A Tentative Study On The Language Features Of American Slang And Its Use In Different Social Groups

American slang is a kind of colloquial speech used extensively on informal occasions. In modern American society, each social group has its special kind of group slang. The words and expressions leaking out from group slang form a kind of social and national slang. Slang words and expressions penetrate all the social stratums, vocations and races in modern American society. The vocabulary used by ordinary American people is about ten to twenty thousand, among which more than two thousand are slang words. Wentworth and S. Flexner compiled《Dictionary of American Slang》in 1960, and since then, it has been reprinted for more than twenty times.《Modern Dictionary on American Slang》(Oxford Press, 2003) covers more than twenty-five thousand American slang items. These facts have proved that modern American slang is extensively used in modern American society and it is a subject which has drawn great attention from scholars doing linguistic researches. The attitudes of the scholars have changed from indifferent to highly attentive. The researches on American slang is of profound academic background and significance.Furthermore, the study of American slang is practically important. Language is the carrier of cultures. Without the understanding of slang---a prevailing form of colloquial speech in current America, it is impossible to fully understand American cultures. Besides, researches on American slang will contribute directly to translation, colloquial communication, and also further to education, economic development and other aspects of social lives.Although the current researches on slang is abundant, most of them and the publications have centered on classifying and explaining certain slang words without giving further linguistic analysis. The aim of this thesis is not...