An Analysis of Characteristics of American Slang美国俚语的特征分析.docx

An Analysis of Characteristics of American Slang美国俚语的特征分析.docx

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AnAnalysisofCharacteristicsofAmericanSlang美国俚语的特征分析

邯郸学院外国语学院

SchoolofForeignLanguagesofHandanCollege

论文题目：

美国俚语的特征分析

Title：

AnAnalysisofCharacteristicsofAmericanSlang

AnAnalysisofCharacteristicsofAmericanSlang

Abstract:

Withthedevelopmentofthesociety,slangiswidelyusedbymoreandmorepeople,especiallyinAmerica,slangcanbefoundfavorableintheAmericans’eyes.SlanghasgraduallybecomepopularamongEnglishspeakers,sinceitappearedinEnglishlanguageinthe16thcentury.ItisverypopularintheEnglish-speakingcountriesnowadays.RichandcolorfulslangisanimportantcomponentinEnglish.However,itisdifficultforpeopletounderstand.Therefore,itisnecessaryforustostudyit.TohaveaglimpseintothenatureofEnglishslangishelpfultounderstand.ThisthesisexpoundsthecharacteristicsofEnglishslang.ItconcludesthatslangisplayingamoreandmoreimportantroleinthesocietyofEnglish-speaking.

Keywords:

slangcharacteristicsAmerican

Introduction

Slangisaratherspecialparole.Itisneitherthewordthatbeyondtheregularroleofgrammaticalusage,norruraldialect.Althoughitisquitedifferentfromacrolectwhichusedontheformaloccasion,peoplequiteliketouseitindailyspeech.Thatistosay,slangcanbedefinedtocommoncolloquiallanguage,andslangisusuallyusedascolloquialwordsandphrase.Inotherwords,slangisNonstandard-English.Itisbrimmingwithyouthvigor.Itisratheraspokenlanguagethanawrittenone.Unlikestandardlanguage,itdoesnotfromitsowngrammarrules.Mainlyemployedbysub-culturalgroups,slangishighlycolloquial,informalandessentiallynotrespectable.Mostofslangismoreforceful,emotionalorhumorousformsthanstandardwords.Slangisveryinformalandcommonlyusedinspeech.Betweenpeoplefromsamesocialgrouporwhoworktogether,notconsideredsuitableforformalcontextsandoftennotinusedforlong.SlanghasbecomeanindispensablepartofmodernEnglish.Withthepopularityofslang,weshouldknowhowtouseslangandmasteritscharacteristics.ThispaperintendstomakeatentativestudyonthecharacteristicsofslanginAmerica.

1.HighlyColloquial

Slangishighlycolloquial,non-standardinformallanguage.Beingthequintessenceofcolloquialspeech,slangisalwaysrelatedtoconvenienceratherthantoscientificlaws,grammaticalrulesandphilosophicalideas.Itdoesnotbelongtotheregisteroflanguageusedinformalrecords,epics,poetry,religiousproseandothervarietiesofliterature.Asitoriginatesfromcolloquialspeech,soitflourishesbestincolloquialspeech.

Slang,asawhole,ismainlyemployedineveryday,oralcommunicationsbetweenfriendsandacquaintancesorjustwithinsomespecialgroups.Oninformal,privateoccasions,slangisthefavoritemeansfororalcommunication.Onsomefriendlyoccasion,whenyoutalkinveryformalway,maybeitwillgiveothersafeelingthatyouaretalkingwiththeminacommandingtone.Suchfeelingwillbroadenthedistancebetweenyouandyourfriend.However,whenyouaddsomeproperslanginyourtalking,youcanhavethetalkingatmospheremorefriendlily.

Forexample,apersonwantstogethisfriend’sagreementeagerly.Ifthefriendcanunderstandthespeakers’feelingandhiseagerness,hemaysaythefollowingsentences:

“Iwilldrinkthatsentence.”Itmeans“Idefinitelyagreewithyou.”or“Iwilltoacceptadvice.”Notonlycanthefriendhavehiscompanionrelaxed,butalsoexpresshisagreeableattitude.

