朗文英语听说教程第三册

朗文英语听说教程第三册 LECTURE AUDIOSCRIPTS Unit 1 Slang: Talking Cool TEACHER: OK, let’s get started... Today we’re going to be looking at a really interesting phenomenon, slang. We’ll be looking at where slang comes from, who uses it and why. We all use it more often than you might think—every day of our lives, in fact. And we use it for a reason. You know, most of us are fascinated with slang. We continually hear new words and phrases enter the language and replace old, and we see familiar words take on new meanings. We feel a need to keep in touch with these changes, to be aware of the latest street talk. Fact is, we love slang. But what is it exactly? What is slang? Anyone like to suggest a definition? STUDENT 1: Isn’t it basically kind of casual talk? TEACHER: Can you say a bit more? STUDENT 1: You know, the sort of words we use with friends.., in relaxed situations. TEACHER: Good. You’re pretty much there with your idea of casual language. We can say that slang is language that’s found only in the very informal speech of particular groups of people. It can help to identify the communities, the groups of people, who use it. And this brings me to the first important point of the lecture—why people use slang. A lot of slang comes from not wanting to be understood by outsiders, people outside your circle. In other words, people exploit slang to give their group an identity, by making their language exclusive, or at least private. Through this private language, they can tease one another, enjoy shared experiences, and keep everyone else at a distance. All cultures contain groups or subcultures with different interests and priorities, and each group tries to establish a separate identity. They want people to know who they are, what they stand for—and slang helps to construct and cement that identity. We can say, then, that slang reflects the experiences, beliefs, and values of its speakers. Now let’s look more closely at this relationship between slang and community, slang and identity. A nice example of this is, uh, student language, sometimes called “youth-speak.” Young people use a lot of slang, and many of the words they use are used by both sexes, often metaphorically rather than literally. That is to say, the conventional meaning of the words changes. For example, words that have traditionally had strong negative literal meanings that are used as insults have taken on, uh, gentler, and in many cases even positive meanings in conversation. We’ll look at some examples later. Now, if you ask college students why they use slang, they’ll tell you it’s cool, and that’s true in several different ways. First, it’s cool because it’s in style, in fashion. Using current slang shows that the speaker is in tune with the times.., you know, that he or she knows what’s in fashion and is part of that fashion. Second, slang is cool in the sense of showing that the speaker is knowledgeable.., the speaker is “in the know,” the speaker knows when slang is acceptable. People don’t use slang all the time, only in situations and with people who accept the use of slang—a point I’ll return to later. Research tells us that although young people often deny that they use slang intentionally, in fact they clearly choose whether or not to use it depending on the situation they’re in. As we’ve already said, slang’s typically used in informal rather than formal settings, and this is certainly true among college students: They usually avoid using it in the classroom or a work environment, for example. Anyone like to suggest why? STUDENT 1: People won’t understand them. STUDENT 2: Yeah, so it’s like a waste of time. TEACHER: Well, that may be true, but it’s not the main reason. They don’t use it simply because it could make them look bad. And everyone hates looking bad, right? So, to review, we’ve said that students use slang only in certain situations. But they also only use it with certain people, usually friends. When they use slang, they are showing that they share social and emotional experiences—so slang reinforces their relationships. But... it also gives special meaning to what they say. For instance, to say “That party was the bomb” is more than merely saying it was a very good party. It shares an emotional experience that might otherwise take several sentences to explain. In other words, it’s a kind of... shorthand. The third and final way slang’s cool is that it’s fun; it’s very creative in the same way that poetry is, and it’s often humorous. In other words, it’s a form of play, a way of entertaining. So . . . uh, let me repeat: I’ve said that slang’s cool for three reasons: One, it shows the user’s fashionable and in tune with the times; two, it’s a way of reinforcing relationships and communicating efficiently; and three, it’s fun