下载文档原格式
现代美国俚语的产生、特征及其社会功能作者：高菁阳来源：《文理导航·教育研究与实践》 2018年第1期【摘要】随着全球化的快速发展，美国社会、文化、语言的影响力日益增强。
曾经难登大雅之堂被视为粗鄙语言的美国俚语已经渗入到人们社会生活中的各个方面并且发挥着越来越重要的作用。
本文将以美国俚语产生的社会文化条件出发点，对其特征及社会功能进行探究。
【关键词】美国俚语；特征；社会功能一、美国俚语的产生1.亚文化群体的存在弗莱克斯纳认为俚语是源于各种亚文化群的专用语（陈一龙2009），早期诞生于社会下层人民的吸毒者、流浪者、黑人等使用的暗语或行话。
到了1750年，俚语常被定义为“街头语言”，即社会下层分子常用的限制性语言，特别是黑社会的黑话或隐语也是人们收集和研究最多的（吴叔尉2006）。
因此很多人认为这种语言难登大雅之堂。
2.主流文化的传播随着俚语在亚文化群体之间的使用频率的增加，逐渐突破亚文化群体圈子，从而融入主流文化群体。
在日常生活中，俚语不仅频繁出现在报刊、电视等正式传媒中，甚至出现在美国总统的正式演讲中，美国俚语已经正式融入了美国文化的“血液”中。
3.美国民族及其文化的多样化美国自由宽容的文化氛围为俚语的发展提供了沃土，为俚语的传播提供了养分。
再加之美国不断涌入的移民带来各自的语言与美语相结合，不断创造出新词汇。
文化多元化则成为推动俚语产生与发展的主要因素。
4.新事物、新概念的不断产生美国语言学家Bride曾经指出，当一种社会生活悄悄或突然发生变化时，语言将随社会生活的发展变化而变化（陈一龙2009）。
富有创造力的美国人在社会快速发展、新鲜事物大量涌现的今天创造了许多俚语。
“极客”一词，来自于美国俚语“geek”的音译，一般理解为性格古怪的人。
但数学“极客”是指非数学专业但又对数学有狂热的兴趣并投入大量时间钻研的人。
在PC革命初期的“极客”是对电脑黑客的贬称，他们具有极高的技术能力，对计算机与网络的痴迷到不正常的状态。
高教论坛浅析美语俚语的发展及其社会功能刘茹（沈阳医学院，辽宁沈阳１１００３４）在《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》中，俚语的定义是这样的：非正规的词、词组等等，通常用于口语和相同的社会群体之间，被认为不适用于正式场合且不能够长时间使用。
在《麦克米伦高阶英语词典中》中，俚语是这样被定义的：用于非正式场合的词或词组。
一些俚语只被用于特殊的群体之间。
大多数亚文化群喜欢从其常接触的语言吸取词汇，赋予新义，有些则借自外语，很少自行构词的。
每一种俚语都有其自身的历史和流行的原因，时过境迁，或改变其义，或转为标准语，或继续用于某些飞地。
某些俚语去掉其富于刺激性的色彩之后，亦为人们所接受。
俚语的流通率无疑因新闻宣传而不胫而走。
最有效的俚语往往一语概括所指之物、用物之人及其社会背景。
１俚语的发展任何语言都是不断变化和发展的，同时也忠实地反映了时代的精神。
１．１词义的演化俚语是语言的一种特殊形式。
长久以来，人们对于俚语的定义并没有一个统一的标准。
随着社会的发展，俚语也已经更新换代，它的意义也在不断地演化中。
在大多数的运用下，俚语排异的内涵逐渐演变为亚文化群体中的口语。
无论在高语境或低语境中，都成为了一般用语规定的统称。
１．２词源的演变从词源学的观点可以了解到，俚语源自１６世纪的盗贼和流浪汉，而且在其他的亚文化中这类词也用此类人之间。
在英国，事实上俚语本身是罪犯这个特殊群体之间的黑话。
这些特殊的词汇存在于特殊群体之间。
１．３人们对俚语态度的发展。
语言群体对于特定俚语的态度也在发生着变化。
这其中包括对于俚语的观点，感受以及行为目的。
从语言态度来研究语言群体能够帮助我们理解俚语的意义、偏爱及对俚语的渴望。
人们通常认为一些粗俗的俚语都是口语话的，绝大多数来自社会底层和一小部分联系紧密的群体。
随着俚语越来越多和越来越频繁地被运用，它已经成为了具有很大争议的语言元素。
实际上，随着社会的发展，越来越多的俚语在英语领域被接受，同时人们也拓展了俚语的应用范围。
美国俚语的语言特征及社会功能探究摘要：美国俚语作为一种特殊的语言变体，有着悠久的历史，并且流行于社会各个阶层。
本文从形态、语义和修辞三个方面分析了美国俚语的语言特征并且探讨了其社会价值，以求进一步揭示美国俚语这种非规范性语言与社会之间的关系，从而深入认识不断变化的美国语言文化。
关键词：美国俚语构词语义修辞社会功能1 俚语的界定俚语是相当特殊的语言形式，它既有别于语法不规范的用语，又不同于“乡下土话”，更称不上亵渎的言语；传统意义上的俚语是指粗糙的或通行面极窄的方言词，也有人认为俚语介于“口头语”和“行话”之间，它是词汇中最不稳定的成分。
美国俚语虽然属于非标准英语，但却十分流行，不仅充斥于日常交谈，还大量地渗入文学作品。
俚语的来源极其广泛，如何确切地定义俚语，并没有单一的准绳。
权威的大英百科全书对俚语做了如下解释：俚语是非正式的用语，是口语式的表达方法，是对标准语言的一种补充；俚语可以体现在语音、重读和语调上，但更多地是表现在词汇和语义上。
美国著名诗人沃尔特·惠特曼则这样形象地阐述俚语在人们生活中的角色：“如果把语言比作君临天下的帝王，那么在金碧辉煌的宫殿里居然出来一位莎士比亚笔下的小丑式人物登堂入座，甚至跻身最庄严的盛典，这就是俚语。
它出自大众之口，跳出了规范语言的框框，使人们不拘一格，畅所欲言。
”2 美国俚语的语言特点精力旺盛、开朗活跃，不墨守成规、勇于创新，这些都是美国人常引以为自豪的民族特征。
其中俚语的使用极能说明这一点。
因为许多美国俚语从语体方面考虑具有立意新奇、幽默生动、易于表达情感的特点，而这些特点可以从形态特征、语义特征及修辞特征等方面找到原因。
2.1 美国俚语的形态特征2.1.1单音节词（monosyllabic words）美国俚语偏好短词，特别是单音节词。
例如，kip（sleep），duck（dollar），wet（fond of drinking alcohol）等。
美国俚语的语言特点和社会功能及学习策略*刘 沁（广西师范大学外国语学院，广西 桂林 541001）收稿日期：2014-8-5；修改稿：2014-8-9*本文所用俚语出处：①《1000英语俏皮话》李光照. 上海译文出版社，2008. ②《新视野大学英语视听说》1~4册及报刊，影视收集。
郑立信（2002：276-289）这样定义俚语：俚语是英语中一种相当特殊的语言形式。
它既有别于语法不规范的用语，又不同于“乡下土话”，更称不上亵渎了语言。
不同的词典对俚语的概念描述也不相同，如《韦氏大词典》将其定义为一种由充满活力、色彩丰富或具有滑稽特点的词语构成的流行语言。
这些词源于标准语言的非常规用法。
《朗文当代英语词典》（英语版）给出的定义是：俚语是一种非常非正式的语言，包括新词和一些粗俗语，特别是一些特殊人群如罪犯、吸毒者和学生使用的语言。
而《牛津袖珍英汉双解词典》（新版）则解释为（特殊行业、阶层等用的）行话，黑话，专用语。
不同的学习者对英语俚语也有着不同的认识，有些学习者因为俚语语法不规范，不属于“正规语言”，出现快消亡也快而轻视它；有些学习者则认为俚语诙谐幽默，读音朗朗上口而把它作为主流英语倍加推崇；也有学习者认为其“粗癖”“猥琐”而鄙视之。
但无论人们如何看待它，俚语都是一种语言现象，是英语中最活跃、最生动的成分。
近些年随着对英语学习的加深和对英语的广泛使用，俚语再度引起人们的关注和研究。
本文从英语俚语的产生、俚语的语言特点及社会功能入手，全面分析了俚语的风格特征并给出了学习策略，以期对人们了解学习俚语有所帮助。
1. 俚语的历史演变和美国俚语的产生1.1 俚语的历史演变刘肖沛、曾宇涛（1999：45-48）的研究认为俚语出现的时间很早，有资料表明在古罗马时代就有人使用俚语。
据研究者李慧（2011：397-399）、吴叔尉（2006：99-101）的研究，英语俚语的历史演变可分为三个时期：第一阶段为十五六世纪早期，那时俚语被认为是罪犯专用语；十九世纪中叶是俚语发展的第二阶段，那时俚语被看作是下等人使用的语言，称为“街头语言”；二十世纪两次世界大战之后和六十年代反传统时期是俚语发展的第三阶段，此时俚语的使用日益广泛，有与标准语并驾齐驱之势，或是有“城市化”的趋势。
浅析美国俚语的社会功能和翻译技巧作者：宁思洁施莹莹来源：《山东青年》2020年第10期摘要：语言不仅是一个民族之间文化交流的工具，也是一个民族背后文化的象征。
它往往与社会发展、文化背景、经济条件、生活习惯、政治改革和价值观密切相关。
语言和文化是不可分割和相互依存的。
每一种语言的背后都是一种文化，而每一种文化也影响着一种语言。
美国俚语就是英语的一种特殊语言形式，代表着西方文化。
关键词：俚语;社会功能;翻译技巧一、美国俚语的定义与起源《牛津现代高级英汉词典》将俚语解释为一定程度的习语，通常用于朋友和同事之间，但不用于书面语或正式用语。
《简明牛津词典》将俚语解释为下层社会普遍使用的一种语言。
它的语言是粗糙和低级的。
受过教育的阶级不使用的官方语言是低于受过教育的人所使用的普通语言的口语。
它是某个阶级在某个时期使用的一个特殊词汇。
美国俚语出现的一个重要原因是新事物的蓬勃发展。
随着社会的发展，新的事物如雨后春笋般不断涌现，新的俚语词汇和短语不断产生。
例如，娱乐产业、IT产业、新闻、体育产业等文化产业占据了全产业的很大一部分，文化产业的工人和领导者大多受过文化的教育和教育。
因此，由它创造和衍生出来的俚语现在已经成为美国俚语的一半。
近年来，随着电视产业的兴起，许多美剧继续走红，许多新创造的俚语逐渐进入公众视野，并得到广泛传播和使用。
例如：短语don't have a cow（别大惊小怪）; spill the beans（泄漏秘密）; kill in line （管束）; come clean（全盘托出，招供）等等。
二、美国俚语的社会功能1、活跃谈话气氛由于美国俚语是英语语言的一个分支，美国俚语具有英语语言的一般特征——社会功能。
不同群体对不同类型俚语的使用反映了不同的社会功能，在一定程度上也反映了特定的美国文化。
人们利用俚语的这些特点，通过在日常生活中使用俚语，可以迅速缩短说话人之间的距离，提高双方对话的有效性，活跃对话的气氛，帮助双方迅速建立良好的关系。
浅析美国俚语的产生及其特点【摘要】俚语是相当特殊的语言形式,它既有别于语法规范的用语，又不同于乡下语，更不是亵渎语言。
尽管传统的观念认为俚语与正式场合下使用“体面”标准方言形式相去甚远,但在日常生活中却被很多人使用,现代美国俚语得到了很好的发展。
本文主要阐述了俚语存在和发展的条件及其特点，以期使人们能更好地了解美国文化。
引言ﻫ一、俚语产生的文化条件ﻫ(一)各式各样的亚文化群体的存在ﻫ（二)由亚文化群向主导文化的渗透(三)新事物、新概念的不断涌现二、俚语的特点(一）加强团体的合作性ﻫ(二)具有新鲜感,体现个性(三)具有生动性，富有表现力(四)具有快捷性，更易交流思想ﻫ(五)具有亲密性,消除陌生感（六)带有委婉性（七）平衡性ﻫ结束语ﻫ【参考文献】［１]陈志学.现代美国俚语例释[J］.无锡教育学报，2001，(3)：5-7.ﻫ[2]彭元峰，孙佩婕.美国俚语发展趋势及其语言特色［J].东北大学学报,2003,（1):63-６5．ﻫ[３]侯维瑞.英语语言变体[M]．上海：上海外语教育出版社,19９８.ﻫ[4]郑立信，顾嘉祖.美国英语与美国文化[M]．长沙:湖南教育出版社，1993.[５］Ｒ.Ｆ．Whｉtｍａｎ.ｓlaｎg in Aｍericａn.New Woｒk：Mａcｍillan Ｐublｉshing Ｃo，Ｉｎc.1983.[6]Wenｔwｏrth．Harold and Stuａrt Berg Fｌexneｒ.Ｄictionary ｏｆAｍeｒｉｃaｎSlａng .NｅｗＹｏrｋ：Thomａs Ｙ．Crowell,１967.现代美国俚语探究中文摘要:现代美国俚语是一种相当特殊的语言形式，具有独特的语言表现力和悠久的历史。
19世纪美洲大陆的“西进运动”促使了美国俚语的形成,20世纪则是美国俚语迅猛发展的时期。
从其来源来看，亚文化向主流文化的渗透到社会名流的推动再到新事物新概念的大量涌现，产生了大量的俚语。
从社会文化方面解析美国俚语作者：陈静来源：《考试周刊》2013年第26期摘要：语言是人类最重要的交际工具，人们借助语言保存和传递人类文明的成果。
俚语是亚文化的语言载体，在整个语言体系中占有一席之地，是在日常生活中被总结出来的一种简洁、诙谐、富有韵味等特点的非规范性地方性的语言。
通过对它的了解，可以感受到其发明者和使用者的世界观、人生观和价值观等。
本文从社会文化方面对美国俚语这一极具地域和民族特色的文化现象进行了较为全面的探究和解析。
关键词：美国俚语社会文化社会特征社会功能美国文化一、美国俚语的定义、起源与形成（一）定义。
在了解美国俚语的起源之前，我们首先要明确俚语的定义。
《韦伯斯特第三版新国际词典》对俚语做了如下概述：（1）俚语是吸毒者、囚犯、黑人、流浪汉等使用的语言，他们使用这种语言的原因是不希望让别人知道他们所说的内容的真实含义，现在被称为暗语；（2）僵语是高度口语化的极其不规范的语体，由新语和特定的修辞构成，具有幽默风趣、生动形象、言简意赅、色彩丰富等特点。
通过这两条详述的定义，我们不难发现，俚语的产生是基于一定的社会群体、行业领域、生活方式、文化和历史背景的，它的产生绝非历史的偶然。
（二）起源与形成。
1.美国俚语是源于各种亚文化群的专用语言俚语的产生与社会、历史、文化、种族等均有联系。
美国俚语是来源于各种亚文化群的专用语言，美国社会丰富的亚文化为美国俚语的产生提供了肥沃的土壤。
“它的创造者包括黑人、罪犯、士兵、水手、吸毒者、赌徒、牛仔、各层次的学生、爵士乐手、运动员、铁路及其他运输业员工、移民和少数民族等。
他们在社会上的特殊地位和身份使他们不愿意别人听懂自己说的话的含义，所以他们的方言、行话、粗俗语等逐渐形成了这种特定的非规范性语言”。
[1]（P130）在十八九世纪开发美洲及后来西部的开发过程中，随着西部移民人口流动量不断增大，伴随产生的方言和行话由于贴近生活，比较容易传播，因此发展成为俚语。
英语毕业论文-美国俚语中的文化特征Culture Features in American Slang Abstract:With the development of the society, slang is accepted by more and more Americans. This thesis analyses features and functions of American slang. The author draws a conclusion that American slang reflects the cultural characteristics of Americans’ humor, informality, self-confidence, anti-authority, innovation consciousness and pursuit for time efficiency.Key Words:American slang; feature; culture摘要:随着社会的发展，俚语越来越多地为美国人所接受。
本论文分析了美国俚语的语言特色等。
此分析反映出了美国人幽默，非正式，反权威，追求时间效率，自信和具有创新意识独特的文化特征。
