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湖南第一师范学院
毕业论文(设计)

题目 （中文）
从亚文化角度分析美国俚语特征
(英文）
The Analysis of Features of American Slang from Sub—Cultural Perspective
学生姓名
吴雪平
学号
04b11040826
指导教师
胡启海
系(部)
外语系
专业班级
08级英语10班
完成时间
2012年5月

The Analysis of Features of American Slang from Sub—cultural Perspective

By

WU Xueping

A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of

BACHELOR OF ARTS

Department of Foreign Language,
HUNAN FIRST NORMAL UNIVERSITY
May， 2012

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作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日

摘 要

俚语是一种在非正式场合下使用非常广泛的口语形式。它来源于美国社会的各亚文化群体，包括黑社会、流氓团伙、无业游民、同性恋者、吸毒者、妓女、赌徒囚犯,所以美国俚语都带着亚文化群体的烙印。本文根据美国社会各亚文化群体所使用的语言特征来分析整个美国的俚语特征.美国各亚文化群体丰富了美国俚语词汇，因此美国俚语词汇也保留了各亚文化群体特征.通过比较和分析,美国俚语作为美国英语重要的组成部分，具有立意新奇、幽默生动、富有形象性、易于表达情感、言简意赅等特征。

关键词：亚文化美国俚语;俚语特征

28
I

Abstract

Slang， as a highly colloquial form， is widely used in informal occasion。 American slang originates from the subculture groups, including jobless vagrants， soldiers， sailors, detective, criminals and etc. Therefore, American slang is characterized by subculture groups. This paper tries to analyze the features of American slang from sub-cultural perspective。 American sub-cultural groups have developed， enlarged and enriched American slang vocabulary。 As a result， American slang terms are left with distinct sub—cultural features. By comparing and analyzing， as an important part of American English, slang terms are characterized by its creativeness， humor， irony, expressiveness， liveliness, brevity and obscurity。个人收集整理,勿做商业用途文档为个人收集整理,来源于网络

Key words： subculture groups; American slang; features

II

CONTENTS

摘要 I
Abstract II
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Chapter 2 American Slang and American Subculture 4
2。1 American Slang as an Insight into American Culture 4
2。2 The Relationship Between English Slang and Standard English 6
2。3 The Relationship Between Slang and Subculture Groups 8
Chapter 3 Subculture Groups' Slang and Their Features 10
3。1 College Slang and Its Features 10
3.2 Criminal Slang and Its Features 13
3.3 Political Slang and Its Features 15
3。4 Homosexual Slang and Its Features 17
Chapter 4 Features of American Slang 19
4.1 Brevity and Liveliness 19
4。2 Novelty and Fashion 19
4.3 Humor and Irony 20
Chapter 5 Conclusion 22
Bibliography 24
Acknowledgements 25

III

Chapter 1 Introduction

It is estimated that there are at least six hundred thousand English words, fifteen thousand of which are slang. According to Fowler, H。W， The words known but not frequently used by American and English people are about ten to twenty thousand. Two thousand of them are slang words accounting for 10％” (Zhang Shishu, 1926)。 American Slang research is indispensable if we want to know more about American vocabulary and culture。
There are more and more linguists and scholars starting to study slang both at home and abroad. No matter where we are， we can hear local slang carrying specific culture。 American slang is a significant part of English slang, thus scholars and linguists both in the west and in China pay great attention to it. It is known that on formal occasion Standard English is the only suitable form. However， when without restriction, people always prefer to use the vivid and expressive slang rather than Standard English.本文为互联网收集，请勿用作商业用途本文为互联网收集,请勿用作商业用途
Since slang is so closely related to people's daily life， many scholars have already studied slang in their research both in American and Britain， such as Patridge and Brook， they made a further study on the process of socialization and the use of slang.
Apart from foreign scholars， many Chinese scholars have also analyzed slang from different angles such as its features， functions and formations etc。 But they seldom study slang from subculture perspective. Actually, slang， especially American slang， has a great deal to do with subculture. Most of American slang comes from American subculture groups, so studying American slang from subculture point of view can help us better understand the glamorous and panorama of American society and its culture.个人收集整理，勿做商业用途本文为互联网收集,请勿用作商业用途
It is admitted that language and culture have close relationship。 The study of culture, especially subculture， is of great importance in the studying of slang， which is a language variety。
However, the history of studying subculture is short。 Around the world， the study of subculture has begun since the Second World War, up to now， some scholars have made great contribution to subculture。”

