Sociolinguistic Study Of Gender Differences In American Slangs

The study of American slang is positively significant. In this thesis, American slang is depicted by the use of sociolinguistic theory and research methodology in macro way and further discussed from micro-depth. Differences between language and gender are common in language development and usage. In general, under Social Constructionism Theory and through the language variety-slang, this paper studies the correlations between slang and gender and analyzes the reasons for gender differences in American slangs. It also confirms linguistic relativity and questions linguistic determinism in Sapir- Whorf hypothesis. Besides, the knowledge can be incorporated into foreign language teaching to facilitate the awareness of cross-cultural communication and enhance cross-cultural skills for foreign language learners.This thesis consists of the following five chapters. Chapter one presents an introduction which states background, the significance and the structure of this thesis. The second chapter concerns the literature review in which the key concepts and gender theories are discussed and compared. Chapter three introduces the research methodology and procedures in which the frequency of American slangs used by male and female are analyzed. Chapter four suggests that gender and slang are significantly irrelevant. Then the Social Constructionism Theory and Sapir- Whorf hypothesis are interpreted and evaluated. The fifth chapter is the conclusion including the major findings, implications and suggestions, as well as the limitations and the future topics.