关键词:美国俚语;特点;文化IntroductionEnglish slang can be defined to common colloquial language, and according to the definition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (1985), slang is usually used as colloquial words and phrase. It cannot be regarded as Standard-English, thus this shows that, slang is Nonstandard-English. However, slang is very popular in the English-speaking countries nowadays. Slang is spoken by people in daily speech, and even magazine and literary works may find a large number of them. With thedevelopment of the society, slang is widely used by more and more people, especially in America, slang can be found favorable in the Americans’ eyes. It is accepted by both upper-class and lower-class, and especially the college students who tend to use up-to-date words that form a kind of characteristic style of themselves. Slang plays an important part in American English. It is reported that slang accounts for one of the tenth of American average vocabulary. People’s attitude toward slang varies from person to person. Some think that slang cannot be used on the formal occasion, for it is spoken by the illiterate people only and the slang terms are so coarse. Some even think that slang is the filthy language, and advocate abandoning using it. However, others hold the opposite idea. They think that slang play an important role in English language, because of its fresh, lifelike, humor and adequate expressions. One must admit the undeniable fact that slang is spoken by more and more people.In modern times, if one is not familiar with American slang he or she could not capture the slang expressions in the movie and common fictions, and, what worse, one would make mistakes when they are talking with the Americans. An example will clarify the fact. A guide asks the tourist “anybody wants to take aleak?”(Does anybody want to go to the restroom?), and, of course, what the guide said would make the tourist surprise. It is the uneducated vulgarity of expression at all. Therefore, one should bear in mind that it is very important to study language in a sociocultural context; the language has existed in close contact with culture. From the example one can know that misusing slang would result in misunderstanding in the communication. It can not tell others that one is good at English. It is not thus; moreover it shows that one just has half-back knowledge about slang.Americans speak colorful, idiomatic English that may have little resemblance to the language one studied in school. Even a native English speaker might be confused by the combination of slang that characterizes American conversation. So it is very important to capture the American slang expression in order to know others correctly.This thesis starts with the analysis of the cultural condition of American slang, and its purpose is to probe into the features of slang so as to bring the relationship between slang and society culture to light.Ⅰ.American SlangSlang is quite a controversial language, people have differentattitude toward it. It is no wonder that the definition of slang is so variety. However, the slang terms have their own characters, and, of course, the definitions of it are more or less described in the same way.A. The Definition of Slang Slang is a rather special parole. It is neither the word that beyond the regular role of grammatical usage, nor rural dialect. Although it is quite different from acrolect which used on the formal occasion, people quite like to use it in daily speech. As a matter of fact, the meaning of most slang is similar to the words of colloquial style. Some consider one word is slang, while others might not think so. For example, the old may believe the word bike is slang, but the youth might not .Bicycle is trisyllabic, while bike is monosyllabic, it is so troublesome to pronounce the word with trisyllabic, and of course, the youth prefer to omit some other two syllables, and bike is spoken by the youth more often.To some certain slang, it is hard to tell the differences between slang and colloquial style. One of the definitions of it is, “the body of words and expression frequently used by or intelligible to a rather large portion of the general public, but not accepted as good; formal usage by the majority” (Flexner, 1975:3). Another saying, “slang is used to denotethe frequently vivid or playful lexical usage typical of casual discourse, usually indicating membership in a particular social group”. (Quirk et al, 1985:76)According to Oxford Linguistic Dictionary（2000）, “slang used especially of vocabulary specific for example, to a particular generation of younger speakers; also as in ordinary usage, specific to a group or a profession (e.g. ‘army slang’), to colloquial style, etc”.From all above, even though people have different idea about slang, one still can find out some common characteristics of it. And what about American slang? It is found that slang can be regarded as words and phrases or particular meanings of words in common informal use, but generally it is not seen as standard in a language that used by specified expression or class. It is natural to refer it as the words that are commonly used, and can be understood by all people in America.B. The Origination of American SlangActually, many people do not know exactly when slang came into use, but it was very long ago when it appeared in Americans’ life, for instance, cuckoo has been used before 1600, enthuse has been used since 1825, and bike since 1880.Most linguisticsbelieve that slang has a history as long as language. Slang vocabulary expressions came from a wide rage of sources. Mainly from the practice of people’s life, some slang was borrowed into. Sub-culture in American society in part contact and must be taken into account when we consider the origin of the American slang. Because sub-culture in American society laid foundation for the generation of slang. Most speakers of Standard English have always been avoiding using slang, because the kind of slang that they have been familiar with are those originating the so-called canting talk of the criminal world. For example, “on the lam” is argot; they were spoken by the criminal syndicate and the embezzling group. Drug smoker referred to nose candy, black stuff, shooting gallery to illegal drug.With the development of social economy, the changing of people’s language is becoming faster and faster. Slang flourished on the American Continent since the twentieth century. It was created and used by policeman, politician and businessman, especially college students, words like neat awesome, vicious(very good) was very popular among the youth in 90s, and like words bread(money), blood (man), cool hot(very good) at last were accepted as Standard English.There were frequent contact among the people of different groups, slang eventually spread to the limits of the sphere of influence of the place in which they arise, and bring about within that area a greater degree of linguistic conformity. There is still some slang we do not know when they came into being. The nature of the evidence is that one can infer that a new form has emerged, but one are given no idea who started the new word or why.