2.Transienceofslang’slife

Slangisgenerallytransient.Generallyspeaking,slangspreadsveryquicklyyetitisunstableandtemporary.Thatistosay,slangisthemostunstableelementofEnglishanditslifeexpectancyisgenerallyshort.UsuallyapopularslangoflastyearmaynolongerbeheardthisyearorsomeslangonceusedbyonegenerationmaysoundGreektothenext.Theuseofslangiscloselyrelatedtothecircumstancesinwhichitisused.Oncethecircumstanceschanged,theslangrelevanttoitdisappearstoo.However,notalltheslangwordsdiesoonafteritsbirth.Somelingerondecadeafterdecade,centuryaftercentury,neverbecomingrespectableordyingout.Taketheword“booze”forexample;itwasusedasslangintheMiddleAges,yetnowitisstillrankedamongslanginsomedictionaries.Theword“dough”,aslangwordformoney,isjustashardlypossibletobecomeastandardwordasiteverwas,thoughnomorerespectable.Manyoldwordshavebeencutoffandalargeamountofnewwordsareaddedtoslang.People’sattitudestowardslangvaryfrompersontoperson.Somethinkthatslangcannotbeusedontheformaloccasion,fortheilliteratepeoplespeakitonlyandtheslangtermsaresocoarse.However,othersholdtheoppositeidea.TheythinkthatslangplayanimportantroleinEnglishlanguage,becauseofitsfresh,lifelike,humorandadequateexpressions.

3.AbundanceofSynonyms

Slangisabundantofsynonyms.Bythephrase“abundantofsynonyms”,itreferstotwophenomena.Oneisthatslangalmostexistssidebysidewithanothermoregeneraltermforthesamething.Forexample,theslangphrase“asluckwouldhaveit”hasbeenusedbysomespeakersinthemeaning“fortunately”.Thedifferencebetween“asluckwouldhaveit”and“fortunately”canbestatedonlyinreferencetothepeoplewhousetheword.Somesay“Asluckwouldhaveit,IfoundexactlywhatIwaslookingfor”,others“Fortunately,IfoundexactlywhatIwaslookingfor”,“Asluckwouldhaveit“isslangand“fortunately”isnot.Because“Asluckwouldhaveit”isusedbylimitedpartofpopulation,whereas,“fortunately”isusedbyeveryone.Itisfoundthatslangcanberegardedaswordsandphrasesorparticularmeaningsofwordsincommoninformaluse,butgenerallyitisnotseenasstandardinalanguagethatusedbyspecifiedexpressionorclass.Itisnaturaltoreferitasthewordsthatarecommonlyused,andcanbeunderstoodbyallpeopleinAmerica.

4.Visualizationoflanguage

Youcanexpressthesamemeaningwiththestandardlanguageaswellasslang.Nevertheless,slangmaybeusedtomakeyourlanguagemorepicturesque.Itrevealssomethingaboutthefeelingorattitudesofthespeaker.Forexample,abosswasveryangrywithhisworkersbecausetheyweredilatoryindoingthings.Toemphasizehisanger,hesays,“Twohoursoffwiththepay,whythehellaretheydraggingtheirtails.Theslang“dragone’stail”means,“Dosomethingtooslowly”.Thespeaker’sangryisdisplayed.Takeanothercaseforexample“Thomas,asadapple.Canhefinishsuchspecialtask?

”Inhissentence,“sadapple”means“apersonwhoisalwaysdiscouraged”Thespeakerexpresseshisdeepsuspicionwiththeaidofslangbetterthanintheformalway.

Inaword,colloquialismisoneofthecharacteristicsofslang.Itisspokenratherthanwritten.AlthoughmoreandmorewritersmakeuseofAmericanslangofcontemporaryteenagers,nomatterhowmanyslangwordsonecanfindinthenovel,theyareallusedinthedialoguesorconversationofitscharactersinsteadofinthenarrationordescription.Therefore,theyarestill“spoken”thoughinwriting.

