1、美国俚语概述美国俚语-美国社会与文化的镜子American Slang-A Mirror of American Society and Culture 作者：王婷Author: Wang Ting专业：英语Major: English班级：200505Class: 200505指导老师：李君文副教授Supervisor: Assistant Prof. Li Junwen完稿日期：2009年2月Date of Completion: February, 2009ContentsAbstract.摘要.Introduction.Chapter One The Features of Ameri
2、can Slang.1.1 Definition of Slang.1.2 Being Highly colloquial.1.3 Brevity.1.4 Novelty.1.5 Instability.Chapter Two American Slang and American Subculture Groups.2.1 Language and Culture.2.2 Characters of Americans.2.3 Origin of American Slang.2.4 American Subculture Groups.2.4.1 Drug Culture and Its
3、Slang.2.4.2 Gay Culture and Its Slang.2.4.3 College Students Culture and Its Slang.2.4.4 Army Culture and Its Slang.Chapter Three Status Quo of American Slang.3.1 Attitude to American Slang.3.2 The Future of American Slang.Conclusion.Bibliography.Acknowledgements.AbstractAmerican slang is one of the
4、 language varieties in English language. It used to be considered as low, vulgar language, which ought not to be admitted as legitimate language. But there is a strong relationship between language and culture, and even the society. One language could just come into being in a very society and cultu
5、re. American slang words manifest American culture and characters of American people. With the development of globalization, economy and social system, American slang gets more and more influential. This thesis puts American slang under the discussion of language and culture, and can help us achieve
6、 better understanding of American culture and society. The first part of this thesis talks about the basic perspective and features of slang, which gives us a brief introduction to American slang. The second part of this thesis is the keystone. In this part, we will analyze the relationship of langu
7、age and culture and the sub-culture groups in America. Along with the discussion, we will get clearer understanding of the origin of American slang, and get further knowledge of the development of American culture and society. In the last part of this thesis, discussion will be focused on the status
8、 quo of American slang and the attitude people hold to it.Key words: American slang, origin, sub-culture groups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
9、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
10、IntroductionAs English major, I have to learn many new words everyday. When I see a new word, I just simply remember its pronunciation and meaning, but ignore the origin of it, especially when it is labeled as slang. I think it is common among the students, even among some English teachers. During a
11、ll these years of my English learning, my teachers have merely explained what slang really means. Since I realized it, I decided to study on it. The more I studied it，the more I was interested in it. And the more I was interested in it，the more I wanted to know about it. Therefore，I collected the ma
12、terials about slang. I feel the need to make it clear to myself, as well as to the students learning English like me，and it is this need that pushed me ahead in this direction. We may safely argue that the correct use and understanding of English slang can better the communication between two speake
13、rs，especially between the native English speakers and the English language learners. This thesis puts American slang under the discussion of language and culture, and can help us achieve better understanding of American culture and society. Slang originally denoted cant, or the restricted speech of
14、the low，often criminal classes of society. However，the idea of slang gradually evolved to denote more sub cultural speech，both high and low，as well as more general but unconventional vocabulary. American slang has been examined and discussed by many scholars in their respective fields of research. B
15、ased on the past research on American slang，my thesis aims to propose an alternative approach. It focuses on the origin of American slang and the major using groupsAmerican subculture groups. Through this we can get a clearer and closer insight of American slang.Chapter 1 Features of American Slang1
16、.1 Definition of SlangWhat is slang? As a rough-and-ready label for an abstraction that encourages as much appreciation as dispraise，slang has frequently inspired discordant，sometimes antagonistic，definitions. The public employs the term simply as a synonym for a subjectively “bad” English. It may w
17、ell be that the word most often appears in the parental admonition “Dont slang!” . No commonly accepted definition of slang has won much favor among linguists，who mostly regard the boundaries between slang and other levels of discourse as too insubstantial for analysis. Yet different interpretations
18、 of the word slang do not come about because it designates an exterior phenomenon of ineffable or elusive qualities; they arise instead because the interpreters-dictionary makers，schoolteachers，and arbiters of diction-differ in their preconceptions about language，view language from varying angles，an
19、d examine it for very different purposes. Items as dissimilar as snack bar，aint，gentrification，sandwich，bikini，redcoat，daterape，motel，and wuss have now and again been cited as slang or former slang by various commentators，as has the interjectional say!(“Oh，say，can you see by the dawns early light?)，
20、a claim that lumped with all the others. In deriving a definition of slang so as to limit the scope of the present work and to keep its contents as much of a piece as possible，we may define slang briefly as: an informal，non-standard，non technical vocabulary composed chiefly of novel-sounding synonym
21、s for standard words and phrases . But slang has a vital social dimension as well: it turns up especially in the derisive speech play of youthful，raffish，or undignified persons and groups; and partly owing to this and partly because of the unconventional images slang often evokes，the use of slang of
22、ten carries with it striking overtones of impertinence or irreverence，especially for idealized values and attitudes within the prevailing culture. Often too，the use of slang suggests, as standard speech can not，an intimate familiarity with a referential object or idea(compare，for example，the differe
23、nce between professional dancer and hoofer, wait tables and sling hash，prison and the joint，beer and sude，intellectual and wonk).The use of slang also suggests something about the slang orientation to the interlocutor. It implies that the other person identifies fully with the speakers attitudes. In
24、 fact，a truly unexpurgated collection of slang reminds us that the world of discourse，like the world of sense，is savage as well as sublime. For slang，romanticized as ”the poetry of everyday life”，has a regrettable side too，a side often stupidly coarse and provocative. The cultural focus of slang in
25、Britain，America，Australia，and else where as an adversary of dignity and taste has always inclined toward the ignoble.Slang even in a restricted sense is a rowdy category; its existence hinges entirely on its contrast with a cultivated standard lexicon. Without the contrast of a recognized standard v
26、ocabulary, any basis for distinguishing slang from something else disappears. This is not to say that the entire populace must be equally discerning of that standard，stillness that the lowest common denominator of taste be consulted when judging the status of a given expression. Public education and continual exposure to mass media have presumably sensitized all of Americans to verbal and stylistic nuance more thoroughly than could any phenomena of prior centuries，and so the slang effect remains salient especially for those whose training or experience has encouraged them to attend clos