Ⅱ. Features of American SlangIn the following passage, we will focus our study of American slang from a macro aspect: its features such as playful tones, artistic possibilities, and abundance of synonyms, its hierarchy nature and other characteristics manifested in the process of development. Through the features of slang, one can infer some characters of the Americans.A. The General Features of American SlangThere are certain general features embodied in American slang. Firstly, American slang often conveys an acerbic, even offensive attitude and lends itself to poke fun at pretentiousness. The feature of slang lies in the rarity with which it obeys propriety and it is in the area of fundament emotions that American slang is most changeable and mostproductive. There are many American slang terms for women involving people’s emotion and judgment. American call a good-looking woman skirt, biscuit or swan, which manifest people’s positive feelings. In comparison, an ugly female is named silly duck, cloud, black monkey, which contains people’s negative emotions.Secondly, American slang is also noted for its artistic possibilities, which are manifested by four masters of its use for literature: Artemus Ward, O. Henry, George Ade, and Walter Winchell. American slang is extraordinarily rich in synonyms; it has a veritable synonymy. In American slang, the ideas most fertile in synonymy are those of drinking, money, and the ***ual organs and etc. In Hall, B H.’s Slang Dictionary(1986)may find numerous synonyms for mild intoxication, which “beery” “bemused”, “bosky”, “buff”, “corned”, “elevated”, “foggy” “fresh”, “hazy”, “kisky”, et c.Thirdly, there is almost a hierarchy of American slang according to the difference in the vulgarity of slang expressions. The lower social classes in which slang terms originated, the more concrete and ‘immediate’ they are. It tends to be though all slang whatsoever tends to be objective.Next, brevity may not be the soul of American slang, but it is perhaps one of the chief features. Brevity is attained either by apocopate, as in vamp for vampire, mutt for muttonhead, fan for fanatic, etc, the substitution of expressive monosyllables or compound of monosyllables for a longer word or description is very rich in slang. One distinguished feature of American slang is vividness and creativeness. And because its creativeness and fast speed of innovation, it could be noted that another distinguished characteristic of American slang: that of the difficulty in assigning a correct etymology to so many of its units. For slang, the etymology depends upon metaphor and allusion and irresponsible mutilation. When a whimsicality of this kind establishes itself as a permanent colloquialism, or gets into the accepted vocabulary, the etymologist has a hard nut to crack. If the word is at all old, its history is likely to be obscure, for slang seldom get into the print until it has been in circulation for some time (Greenough and Kittredge, 1992:76)In short, in a large part, American slang is slippery in meaning, characterized by its searching for novelty, volatility as well as lightheartedness, ephemeral and its sway with fashion. 1. The Linguistic Features of American SlangAfter finishing the macro analysis of American slang, now comes a micro analysis of American slang by studying slang items for patterns of form and functions through the following aspects: word-formation, semantics.In any language, most new words are formed productively that is, in conformity with patterns already established in the language rather than coinage, the invention of a word merely by putting sound together. American slang exploits existing forms and their current meanings in various ways, drawing on and often mixing resources from the sound system, the world-building process, paradigms, and the speakers’ knowledge of the culture. In this section, the most important word formation devices of American slang are introduced: compounding, affixes and shortening1.1. CompoundingCompounding is a most common word-formation method in American slang. Many American slang words are in the picturesque composition forms such as whatdyecallem, attaboy, and booze-foundary. etc. Sometimes, words of the same meaning may generate several different compounding forms, for example, yields in slang frat, fratty, frattty-bagger, fratrat, fradom, and fraout, all referring in same way to the stereotype behaviorof members of a particular kind of male social organization.1.2. AffixesBesides compounding, Affixes is another important way of American slang word-formation. American slang uses many of the same prefixes and suffixes. The productive prefix in recent use in American slang is perma-‘a great amount of’. The American slang contains perma-include: permagross, permanerve, permagrim.1.3. ShorteningShortening is a common phenomenon in American slang formation. American words such as pro, mike, pix, photo and ad all belong to this type of word forming. American slang incline to curtail words, many such clippings are regarded as Standard English gradually.2. Semantics Feature of American SlangSlang embodies in itself many semantic features, one of which is that slang usually provides an alternative vocabulary for referents already named in the language. Nearly all slang consists of old words change in form or, far more often, old words with new meanings or new shades of meaning.In the process of sense-changing is the idea which wanders from word to word and from one metaphor to another: sometimes thelast or even (an intermediate) sense becomes very different from the first. For instance, as McKnight observed, “in the face of wind” becomes “in the teeth of wind”.B. Americans’ Characters Reflecting from American Slang Sociolinguists talk about the function of a language in an abstract sense, that is, not in term of using language to chat, to think, to buy and sell, to read and write, to greet people, etc; they more often connect language with social contexts to explore its social function, i.e., social effect.1. HumorAmerican characters could be reflected from American slang that they daily use. An element of humor is almost always present in American slang, usually as humorous exaggeration. For instance, to call a hat a lid is amusing because it puts a hat and a pot-lid in the same class. Frequently grotesque and fantastic American slang is spoken with intent to produce a startling or original effect. American slang is hardly bitter in these implied judgments. Many slang words, indeed, are arisen from pleasurable activities, from the joy of life. The humorous effect achieved by American slang is safe allow a person to test his or her interest and values in relation tothose of the group without fear of losing status or esteem. Often, humor is the device for masking discomfort in talking about subjects that have traditionally not been talked casually in polite society. A woman says that she has been jilted by her lover, giving the appearance of talking the rejection lightly, even though the breaking out of the relationship between the two may actually be quite painful.Finally, besides its social function, on a lower rhetorical level the forms of American slang, which are humorous merely because the sound of the slang word is funny, such as the word skeezicks refers to a disrespectful name of a man. Such display of slang in humorous function is very rich. From what have been talked above, one could infer that American people are full of the spirit of optimism, even when they are in the discomfiture situation.2. Anti-authorityAmerican slang often oppose to the established authority. Slang is typically cultivated among people in a society who have little political power, like adolescents, college students, and enlisted personnel in the military. At the first place,slang was used to be a monopolizing language which is largely used by the underworld people, such as, sinister gang, homo***ual, girlie, prisoners and gamblers. American slang can be a verbal expression of fundamental opposition, showing a rage of attitudes from slight irreverence to downright subversives.As a matter of fact, the anti-authority effect of slang has long been noted, for, in the early years of the use of the slang term, its antiestablishment quality was obvious, and for the term was mainly applied