Conclusion

Intherecentyears,slanghasbeenchangingwitheachpassingdayandwiththeworld’sdevelopment.Manyoldwordshavedisappearedandlotsofnewwordsareaddedtoslang.Inaword,sinceslang’sappearance,ithasbeengainingrespectfulnessandplaysimportantroleinthesocialstatus.Inthesociallife,eventhewords“hi”and“bye-bye”areslangwords.Therefore,itiswrongifsomeoneneglectslang’sstudyandslangtranslation.Slanghasitsspecialmeansandprinciples.Althoughslangispopularnow,thepeopleshouldselectivelyuseit.Ifitisnotspecialsituationandhasnocontext,wemustnotuseitrandomly.Slangcanexpressdifferentmeaninganddifferentinformation,butwhatitcanperformactuallydependonthelanguagebackground.Ifwedonotconsidertheoccasionoftalking,butonlywanttochoosesomeslangtoshowoutlanguagecharacter,maybeourtalkingwillbethoughtasuncivilandimproper.

Bibliography

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HarperandRow,1986

Rodman.HouseHistoricalDictionaryofAmericanSlang[M].NewYork:

Cambridge,1994

Wentworth,Harold&StuartBergFlexner.DictionaryofAmericanofSlangSecondsupplementedEdition[M].NewYork:

ThomasYCrowell,1975

Greenough,J.B,G.L.Kittredge,WordsandTheirWaysinEnglishSpeech[M]NewYork:

LongmanGroupLtd.,1985

霍利.美国口语惯用例句集粹[M].北京：

北京大学出版社，1996

“空中英语”编委会.美国俚语精选[M].北京：

机械工业出版社，2003

牛津高阶英汉双解词典[Z].美国：

牛津大学出版社，2002

汪福祥.《英语口语精学本》[J].外文出版社2004

王爵鸾.英语俚语及其风格特征[J].外语学刊，1999

（1）

英语俚语背景

DINK丁克（家庭）

　　DINK是（一对夫妻）DualIncome,NoKids（双份收入,没有孩子）的首字母缩合词。

婚宴上（weddingreception）宾客（guests）常按习俗customs祝新娘bride新郎groom“早生贵子、添丁（haveababybornsintosthefamily）”。

而今DINK之风日盛，对于那些“多（D）喝了些墨水（INK）的”DINKlovers来说，Itiscertainthattheycanaffordtorear（养育）akid.可就是没空However,theycan'tmaketime.他们做“丁克”，要把“丁”克了，够绝！

　　canteenn.食堂

　　那学校的canteen真够呛，菜（dishes）不够，就拿美国罐头（AmE:

can）凑，专糊弄teen们（teen=teenager年龄在13到19岁的青少年）。

　　bargainn.便宜货v.谈条件

　　“Hey,buddy!

（嘿,老兄）Doyouoftengotothepub（常去泡吧吗）?

Letmetellyouatopsecret（绝密）.”“What'sit?

”“Hush（嘘）!

Wallshaveears.隔墙有耳。

It'sbetweenyouandme（天知地知,你知我知）.IfwegototheUETMBar（悠逸TM酒吧）,wecangain（收获）abargain（便宜货）.”“You'retellingme!

（还轮得到你来告诉我？

我早知道了！

）It'sapublicsecret.（众人皆知的秘密）”

　　girl-kiss-me-quickn.额发；刘海＝fringe；bang

　　“Commontalk”第一期曾登照片：

一个女孩在蹦极（bungee）时说：

Girl,Kissmequick,I'mdying.快吻我，我要死了！

另一层意思是：

刘海，我就要死了，还不回原位呆着，让我在最后时刻保有漂亮的发型（hairdo）。

说到发型（hairstlye）,美国人最在乎不过了,对他们来说，最严重的个人危机personalcrisis是abadhairday“头发糟糕的一天”。

　　egretn.白鹭（厦门市鸟CityBirdofXiam