Lee, Gordon have studied subculture through their studies. CCCS, that is the Birmingham Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies also contributed to the study of subculture。 Chris Jenks, in his book Subculture， mainly talked about subculture in terms of its definition and origins etc。 Ken Gelder and Sarah Thomton also explored the theory of subculture in their collaboration The Subculture Reader in 1997.（Wang Bin， 2008）

In addition， many Chinese scholars are also interested in subculture, which is further discussed in their dissertation and works， such as Ding Lantian and Mao Donghui.
Any society and country has a dominant culture and subculture. In America, American slang is regarded as a special English variety spoken by subculture groups such as criminals， the blacks， drug addicts, gamblers and etc. In other words, American slang comes from sub—cultural groups.
Language is a vehicle for human communication。 Slang, as a language variety， is vital if we want to learn a language well. Language reflects culture。 Being a part of language， American slang mirrors American culture. American slang, once scorned by people, now has appeared in all the major newspapers， magazines and TV which makes it difficult for non-native speakers to understand if they do not know the real meaning of the slang。 Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to analyze and study the features of American slang and the subculture groups which mainly use the American slang to have a better understanding of American slang。个人收集整理，勿做商业用途个人收集整理，勿做商业用途
This paper intends to analyze features of American slang through studying subculture groups。 Each subculture group has its own slang and slang used by different groups has its own characteristics. By analyzing features of slang used by each subculture group, we would find out that they share some common features which help us to learn about features of American slang。
The new idea of this paper lies in the combinations of features of American slang and subculture groups。 American slang originates from subculture groups， so American slang must be characterized by subculture groups. After analyzing features of American slang used by each subculture group, the paper tries to figure out features of American slang. Besides， although many linguists and scholars have made research in the field of American slang and subculture， it is not common for them to study American slang from sub-cultural point of view.本文为互联网收集，请勿用作商业用途本文为互联网收集，请勿用作商业用途

Chapter 2 American Slang and American Subculture

Language, used as the basic vehicle to transmit beliefs, values and norm, is a significant and special part of culture and affected by culture。 As a variety of English， American slang deeply mirrors American culture。 Since American slang originates from subculture groups, it is necessary to take a look at the relationship between American slang and its sub-cultural groups.
2.1 American Slang as an Insight into American Culture
No one would deny the fact that language and culture have a close relationship. Sapir believes the close relationship between language and culture， maintaining that they are inextricably related so that you could not understand or appreciate the one without the knowledge of the other。

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 norm. Yet， language is not a passive reflector of culture。 Even assuming that culture is in many cases the first cause in the language-culture relationship， language as the effect in the first link of the casual chain will in turn be the cause in the next link， reinforcing and preserving beliefs and customs and conditioning their future course。 （Hu Zhuanglin, 1992: 250）本文为互联网收集，请勿用作商业用途文档为个人收集整理,来源于网络