to special vocabulary of criminals, who by definition oppose to the conventions and norms of established society. Over the centuries, the slang has been extended to apply to the vocabularies of other identifiable groups, but those who by and large live within the law; they have developed vocabulary in the opposite to the Standard English for reasons of group solidarity. Groups like these violate the conventions of propriety just as they violate civil or criminal laws. Generally speaking, American students, especially college students have strong personalities. They are not afraid of making mistakes and they are full of curiosity, pursuit new things and are crazy about them. At the same time, they have a strong sense of independence; and do not bend blindly to anyauthorities. They are ready to change tradition conventions and customs, like their ways of using language. They employ slang terms in their conversation to show their attitude against the society or their own way of thinking. They call male course as bears and the students’ flattering action to their teachers as apple-polishing.3. InformalityAmerican slang changes the level of discourse in the direction of informality. It reveals more or less about the speakers or the speakers’ attitude towards the subject matter or audience. The following are examples that illustrate how the effect of informality is achieved by using American slang. Sentence A in the example contains only neutral vocabulary which does not call attention to itself. In the sentence B of the example, a slang word is substitutes for a neutral term, it can be observed clearly that the result of the sentence is less informal.Example1:A. We left at three o’clock.B. We split at three o’clock.Example2:A. I saw the defendant at 11A.m., and he was aired drunk.B. I saw the defendant at 11A.M., and he was already polluted.The sentence “A” may will be informal even without slan g words. However, the presence of slang words in “B” version makes the sentence blatantly and deliberately informal and restricts the situations in which they may prudently be used. Americans have always prized the seductive idea of private freedom, and empowered spontaneity.4. Time EfficiencyAmericans usually use the clipping words. There are many slang terms form like that. For instance, prof refers to profession, pro refers to professional men. Such kind of slang expression is very rich in American slang. We know that Americans place considerable value on appointments. They tend to organize their activities by means of schedules. As a result they may seem to be in a hurry, always running from one thing to next, and they are not able to relax and enjoy themselves. Foreigners see this as being “ruled by the clock”. In this country it is a way of assuring that things get done. It is no wonder that Americans use concise words, especially slang terms to express themselves in order to save time.5. Self-confidenceThe American society is the most culturally diverse society in the world. Even with this diversity, it is possible, in general,to describe attitudes and practices that are common among Americans. Americans are confident and self-confident. They always say yes to life, they think that they are on top of the world and everything is going like what they expect. In their conversations, they always vaguely express their view as to what the fact is, what the wish is and what the expectation of future is. To certain degree, this is the exaggerated use of American language; especially the American slang words. These simple but clear examples indeed display their trait of self-confidence. For examples, American people like using phrases like, a piece of cake, an easy digging, hands down to refer to do something are very easy.6. Innovation ConsciousnessComparing with the British, the Americans do not like to pay excessive attention to their words. In their talking, they seek the effect of being easy to understand. For example, Americans use just a single letter or even numbers to express the complicated actions. It is quite vivid and original, such as “24,7” means 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and it is used to show tired of doing something without any rest. They are used very frequently in American youth. Another example, the number “10” is used quite often, too, in the American TV plays,referring to the woman who is perfect in every respect. In fact, many useful slang expressions spring from Americans’ everyda y life. To use simple words expresses profound meanings; does not it show their creative viewpoints? We know that cigarette does harm to one’s health, even can reduce one’s longevity. In slang, cigarette is called “cancer stick”, “coffin nail”. It’s true t hat the words are vivid. In addition, like “birthday suit”, “rubber neck”, “to rob the word”, “dead”, these slang also reflect the Americans’ imagination and their awareness of showing originally. Americans don’t like to be restricted; they always had the great courage and ambition to seek something novel and strange. This kind of feature results in their original use in language.Ⅲ.American Slang and American CultureLanguage and culture are closely related to each other; the understanding of one requires the understanding of the other. And language and culture have a closed relationship: language is an integral part of culture and influenced by culture. To know another is rather hard work, but keeping in mind that facilitating role of culture knowledge in language learning will more or less help people to avoid making mistakes andmisunderstanding, especially those from different cultural background. In other words, a successful master of a given language has much to do with an understanding of that culture.A. American Slang Reflecting American CultureEvery language is a key component of culture. Language and culture never be separated, according to the interdependence of language and culture and habit, to use words and expressions in a language can show people’s customs, values and characters. American slang plays an important part in American language. Actually we can feel something about American culture through American slang.B. Diversification of American SlangAt the turning of the twentieth century, Israel Zangwill used the term “the melting pot” to refer to American. Long before this, Hector St. John Crevecoeur had recognized that “here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men.” In the field of language, it can be said that American slang is a linguistic melting pot. American slang has completed its word stock by adoptions from many other languages. Cent was borrowed from French, terrific originated from Latin terrifcus, in addition, as widely varied Swedish. Italian and Chinese haveall made more or less contributions to the forming of American slang. The notion of American is called the melting pot; consequently a lot of loanwords appear in American slang. These loanwords can be regarded as a mirror of the complicated constitution of American nation.C. Variety Slang Used in Different GroupsSlang is used by variety people in different groups including: beat generation group, criminal and drug addiction group and military group.1. Beat GenerationSince the 50s and 60s of the last century, there existed many types of sub-culture groups dominated by young people. They