美国俚语的产生及功能的分析On the Origins and Functions of American Slang [3]
论文作者:佚名论文属性:短文 essay登出时间:2009-04-10编辑:刘宝玲点击率:18277
论文字数:26000论文编号:org200904101113168506语种:中文 Chinese地区:中国价格:免费论文
关键词:American cultureslangfunction美国文化俚语功能
e, the wide usage tells slang from jargon, cant, argot which are only used among some special social groups. Although many people and English learners tend to think slang is a ‘language wastes’, we can not judge that slang is good or bad just as we can not come to conclude a man is an angel or a devil. A good man also has some shortcomings; on the contrary, a bad man has his own merits. In fact, it is also hard to distinguish whether a word belongs to slang or not from the angles of linguistics and pragmatics. For example, ‘bread’ means a kind of food as a standard English, but refers to ‘money’ as a slang word; ‘sweat’ becomes ‘trouble’ as a slang word from its original meaning ‘liquid which comes out through your skin when you are hot or frightened’ as a standard English; the former slang ‘ok’ becomes the standard English for its high- frequent usage. Mostly, some words have two characters, they are standard English in some context, but express another different meaning as a slang under some given situation; this is the main reason for us to have no standard definition of slang, even in the authoritative dictionaries. Sometimes, there is a little distance between slang and other language forms. Anyway, our attitudes to slang should be tend to more objective, moderate, considerate, which is beneficial for us to have a good grip of slang. As for me, slang comes from the usual life, is the reflection and mirror of the subculture groups, the ordinary people, the special communities ; it is the products of social culture in specific period, the innovation of language speech; slang just like the jeans which has been widely accepted by most of Americans. Although the jeans can not be worn into the magnificent party, it is pleasurable, comfortable, free and has been popular in the whole America even the world. It is the myth in the capricious fashion circle. Slang is the myth in the language kingdom just as jeans.
Ⅱ.The Origin of Slang
A. History
In the ‘Westward Movement’ of 19 century, many Americas moved to the west which caused large-scale migration. The American government pays less attention to the ‘standard English’ and standardizes the English. The history of America is not as long as other countries, so it has not traditional restriction to the people’s language form, which is different from British people who stress on the so-called ‘the king’s English’. Therefore, the dialect and the jargon of each level are mixed together, and which spread quickly among the majority. Such dialect and jargon evolved the slang little by little for their wide usage.
B. Society
America is called the ‘melting pot’. To the polarize America opinion, there is nothing quite like subject of immigration. America is a newly emerging country which is composed of many various races. The co-existence of multi-culture, special social groups and various subculture communities offer the oxygen for the birth, renewal, and development of American slang. Many American slang words are borrowed-words, the immigration of each race could create many new vocabulary which add a large number of slang words. For example, ‘pronto’ comes from Spanish, ‘nix’ originates from German. Meanwhile, special social groups provide a cultural greenhouse for the breath of American slang. The main creators of American slang are prisoners, floating workers, gipsy, soldiers, policemen, drug addicts, prostitutes, sailors, gangsters etc, who would not like to be understood by others a
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