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1、AmericanSlangandItsSocialFunctionsSlangusedtoberegardedasindecent,vulgarlanguage.However,todaypeoplehaverealizeditsvalue;moreandmorepeoplewidelyusesuchlanguageformintheirdailycommunication.Evensomeslangtermsandexpressionshavebeendraftedintothedictionaries.Asoneofthemostpowerfulcountriesinthe
2、world,theU.S.Aismoreandmoreinfluential.ForEnglishlearners,learningslangcanhelpthemtoavoidmisunderstandingandenhancelanguagecompetence.ThisthesisdiscussesAmericanslangfromtherelationsamongsociety,cultureandlanguage.TheexamplescitedinthispaperwilldeepentheunderstandingoftheimportanceofAmerican
3、slang.SlangtakesupanindispensablepartinAmericanEnglish.AccordingtothestatisticbyAmericanlinguistsWentworth&Flexner,thenumberofthewordsanaverageAmericanpeoplehasisrangingfrom10,000to20,000,ofwhich10percentareslangterms(Flexnerxx).Slangiswidelyusedbypeoplefromdifferentfields.Andwhereisslangfro
4、m?Whohavecreatedit?Thefollowingwilldiscussthem.MostofslangwordsarecreatedorformedbythesamewaysasotherkindsofwordsinEnglish.Hereareseveralwaysofword-formation.Onewaythatweoftenuseisclipping.“Slangdelightstocurtailwords,asinmonkformoney,fluforinfluenza,bizforbusiness,varsityforuniversity,ventf
5、orconvertorpervert...”(Partridge26).Clippingcanbedividedintofourmethods:thefirstoneisclippingthefrontpartoftheword,e.g.ampforampereoramplifier,champforchampion,broforbrother;thesecondisclippingthemiddlepart,e.g.fluforinfluenza,tecfordetective;thethirdisclippingthefrontpartofthefirstwordinaph
6、rase,e.g.popforpopularmusic,intercomforintercommunicationsystem;thelastoneisclippingthefrontpartofeachword,e.g.bsforbull-shit,IDforIdentificationCard,G-manforGovernmentman,etc.Blendingalsoisapopularwaytoformslangwords,whichinventsawordbygatheringpartsofotherwords:oneiscombiningtheinitialpart
7、ofthefirstwordwiththeendofthesecondone,forexample,mingy(mean+stingy)means“mean,stingyornarrow-minded”;smog(smoke+fog)means”mixtureofsmokeandfog”.Theotheriscombiningtheinitialpartsoftwowords,forinstance,sitcom(situation+comedy)means”theradioorTVseri