had strong indignation of discontent to reality and the established secular customs. They tried to change the prevailing social trends by the way of expressing their individual characters, thus there were many new words were coined at that time. Flower children in the 60s referred to the young hippies wearing flowers on their chests as symbol of love. Yuppies were the young urban profession who were born after the Wo rld WarⅡ, they had good jobs and had a high social status with good salary and lived in suburbs. Because the young people want to express their characters, so they act like that. The slang words that theyused always embodied caustic and impolite, like slang words, dink (double-income- no-kids couple), oinks (one income family, no kids), sunk (unemployed single, no kids), swanks (single woman, no kids) will clarify the fact.2. Criminal and Drugs Addiction GroupThe United States, like all other countries do experience crimes, which are rampant, especially in large city like Chicago, New York, the criminals are so cunning that it is hard for the cops to accuse. For the slang words used between criminals in the illegal activities are usually hard to capture by the layman. The slang they use is highly concealed which leaves no evidence for the police to accuse, because they use slang words with special meaning instead of normal words. They call those who take bribe for their master the bagman (use bag to contain money). If they plan to kill or murder someone, they just say to blot out someone.Some Americans, they are full of hate, regret, fear and even despair, so they try to escape the reality by turning to alcohol or drugs, therefore, many slang words referring to illegal drugs were coined. They coined heroin antifreeze, for it givesthem excitement in the price of their own freedom; the drugs dealer as candy man or fixer. Drugs are beautified as God’s medicine, heaven dust. And addict party is called blast party or pot party. As all mentioned above, the criminal group and drugs addiction group have their favorite language slang to describe their spiritual activities.3. Military GroupArmy is a special social context in which current American slang is widely used. Actually, military slang is the most active part of American slang and it has exerted a great influence on American slang. Lighter claims “the nation’s armed forces appear to have been the single most important social nexus for the creation, exchange, and eventual dispersion throughout society of American slang in this century.”(Random, 1994:156). The origin of American slang is closely related to wars. A fair amount of post-war American slang, both spoken and written would be meaningless if they were not attributing to soldier and civilian experience in the war. The effect of war upon American military slang is profound and widespread. It is a main source of military slang.The war has introduced into modern American military slang a multitude of expressions: cushy and wanky, to wangle and toscrounge, strafe and hate, and a few rhyming-slang terms such as over the top; cop a packet; tanked for ‘drunk’ and stunt. Many of the terms mentioned above are well know and used by ordinary people. However, many slang terms disappear soon after the war ends and only a few specimens of military slang show the sign of surviving in the general speech, and many slang words went through various changes during the war. For instance, ‘hand-shaker’, after the World War Ⅱ ended, resumed its old meaning of an excessively affable man. Variety slang was coined in different social groups. That is because of the culturally diverse American society.ConclusionAmerican slang is the unique spiritual civilization of the American people. It is also a tool for people to link up all kinds of thoughts. Americans communicate with each other by using American slang, moreover; people in other countries can regard American slang as a window for them to observe American culture. But, American has become a country melted with all kinds of people. Therefore, it’s quite difficult to define American traits.However, learning American slang more or less gives one a chance to know something in America, for American slang, especially。
本科毕业论文美国俚语的产生及功能的分析On the Origins and Functional Analysis of American SlangsTable of Contents Introduction (1)Chapter 1 The Definition of American Slangs (3)Chapter 2 The Origins of American Slangs (5)2.1 Background (5)2.2The Classification of the Origins of American slangs (5)2.2.1 Foreign Language Slangs and American Native Slang (5)2.3Language Itself (6)2.3.1 The Angle of Linguistic Analysis (6)2.3.2The Viewpoint of Semantic (7)2.4History (7)2.5Culture (7)2.5.1 A Variety of Sub-cultural Groups Exist (7)2.5.2 The Infiltration from Asian Cultural to Dominant Culture (8)2.6The Social and Cultural Conditions (8)2.6.1 American Culture and the Diversity of National Character (8)2.6.2New Things and New Concepts (9)Chapter 3 The Function of American Slangs (9)3.1Social Function (9)3.1.1Strengthen the Internal Cohesion (9)3.1.2Adjust Interpersonal Relationships (10)3.1.3 Maintain a Balance of Human Psychology (10)3.1.4Reflect the Speaker's Position (11)3.1.5 Meet People's Sense of Renewal, Reflect Personality (11)3.1.6 Overcome the Communicational Barrier (12)3.2Refraction Function (13)3.2.1Refract the Trend of Oral English (13)3.2.2Refract the Ordinary Life (14)3.2.3Refract the Attitude to the Reality (14)Conclusion (15)Acknowledgements (16)Bibliography (17)美国俚语的产生及功能的分析专业班级：08级学生姓名：王彦峰指导教师：李国云职称：讲师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。
简单来说，美国俚语是一种非正式的口语化风格，生动，幽默，创新和夸张等。
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。
本文将从背景、语言学角度、外来俚语和美语土产俚语、历史，文化以及社会文化等方面分析了美国俚语产生的原因。
另一方面，又将从俚语的社会功能及折射功能来阐述美国俚语存在的价值。
它的社会功能体现在强化集团内部凝聚力、调解人际关系、维持人类心理平衡、满足人们的新鲜感，体现个性,克服交流障碍。
它的折射功能体现在反映了英语口语的发展方向，普通民众的真实生活。
同时它还折射出一种态度：人们通过语言而表明自己对现实的态度。
关键词：美国俚语；起源；功能On the Origins and Functional Analysis of American SlangsAbstract Modern American slang is a non-written language innovation and the crystal of history and culture. Slang is an informal colloquial style, with lively, humorous, short, innovation and exaggeration and so on. Slang is an objective existence which is often used by many people, and has become an integral component of the language and an important communication tool. But it often leaves a vulgar, frivolous impression to people. In fact, as a communication tool for people, it can not be regarded as good or bad. American slang develops rapidly, which has a strong cultural flavor as a special carrier.This paper elaborates the reason of American slang origins from the backgrounds, Language itself, foreign language slang and American native slang, history, culture, the social and culturalconditions. On the other hand, this paper analyzes the social functions and the refraction functions to express the existence values. Its social functions include strengthen the internal cohesion. Maintain a balance of human psychology etc. The slang refracts the trend of oral English and the life of ordinary people. At the same time, it refracts a kind of attitude by which the people treat the reality.Key Words American slangs; origin; functionIntroductionIn America, more and more people are partial to using slang in their daily life communication and writing technique. In the past, people‟s impression of slang may be that slang is rude, dirty, and indecent; but today, as a highly colloquial speech which has become the most colorful and vivid member of the family of languages. “The vocabulary of an ordinary America generally is estimated slang.”