and entertaining. Got that? All right then, let’s now take a look at different kinds of slang, in particular three types of slang words: those that are currently most used, those that linger year after year, and those that have become unfashionable. So . . . now what is the most used slang? Well, research tells us that over the past few years, in the number one position is “dope,” which basically means very good, great, excellent, attractive, or nice. So somebody might say, for example, that his friend’s new motorbike is really dope; in other words, it’s very good. Other words that feature in the top twenty include “chill out” (to calm down or relax), “the bomb” (meaning the best or most excellent), “whack” (which means bad, unfair, crazy, or foolish), and “dude” (meaning person---usually a man, actually). Any other examples? Yes? STUDENT 1: Hella. TEACHER: Meaning? STUDENT 1: Very, a lot. TEACHER: OK, yep. Luis? STUDENT 3: “Kick it,” which means, like, to hang out, uh, relax, you know, sit around doing nothing. TEACHER: Right. And it’s interesting, isn’t it? How most slang terms indicate approval or disapproval; they show what we feel positive or negative about. So, like “dope” and” the bomb,” we have “sweet,” “phat” spelled P-H-A-T, not F-A-T “cool,” and “tight’—all meaning good, excellent, nice, or attractive. And then you have words like “bad” which really mean good; so “That new CD is bad” actually means it’s good! So you see, slang does strange things with language. Like I said earlier, it’s certainly creative. As a matter of fact, some slang words have many different meanings, sometimes as many as nine or ten. For instance, the word “trip” or “tripping” has various meanings, but they all reflect the idea of unusual, strange, or extreme. When a word’s used a lot or has a number of different meanings like this, we sometimes say it “works hard.” The word “trip,” then, is a word that works hard. Uh…now, the second type of slang consists of words that linger from decade to decade and never seem to go out of fashion and these words also work hard, that is, they have a lot of meanings. A great example is the word cool forever popular, it seems! Other terms in this category are “nerd,” “cheesy,” “chick,” “the man,” “toasted,” “wasted,” “what’s up,” “blow away,” and “gross.” And once again, most of these show approval or disapproval. And…now, finally, there are slang terms that come and go; they disappear almost as quickly as they appear. Examples include “gimme five,” “how’s it hanging,” and “core.” Words like these often disappear because they’re closely associated with famous personalities who similarly come and go—they’re popular, in the spotlight for a while, and then seem almost to disappear. And when they disappear, the slang associated with them tends to disappear as well. Now, today, public tolerance of slang is at an all-time high—just look at how widely it’s used in newspapers. But how do college teachers and academics view slang? Well, some persist with the idea that its use will degrade.., uh, you might even say “pollute” academic discourse. However, among themselves students tolerate words their teachers might consider taboo. Students are actually very good at code switching; that is, they’re very good at using different styles or codes of communication in different situations. Do you agree? Do you use slang in your essays or when you speak with a teacher? STUDENT 3: Personally I never use slang in essays. It just doesn’t feel right. It’s true, you know, most students know when to use slang, and when not to. STUDENT 2: I agree. I sometimes use it with teachers, though; it just depends on who the teacher is. TEACHER: Why, I imagine most people do the same. Here’s something you may find surprising: A recent study on student conversation suggests that students don’t in fact use slang that often but instead they choose more ordinary colloquial vocabulary. OK, to finish up, now let me say something about the history of slang. Many years ago, A look back in time shows, for example, that in the seventeenth century more than twenty words were used to refer to vagrants, that is, to someone who has no home or job. Today, of course, these associations are much weaker and slang’s used much more widely. As underground culture has become more mainstream, there’s not the same need for the kind of that slang offered. Today, most of us use slang and aren’t ashamed of using it. It may still have negative connotations (a quality or an idea that a word makes you think of that is more than its basic meaning), but like it or not it’s here to stay, and increasingly it’s become the subject of serious academic study. And why not? As I’ve tried to show, it’s a fascinating social as well as linguistic phenomenon. So, any questions?