1、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, 20091ContentsAbstract.摘要.IntroductionChapter One The
2、Features of American Slang.1.1 Definition of Slang.1.2 Being Highly colloquial.1.3 Brevity.1.4 Novelty1.5 Instability.Chapter Two American Slang and American Subculture Groups2.1 Language and Culture2.2 Characters of Americans2.3 Origin of American Slang2.4 American Subculture Groups.2.4.1 Drug Cult
3、ure and Its Slang.2.4.2 Gay Culture and Its Slang.2.4.3 College Students Culture and Its Slang2.4.4 Army Culture and Its Slang.Chapter Three Status Quo of American Slang3.1 Attitude to American Slang.3.2 The Future of American Slang.ConclusionBibliography.Acknowledgements2AbstractAmerican slang is o
4、ne of the 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
5、and culture. 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 u
6、s achieve 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
7、 of language 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 t
8、he status quo of American slang and the attitude people hold to it.Key words: American slang, origin, sub-culture groups3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
9、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
10、语，起源，亚文化团体4IntroductionAs 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 teacher
11、s. During all 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 coll
12、ected the materials 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 betwee
13、n two speakers，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 restricte
14、d speech of 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
15、 research. Based 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 groups5American subculture groups. Through this we can get a clearer and closer insight of American slang.6Chapter 1 Features of A
16、merican Slang1.1 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” Eng
17、lish. It may well 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
18、interpretations 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 v
19、arying angles，and 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
20、the dawns early light?)，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 o
21、f novel-sounding synonyms for standard words and phrases .7But 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 ev
22、okes，the use of slang often 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
23、，for example，the difference 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
24、 the speakers attitudes.In 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
25、cultural focus of slang in 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
26、 of a recognized standard vocabulary, 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 expre
27、ssion. Public education and continual exposure 8to 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 encourage
28、d them to attend closely to verbal nuance in general.1.2 Being Highly ColloquialSlang is always defined as a non-standard informal linguistic variety， as Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English does:“ words and phrases，or particular meanings of these，that are in common or in formal use，but gene
29、rally considered not to form part of standard English，and often used for picturesqueness or novelty or unconventionality”. This definition clearly informs us that slang is a highly informal and colloquial form of language.Slang and colloquial expressions come in different forms: single words, compou
30、nd words, simple phrases, idioms, and complete sentences. Slang is rarely the first choice of careful writers or speakers or any one attempting to use language for formal, persuasive or business purposes. Nonetheless, expressions that can be called slang or colloquial make up a major part of America
31、n communication in movies, television, radio, newspaper, magazines and informal conversations.1.3BrevityBrevity may not be the soul of American slang, but it is perhaps the chief feature. This is attained either by Apo cope, as in vamp for vampire, mult for multtonhead, fan for fanatic (apparently),
32、 ect, or by the substitution of an expressive monosyllable or compound of monosyllables for a longer word or description. Simp (stupid persons), veep (vice 9president), classy (fashionable), etc, are brief and easy to speak out. When they defined a communist as either a crank or a crook, the subject
33、 is really exhausted. 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 ludicrous which is now un
34、iversally labeled sobstuff. 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 can be hidden and carried ab
35、out). As The Dictionary of American Slang demonstrates, slang seems to prefer short words, especially monosyllables. 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 1
36、4 noun, and sack 8 noun, 1 adjective and 1 verb meanings. 1.4 NoveltySlang is 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 ot
37、hers catch up such words for the pleasure of being in the fashion. For example, live wire, smoke eater and flying coffin refer to “living man”, “fireman”, “plane” respectively. These similes are so novel and vivid that they cant be made without good imagination, while think-machine (brain), sparkler
38、 (diamond), pickers I (hands), canned music (musical disk) are more vivid and expressive. Sometimes slang words are 10invented by a few people for the pleasure of novelty and imitated by others who like to be in fashion. A mouthpiece (or legal beagle), pencil pusher, sawbones, boneyard, bottle washe
39、r, or a course on biochemistry, are more vivid and forceful than a lawyer, clerk, doctor, cemetery, laboratory assistant, or a course in biochemistry and is much more real and less formidable than a legal counsel, junior executive, surgeon, necropolis (or memorial park), laboratory technician, or a
40、course in biological chemistry. 1.5 InstabilityWhereas the words which form the backbone of the language have for the most part had a life more than a thousand years and still show no signs of failing variety, it is unusual for slang words to remain in use for more than a few years, though some slan
41、g terms serve a useful purpose and so pass into the standard language. The vocabulary of slang changes rapidly: what is new and exciting for one generation is old-fashioned for the next. Old slang often either drifts into obsolescence or becomes accepted into the standard language, losing its eccent
42、ric color. Flapper for instance, started life in the late nineteenth century as a slang term for a young unconventional or lively woman, but subsequently moved into the general language as a specific term for such a vogue woman of the 1920s. Similarly, the use of gay in the sense homosexual has its
43、roots firmly in slang of the 1930s, but is now widely accepted as standard terminology. Generally speaking ,people seldom know that the words jeep, babysitter, cold war were originally slang words, nor do they know slang words as ABC, bus, lab, brunch , have become standard usage or colloquialism.11
44、Chapter 2 American Slang and American Subculture Groups2.1 Language and cultureCulture is whatever one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its member, and to do in any role that they accept for any one of themselves. Culture is thus whatever a person must know in ord
45、er to function in a particular society, including language and conventional behavioral norm that a person must follow or that other people in the society accept you to follow, to get through the task of daily living.Language and culture are closely related to each other: the understanding of one req
46、uires the understanding of the other. One long-standing claim concerning the relationship between language and culture is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis，which in essence states “language is a guide to social reality and implies that it is not implying a means of reporting experience but，more importantly
47、，a way of defining experience”(Samovar and Porter,1995:153).However, the strong claim of the hypothesis has met with much criticism. Less controversial is the one-way relationship that operates on the opposite directionthe effect of society on language，and the way in which environment is reflected i
48、n language.Thus, language and culture are in a dialectical relationship: language is an integral part of culture and influenced by culture. It is the primary vehicle by which a culture transmits its beliefs, values and norms. Yet, language is not a passive reflector of culture. Even assuming that cu
49、lture is 12in many cases the first cause in the language-culture relationship, language as the effect in the first link of the causal chain will in turn be the next link, reinforcing and preserving beliefs and customs and conditioning their future course.Therefore, language and culture are inseparably intertwined. Language is essentially rooted in the reality of the culture, and it can not be explained without constant reference to the broader context of verbal utterance.2.2Characters of AmericansThe first feature of Americans is optimism. The United States boasts its