(Chapman, R.ed.4) The number shows the import ant status of slang in American English, therefore we should eliminate the traditional bias of slang. Slang is popular in America because of its freshness, lifelikeness, humor, and it is an effective way of communication; at the same time, it also carries strong cultural implications of America because most slang words come from each sub-cultural group, which reflect their actual life. “it is impossible to acquire a thorough knowledge of English（or of any other language, for that matter）without being familiar with slang and vulgarism. Whoever is uninitiated…will be at a loss to understand many of the masterpieces of English literature? Nay…he will scarcely be able even to understand an English newspaper.” (Partridge.73)As it were, an English learner can not communicate with foreigners at their pleasure without much understanding in American slang. From this point, slang is a bridge for English learners to make up the cultural gap, so we should know and treat slang with a correct attitude. There is no such thing as good or bad, right or wrong in language. As a special form of language, its existence is a kind of outcome of culture and history.As a highly colloquial speech, it is especially effective on casual and intimate occasions. The attitudes toward slang are also very contradictory among common people especially scholars. Nowadays, more and more people begin their research on slang for its widespread. In this paper, the author is trying to analyze the origins and functions of American slang from various aspects, such as history, culture etc. Firstly, the paper will expound the definition of slang, in the author‟s mind, slang is like 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.Secondly, the paper will expound the origins of American slangs. The author tends to analyze the origins of American slangs from various angles, include background, history, culture, etc. Similarly, on the functions of slang, the author will analyze the social functions and the refraction functions to express existence values. Its social functions include strengthen the internal cohesion、Maintain a balance of human psychology etc. The slang refracts the trend of oral English and the life of ordinary people. At the same time, it refracts a kind of attitude by which the people treat the reality. So the author wander more and more people can eliminate their abuses of slang and draw up how vivid, poetic, convenient and colorful slang is. A better understanding of American slang and some new and deep impression of it may be achieved.Chapter 1 The Definition of American SlangsWhat is slang? Slang is a special form of language, a long time; there is no uniform definition of the slang of the standard specification. As for slang, it is nearly impossible to be defined clearly and there has been different definitions and many controversies. We can refer to some of them to give us a special insight into our understanding of slang. Slang is an informal colloquial style, with lively, humorous, short, innovation and exaggeration and so on. Sometimes people will understand it as "jargon" (JARGON: an industry, profession, or similar groups in the use of professional or technical language, it is business-related), "code word" (ARGOT: the use of a particular group specialized group of words or phrases, it is crime-related), because the boundaries between them is not so clear at all times. But what is certain is that they are cryptic.The definition of "American Heritage Dictionary" about slang is that slang is an informal game of words in a language, the basic existence is very short form derived words and rhetoric, they are deliberately used in place of standard terms in order to achieve a vivid, humorous or other effect; Modern English-Chinese of Oxford Dictionary about slang is that slang are generally used for friends or colleagues conversation, but not for good writing or formal occasions, the words; especially of a class understanding of idioms, such as military slang, prison slang.The definition of "World Book Dictionary English" on the slang as follows: (1) slang usually refers to the popular new time is not long, vulgar, and popular word, phrase or meaning. Slang is usually very vivid and expressive, often used between friends in casual conversation, it can not be presentable and acceptable in formal speech or article; (2) slang is a special language bysome of the particular stage or class; (3) some slang are special language used by hooligans, thieves or belong to a movement; sometimes the language is an occupation; slang is black words or incision. "Langwen Modern Advanced English Dictionary " will be defined slang as "very informal language that includes new and sometimes not polite words and meaning, is often used among particular groups of people and is used, not used in serious speech or writing".The more authoritative and objective definition is offered by The oxford English Dictionary, “language of a highly colloquial type, considered as below the lev el of standard educated speech, and consisting either of new words or of current employed in some special sense.”; In the face of many various definitions, it‟s difficult to give us an accurate definition of slang; meanwhile, there is no criterion for us to distinguish slang. As a result, people have two very different attitudes, some people will think slang is the synonym of vulgar and unmeaning language, which is commonly used by low social groups and uneducated people, and the upper class should refuse using slang; another people may think slang is easy to say and convenient to communication for its free, humorous, relaxed styles, even some people hold that take …American slang‟ in place of …American English‟ for its popularity. The feature of informality distinguish slang from the standard English and writing language, 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. 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; 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 magnificentparty, 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.Chapter 2 The Origins of American Slangs2.1 BackgroundThere is a long history with the introduction of language, also with slang, but the American English slang, according to research DICKSON, since the "Mayflower brand" ship. 1620, English Puritans took this ship across the Atlantic to North America, New World, in America's "Westward Movement", the formation of large-scale population movements conducted, thus, each of the local dialects and the jargon of various social strata, black words together up, people pass with each other. Because the U.S. government does not emphasize the "standard language", it's rare for "language purification"Thus the usage of different patterns of languages such as the merging jargon and idiom and so on, became a slang used by Americans today. In the 20th century, the American slang with rapid development. The Two world wars, the Vietnam War, Korean War, the Cold War and other period have produced a lot of slangs, as well as continuing emerge social problems in American