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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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
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