Characteristics-of-American-Slang

1ContentsIntroduction…………………………………………………………………………5Ⅰ.Americanslang…………………………………………………………………5A.Thedefinitionofslang……………………………………………………6B.Originanddevelopmentofslang…………………………………………6Ⅱ.Characteristicsofslang…………………………………………………………7A.HighlyColloquial………………………………………………………………7B.Visualizationoflanguage…………………………………………………………………8C.AbundanceofSynonyms…………………………………………………………8D.Transienceofslang’slife…………………………………………………………9E.PossibilityofRisingintoStandardLanguage……………………………………9Ⅲ.PrinciplesofTranslating………………………………………………………10A.TheChiefExistedPrinciplesofSlangTranslation…………………………………10B.Specialprinciplesofslangytranslation…………………………………………10（1）.Exactunderstandingofmeaning………………………………………………10（2）.ConveyanceofFlavor…………………………………………………………11(3).Conveyanceofindividuality……………………………………………………12Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………132AbstractSinceslangappearedinEnglishlanguageinthe16thcentury,ithasgraduallybecomepopularamongEnglishspeakers.Meanwhile,itisdifficultforpeopletounderstand.Therefore,itisnecessaryforustostudyit.TohaveaglimpseintothenatureofEnglishslangishelpfultotranslate.ThisthesisexpoundsthedefinitionandoriginofslangandanalyzesitsprocessofdevelopmentanditsfeaturesanditssomeprinciplesofEnglishslang.ItcomestotheconclusionthatslangisplayingamoreandmoreimportantroleinthesocietyofEnglish-speakingandhasitsownprincipleswhenwetranslateit.KeywordsSlang;characteristics;translation;principles3CharacteristicsofAmericanSlangIntroductionSlangcanbedefinedtocommoncolloquiallanguage,andaccordingtothedefinitionoftheConciseOxfordEnglishDictionary(1985),slangisusuallyusedascolloquialwordsandphrase.ItcannotberegardedasStandard-English,thusthisshowsthat,slangisNonstandard-English.However,slangisverypopularintheEnglish-speakingcountriesnowadays..RichandcolorfulslangisanimportantcomponentinEnglish.Itisbrimmingwithyouthvigor.Itisratheraspokenlanguagethanawrittenone.Unlikestandardlanguage,itdoesnotfromitsowngrammarrules.Mainlyemployedbysub-culturalgroups,slangishighlycolloquial,informalandessentiallynotrespectable.Mostofslangismoreforceful,emotionalorhumorousformsthanstandardwords.Intherecentyears,ithasbeenchangingwitheachpassingdayandwiththeworld’sdevelopment.Manyoldwordshavebeencutoffandalargeamountofnewwordsareaddedtoslang.People’sattitudetowardslangvariesfrompersontoperson.Somethinkthatslangcannotbeusedontheformaloccasion,foritisspokenbytheilliteratepeopleonlyandtheslangtermsaresocoarse.However,othersholdtheoppositeidea.TheythinkthatslangplayanimportantroleinEnglishlanguage,becauseofitsfresh,lifelike,humorandadequateexpressions.Withthedevelopmentofthesociety,slangiswidelyusedbymoreandmorepeople,especiallyinAmerica,slangcanbefoundfavorableintheAmericans’eyes.Itisacceptedbybothupper-classandlower-class,andespeciallythecollegestudentswhotendtouseup-to-datewordsthatformakindofcharacteristicstyleofthemselves.Withthepopularityofslang,weshouldknowhowtotranslateitcorrectly.Likethetranslationofanyothergenre,thetranslationofEnglishslangshouldalsofollowthegeneralcriteria.However,asAmericanslanghasitsownpeculiarities,itstranslationshouldbepaidmuchattention.ThispaperisindentedtomakeatentativestudyonthecharacteristicsofslanganditstranslationinAmerica.Ⅰ..AmericanSlang4Slangisquiteacontroversiallanguage,peoplehavedifferentattitudetowardit.Itisnowonderthatthedefinitionofslangissovariety.However,theslangtermshavetheirowncharacters,and,ofcourse,thedefinitionsofitaremoreorlessdescribedinthesameway.A.TheDefinitionofSlangSlangisaratherspecialparole.Itisneitherthewordthatbeyondtheregularroleofgrammaticalusage,norruraldialect.Althoughitisquitedifferentfromacrolectwhichusedontheformaloccasion,peoplequiteliketouseitindailyspeech.Asamatteroffact,themeaningofmostslangissimilartothewordsofcolloquialstyle.Someconsideronewordisslang,whileothersmightnotthinkso.Forexample,theoldmaybelievethewordbikeisslang,buttheyouthmightnot.Bicycleistrisyllabic,whilebikeismonosyllabic,itissotroublesometopronouncethewordwithtrisyllabic,andofcourse,theyouthprefertoomitsomeothertwosyllables,andbikeisspokenbytheyouthmoreoften.Tosomecertainslang,itishardtotellthedifferencesbetweenslangandcolloquialstyle.Oneofthedefinitionsofitis,“thebodyofwordsandexpressionfrequentlyusedbyorintelligibletoaratherlargeportionofthegeneralpublic,butnotacceptedasgood;formalusagebythemajority”(Flexner,1975:3).Anothersaying,“slangisusedtodenotethefrequentlyvividorplayfullexicalusagetypicalofcasualdiscourse,usuallyindicatingmembershipinaparticularsocialgroup”.(Quirketal,1985:76)AccordingtoOxfordLinguisticDictionary（2000）,“slangusedespeciallyofvocabularyspecificforexample,toaparticulargenerationofyoungerspeakers;alsoasinordinaryusage,specifictoagrouporaprofession(e.g.‘armyslang’),tocolloquialstyle,etc”[1].Fromallabove,eventhoughpeoplehavedifferentideaaboutslang,onestillcanfindoutsomecommoncharacteristicsofit.AndwhataboutAmericanslang?Itisfoundthatslangcanberegardedaswordsandphrasesorparticularmeaningsofwordsincommoninformaluse,butgenerallyitisnotseenasstandardinalanguagethatusedbyspecifiedexpressionorclass.Itisnatur