society, such as: racial discrimination, civil rights movement, family disintegration, the younger generation of alcohol and drug abuse, anti- war movement, sexual freedom, homosexuality even more the United States emerged as slang, like bamboo shoots.As a communication tool ,and is rich and very dynamic composition in English language, with the development of society, some slangs as no longer meet the community benefit, no longer in use, slowly exit from the community in this arena; while enduring some still active, and slowly entered the ranks of the standard language. At the same time, the new slang could fill the gap like the mushroom.2.2 The Classification of the Origins of American Slangs2.2.1 Foreign Language Slang and American Native SlangAmerican English slang origin can be divided into two categories: foreign language native slang and American native slang. Early foreign slang mostly from English, this is because there is a historical source between American English and English. Then there are other languages to use English slang, but the number is small, the other is a American native English slang.As the historical source between American English and English ,many of the early American English slang from the English. In English, the development of slang is closely related to the jargon, dialect system. Initially slang refers to jargon of underground social groups, almost it is equivalent to the black case, jargon, and refers to the different dialects and pronunciations. Thus the black case of prisoners became slang is in the 16-17 century. This slang generate up to Sharon and casino. Despite the slow development of English slangs, but then gradually into the public view, and appeared in a number of popular plays. In 18th century English slang in the United States appeared in large numbers and began to flourish.At this point American slang which enjoys popularity among thieves is form English, such as: swatch for the thief that's stolen goods to the sales site for samples.Some American slangs from the political sphere. A lot of slangs related to politic are fostered by Powerful American political system and a large number of political events. As these slangs with very high concern of usage, and some of them have entered the ranks of the daily standard language. Such as: baby kisses mean that politicians who are good at public speaking to win over the hearts and minds. Some slang from various professions. U.S. military, universities and schools are conducive to a large number of U.S. production areas. For example: flag means give a person F. that some a person whose some a homework is failing.In United States, the colorful culture of social such as ball games and sports, fast food , film and television also contributed to a lot of slangs. Since the invention of television, since the popular TV show is welcome, this has generated a lot of this related to the slang. Such as: couch potato are those who sit all day watching TV fans.2.3 Language Itself2.3.1 Linguistic AnalysisSlang as a language, it only lives in human society during its use. ①It is people need to interact generated. Slang is the jargon of social overlap between popular culture and then overlap (iscommon parts, and the common part is a powerful tool to communicate with them). It meets the exchange of different sectors of the needs of people, so its appearance is inevitable. ②language as the development of human society is gradually improving.2.3.1.1 Social Development is the Motive of the Development of Language.Meyer (A. Meillet) think that the language of variation is the result of social change, only a causal relationship between them is sometimes direct, but in most cases is indirect; because the only way to change the existing conditions of the language is changes in society. Contemporary sociolinguistics support that the initial impetus of language development not only should be looked for changes in society but also in its change process, and will also be impede by a variety of social factors.2.3.2 From the Viewpoint of SemanticMost of slangs origin from the value of the generation of conflict, the surface or no conflict. In this case, if a person is a new way through the language is very clever, witty satire to express hostility, contempt and other emotions, he might coined the slang. If the slang for the same groups of other people's recognition, will be using the spread. Slang generated and no scientific law. Slang is simple, convenient and lively authentic performance characteristics and its close relationship is irreplaceable, and is the main causes of slang.2.4 HistoryIn 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.2.5 Culture2.5.1 A variety of Sub-cultural Groups ExistPeng Yuanfeng and Sun Peijie said: "Since there will be a human language with slang, slang of production and social and cultural ties of ethnicity," [1].Subcultures of American society for the production of slang provide fertile soil. In the past, it was drug addicts, homeless, black, gambling, and prisoners to use the language of the lower, such as the nose candy, horse, grass, weed tea, pot, black stuff, mud, shooting gallery, etc.. in the black community, it is a large number of manufacturing and usage, such as the dog juice (cheap wine), jazz (jazz), blues (blues), cat2walk (walking dance), rock roll ( rock) and so on. With the development, the source of slang and its meaning has expanded continuously, cowboys, soldiers, policemen, athletes, also joined the team. Subculture positive infiltrate mainstream culture. Later, students, politicians and businessmen also joined in the creation and use of slang in the ranks. Thus, from the President to civilians in the use of slang. such as former U.S. President Ronald Reagan liked to say a word is: Here we go again. The implied meaning of the speaker on a matter of repetition has been a bit impatient. As long as he was at the press conference intractable problems continue to bother the same time these words from his mouth would blurt out.2.5.2 The Infiltration from Asian Culture to the Dominant CultureThe frequent exchanges of subculture between Member States strengthen the groups spread out within a slang trends, led to help in the subculture to be outside the public in widely disseminated (Pengyuan Feng, Sun Peijie, 2003). For example, gamblers with a buck (= dollar) and the big one refers to 100 yuan, respectively, and a thousand dollars bet, because the two words in the subculture within the high frequency of occurrence, to infiltrate groups, the group was outside the people use, so buck on to refer to 100 yuan, big one to refer to 1000 yuan.2.6 The Social and Cultural Conditions2.6.1 American Culture and the Diversity of National Character.The United States is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural focus, the historically known as the world's "melting pot." The country that in the full enjoyment of "democracy, freedom, human rights," every nation's immigrants maintain their own beliefs, customs, and even language. In their view, the unfair treatment to any other cultures could result in the loss of humanity of members that make up cultural groups. They also believe that if those minorities blending the traditional with the whole community, then people with different cultural backgrounds are able to enjoy a full harmonious