgarism. It is no exaggeration to say that English learner cant communicate with foreigners at their pleasure without much understanding in American slang. From this point, slang is a bridge for English lear

9、ners to make up the cultural gap, so we should know and treat slang with a correct attitude. There is no such thing as good or bad, right or wrong in language. As a special form of language, its existence is a kind of outcome of culture and history.As a highly colloquial speech, it is especially eff

10、ective on casual and intimate occasions. The attitudes toward slang are also very contradictory among common people especially scholars. Nowadays, more and more people begin their research on slang for its widespread. In this paper, I intend to try to analyze it from various aspects in order to get

11、better understanding of American slang. 1.1 The Definition of SlangThe social and psychological complexities captured in slang vocabulary make the term difficult to define. Slang is easy to use but perhaps the simplest thing is often the hardest to define. Some people even say it is nearly impossibl

12、e to define slang. There have been various definitions of slang its appearance, which are as vivid as slang itself. Some of them are very impressive:“Slang is language which takes off its coat, spits on its hands,-and goes to work”. （Carl Sandburg）. “Slang is the speech of him who robs the literary

13、garbage cans on their way to the dumps” （Ambrose Bierce）. “ A Peculiar kind of vagabond language, always hanging on the outskirts of legitimate speech, but continually straying or forcing its way into the most respectable company, here is a question we have to think before learning the American slan

14、g, that is what should we call slang”. “The diction that results from the favorite game among the young and lively of playing with words and renaming things and actions; some invent new words, or mutilate or misapply the old, for the pleasure of novelty, and others catch up such words for the pleasu

15、re of being in the fashion”. Slang is defined in the SCD as “language, words or phrases of a vigorous, colorful, facetious, or taboo nature, invented for specific occasions, or uses. or derived from the unconventional use of the standard vocabulary.” As slang is used by every class, and as this fact

16、 is now everywhere recognized, the stigma once attached to the word has long since been removed. The more objective definition is offered by The Oxford English Dictionary, “language of a highly colloquial type, considered as below the level of standard educated speech, and considering either of new

17、words or of current words employed in some special sense.”Like the proverbial blind men describing an elephant, all correctly, none sufficiently, the scholars tent to stress one aspect of another of slang. Anyway, its obvious that the attitudes tend to become more moderate, more considerate and more

18、 positive, which is beneficial to the development of slang. From my own perspective, I tend to agree the idea that slang is a kind of language, which is made of words or phrases of a vigorous, colorful, facetious, or taboo nature for people to use in specific occasions, meanwhile, it is also a kind

19、of culture.1.2 The Nature of SlangIt has been said the standard language has enduring nature, but the nature of slang is evanescent. Anyway, the activity, vivacity and vividness of slang are undeniable. “The essence of language,” said Jespersen “is activity”. Olesen and Whittaker, had this to say ab

20、out the nature of slang: “a central attribute of slang, most writers agree, is the rapidly changing character of those new words, old words with new meanings, and half words that some to be thought of as belonging to this category of language”, Greenough and Kittedge noted that slang, so far from be

21、ing a novelty, is the most vital aspect of language, the only speech in which linguistic process can be observed in unrestricted activity.In the opinion of Mencken, the essence of slang is that it is of general dispersion, but still stands outside the accepted canon of the language. Moreover, the ve

22、ry essence of slang is its effective pungency. It is, said McKnight, “a form of colloquial speech created in a spirit of defiance and aiming at freshness and novelty, but preserved in fixed phrases which have become the property of current popular speech, and evidently it must be ephemeral in charac

23、ter. Like novel modes of dress adopted by current fashion, it has its fleeting day, nevertheless as the form of the most interesting phenomena of language. In its daring figures of speech and its creation of new words of transformation of old ones, in its adaptation of foreign material, it exemplifi

24、es in active operation natural processes which enable one better to understand the processes which have served in the creation and shaping of language now accepted as standard”.Since slang is a very particular part of language, its nature also has some peculiarities. As Mencken said, “it is the user

25、 that determines the matter, and particularly the users habitual way of thinking”. And Niceforo had such comment, “sometimes it is feeling or sentiment, sometimes ones profession or trade which determines the nature of ones speech, whether it be standard unconventionalthe specialization that charact

26、erizes every vacation leads naturally to a specialized vocabularywhatever the source, personality and ones surroundings are the two co-efficient, the two chief factors, the determining causes of the nature of slang, as they are of language in general and of style”.So we may assume that the nature of

27、 slang is not easily determined. But its such certainty that it is the colorful and mysterious language, which at least possesses active, novel, witty, pungent and lively nature.1.3 The Characteristics of American Slang 1.3.1 BrevityJust as Flexner（1975） remarks, brevity may not be the soul of Ameri

28、can slang, but it is perhaps the chief feature. It is difficult now to imagine how we got on so long without the word stunt, how they expressed the characteristics so conveniently summed up in dope-fiend or high-brow, or any other possible way of describing that mixture of the cheap pathetic and the

29、 ludicrous which is now universally labeled sob stuff. One slang term can briefly express the meaning which cant be done by one standard usage such as doodle （scribble absent-mindedly） and frisk （make a body search-especially refers to patting or touching someones pockets or places where something c

30、an be hidden and carried about）. As The Dictionary of American Slang demonstrates, slang seems to prefer short words. Many such formations are among their most frequently used slang words. As listed in it, bug has 30 noun meanings, shot 14 noun and 4 adjective meanings, can 11 noun and 6 verb, fish 14 noun, and sack 6 noun, 1 adjective a