As one of the language varieties slang also reflects culture. The culture shapes our behavior patterns， and our behavior is mediated through language。 Our behavior is greatly influenced by culture， as Stuart Berg Flexner（1987) claimed, “Whether the United States has more slang words than any other country (in proportion to number of people, area, or the number of words in the standard vocabulary)。 Americans， however， do use their general slang more than any other people”。 Then why do Americans use more slang items than people in other countries？ Wilhelm Von Humboldt believes that language is the external exhibit of one’s inner world. There’s nothing in the world more similar than language and culture。 To some extent， American slang shows cultural characteristics of American society and Americans’ national character。文档为个人收集整理，来源于网络个人收集整理，勿做商业用途
Americans are optimistic people that we can also find from their language. As the book American Society and American Culture comments “that no other place has more natural resources than America， and every person here can become rich if he is enterprising and lucky. Their country and experience tell them to keep optimistic， and Americans are extreme optimist （translated by the author) ” (王锦瑭，1996: 3). American slang fully reflects American culture and their national character. It is known that language is a symbol of society， being a part of language varieties，slang mirrors some aspects of American culture。 Americans’ optimism and confidence also make their language full of a sense of humor and that’s also why their language has so much exaggeration and euphemism. It has been observed that exaggeration is an American characteristic, Americans use exaggeration to make what they say vividly and that's what makes American slang so popular. You can easily find exaggeration in American slang， for example, be dying for, be starved for, be crazy about, to have eyes bigger than the belly， etc。 Their humor is also demonstrated in their use of euphemism in their language. They have many euphemistic words for god damn, such as goldarn, gosh， gawd, dad gum， doggone, goldang。 Many unpopular or even considered as “low position" jobs are also given some good names. For example, garbage collector is called sanitation engineer, and servant is called domestic engineer, gardener is called landscape architect.个人收集整理，勿做商业用途本文为互联网收集，请勿用作商业用途
Another characteristic of Americans is their creativeness. During the founding of their country, Americans created much vocabulary including slang which in some degree made their language different from that used in colonies. It is during this time that American English began to come into being. Many slang terms were created during this time, for example, when describing someone， they tended to use words Yankee， alligator, sheik， B。M.O.C., beetle, beat and etc。 As a significant part of American culture, slang always reflects Americans’ creativeness and curiosity。本文为互联网收集，请勿用作商业用途文档为个人收集整理，来源于网络
Americans believe that all men are equal which lead them to be quite informal in their general behaviors and in their language. “Although sociologists talk of the country’s class structure， most Americans do not think in these terms。 They do not see themselves as struggling to move from the lower middle class to the upper middle class。 Instead they think in terms of higher income to pay for a bigger house， a trip to Europe, summer camp for their children， or more retirement insurance” (朱永涛, 1991： 369). This idea also forms American people’s informality。文档为个人收集整理，来源于网络个人收集整理，勿做商业用途
We can see from the above discussions that it is American people’s characters that lead to the fact the fact that Americans use more slang items than any other countries。
2。2 The Relationship Between English Slang and Standard English
Schlauch （1959), calls slang expressions “aberrations from Standard English" (Zhang Shishu， 2006). The Standard English is often used in formal situation while English Slang is usually used in informal occasion。 English Slang, as a colloquial form， is different from Standard English in many ways. Standard English can be viewed as prescriptive while English Slang descriptive. Standard English must be free from grammar error。 On the contrary, when using slang， people don’t have to think about whether they are using it correctly. For example， in Standard English， we will say such a sentence: whom are you talking about？ While in slang， it can be expressed as: who are you talking about？ What they pay attention to is if the slang they use is innovative and up—to-date. To keep up with the pace of the modern society, slang changes so quickly that it may have different meanings in different times。文档为个人收集整理，来源于网络文档为个人收集整理,来源于网络
What’s more， slang scorns uniformity while Standard English respects it。 It is this feature of slang that makes a language livelier. McKnight concludes:

A language may not be completely standardized and live．Fixity in the form of a language gives immobility to the national thought expressed．Ideas inherited from the past,to be sure，may find adequate expressions in the fixed idiom of the past．The shifting，developing forms assumed by live thought，however， demand the plastic medium of living language （McKnight G. H， 1923: 46）。

Finally, we could not just replace slang vocabulary for standard language because of certain limitation。 Sometimes， slang vocabulary can only be understood among certain groups of people。 Take political group as an example, they call Republic Party “Elephant” and Democratic Party “Donkey”。 People who know little about politics may be confused when others talk about parties like that。 Slang vocabulary is likewise restricted, it is not enough to talk about all things that happen in our daily life。 One cannot live with only slang, for instance， there are no personal pronouns in slang vocabulary so that listeners may not be able to tell whom the talker is talking about.个人收集整理,勿做商业用途文档为个人收集整理，来源于网络
All in all, E