society which isfull of equality and good wishes. National "brand" form the United States to a multi-cultural groups country, and cultural borrowing will inevitably lead to linguistic borrowing, therefore, foreign language and American English slang will continue to increase. In addition, within the framework of mainstream culture, there are many sub-cultural groups. The differences between Socio-economic status groups and educational background that make up the decision of the differences between way of thinking and values of the group members, people's language requirement and expression are therefore somewhat different. Therefore, the diversity of American culture and provides a fertile soil for the production and the prosperity of slang.Culture cast national character into the deep heritage, generation after generation of Americans to achieve their "American Dream", tirelessly pursuing, even at the cost of life. Energetic, and creative; cheerful and lively, not rigid; bold innovation, pursuit of novelty; contempt for authority, advocating freedom and equality, these are Americans so proud national identity, therefore, it can be said that the broad American slang and the American national character are not unrelated.2.6.2 New Things and New ConceptsAt last, the emergence of new things and concepts give a huge impetus to the expanding of slang. New objects, ideas require new words to describe them. With the development of media, a lot of slang words are crea ted and widely spread. Such as …sitcom‟(situation comedy), …chat show‟(talk show), …bomb‟(failure)etc. we can also take the modern science and technology as an example, …bird‟(the satellite of dispatch), …chip head‟(enthusiast of computer). Similarly, crea tion of slang occurs in other fields, such as sports, campus and so on. So the development of all aspects of society gives tremendous amount birth to the slang.Finally, American slang is quickly appearing and expanding under the above-mentioned backgrounds. The existence of language is restricted by cultural context of society and sentiment of the speaker.Chapter3 The Function of American Slangs3.1 Social Function3.1.1 Strengthen the Internal Cohesion.Slang is language within a particular society, are often used in peer or gang, it reflects the internal members of the equality and harmonious relationships. Different social groups use their own unique argot or jargon. Such as: a box (= a piano), a number (= a tune), to swing (= to play well) is a jazz lover's term; a beetle (= a small car), a horse (= a motorcar) is traffic police jargon; left bridge (= left front pocket), right bridge (= right front pocket), to kiss the dog (= to steal the victim's money face to face) is the argot of pickpockets. Pickpocket argot signal transmission through these perpetrators, even if the object is Grilled heard, may not be aware of them. So pick a partner, the safe and success rate is high. Therefore, the slang play the role of such a society: boundaries of division and identity groups, and to maintain or obtain some kind of slang user group membership (BemardSpolsky, 2000). "Time" magazine's well-known writer Lance Morrow (1986) pointed out that a group of slang, it gives some kind of status and identity of group members; in the maintenance of concealment, consistent, self-esteem at the same time, through the language of rebellion, so that the groups and other social were distinguished.3.1.2 Adjust Interpersonal Relationships.Slang is informal language informality, it can bring both sides to talk casually familiar with the atmosphere, thus facilitating close to each other and eliminate barriers. If a teacher said to the student who can not answer the question: come along, my boy, cheer up, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. Then the students will be wiped embarrassed, classroom atmosphere will become active. Blacks living in New York District are often have a security-conscious to those who are generally well-educated black lawyer or doctor.They think that those who already have superior social status, not sincere with them. However, when other people start off their land Road in black slang greeting "Hey, baby, How do you do, baby?" Their mood suddenly slack off, no longer restrained safely handle the matter entrusted to him.3.1.3 Maintain a Balance of Human Psychology.Freud's theory, we can easily find, slang main driving deep force comes from "self" (ego) of the "superego" (superego) resistance. Since the society cell from the family to this community have been, the class appeared, as a social man's spirit, the "self" always be hurt, This is a common psychological of people. The slang just as a self-regulating healing agent. In order to resist the control of "superego" to the "self", to ensure "self" healthy develop, there should be a means tocompensate for their weaknesses. Slang is the language of this particular one such means. Popular Campus slang in America today illustrates this point. Today's society, students are to suffer increasing stress from family, school and community, the part spirit of "ego" are difficult to obtain independent development. It is convenient to express the complexity of thinking with the specific language, so naturally --- the school students in the unique language of slang can help them. In this way the conversation among students can be very casual. Drug in the United States has become a common phenomenon in schools, in order to express this illegal behavior, students who use a lot of fun obscure slangs to express "drugs": mother, monkey, monster, tea, straw, grass, weed, gum, nose-burner, crystal and so on. In addition, the slang involving hanging, electrocution, murder and other terms, without exception, take a mockery of the attitude of death, this deeper reflect the user of slang take a humorous attitude towards the death of this cruel phenomenon, so as to he could make himself freed from fear..3.1.4 Reflect the Speaker's PositionThe use of language is a social act, as part of the language, the use of slang is also a social behavior. Different social groups or groups have different slangs, they use slang which belong to their respective groups, in this way to show their identity and social status. If you are a student, when talking with the students to use brutal (great), flunk somebody. ( give somebody fail mark), apple-polishing (flattering) like the slang will be indispensable. Suppose a person would like to make people believe he is a member of jazz group the fact that he more than just conversation with Cabriel (trumpet) such jazz slang specific purpose can be achieved.3.1.5 Meet People's Sense of Renewal, Reflect Personality.With the quickening pace of people's lives, the psychological pressure, in order to get rid of boring, monotonous life, the pursuit of psychological stimulation and novelty of new and create a lot of slangs, for example: pass away, depart to ground on behalf of die; put to sleep on behalf of hang. slang can reflect the personality, embodied self, the most representative of the 20th century 50's emerged known as the beat generation "Beat Generation" of young people culture, they were extremely dissatisfied with American society, and they have taken alternative values. They refused to accept the traditional conception. Way to Paradise to seek the spirit of enlightenment method of。
