陳蕙雅思教材 - 雅思閱讀精選 (Types of Speech)

Types of Speech

Standard  usage includes those words andexpressions  understood, used,

and accepted by amajority of the speakers of a language in any situation

regardless of the levelof formality. As such, these words and expressions

are well         defined and listed in standarddictionaries. Colloquialisms, on

the other hand, arefamiliar words and idioms that       areunderstood by almost

all speakers of alanguage and used in informal speech or writing, but not

considered    appropriate for more formal situations.Almost all idiomatic

expressions arecolloquial language. Slang, however,  refersto words and

expressions understood bya large number of speakers but not accepted as

good, formal usage  by   the  majority.  Colloquial expressions  and

even  slang may  be  found in  standard dictionaries butwill  be so        

identified. Bothcolloquial usage and  slang are  more common in speech

than in writing.

Colloquial speechoften  passes into standard speech.  Some slang also

passes into standardspeech, but other slang      expressionsenjoy momentary

popularity followed byobscurity. In some cases, the majority never accepts

certain         slang  phrases but nevertheless retains them in  theircollective

memories. Everygeneration seems to require its own set of words to

describe familiar objectsand events.

It has been pointed outby a number of linguists that three cultural

conditions are necessaryfor the creation of a large body of slang

expressions. First, theintroduction and acceptance of new objects and  

situations  in the  society;  second, a  diverse  population with  a  

large  number of subgroups; third, association among the subgroups and         the

majority population.

Finally, it is  worth noting that the terms "standard" "colloquial" and

"slang" existonly as abstract labels         forscholars who study language. Only

a tiny number of thespeakers of any language will be  awarethat they are          

using colloquial or slangexpressions.  Most speakers  of English will,

during appropriatesituations, select and use all three types of

expressions.

語言的類型  標準用法包括那些為使用這種語言的大多數人在任何場合下理解、使用和 接受的詞和短語，而不論該場合是否正式。  

這些詞和短語的意義已很確定並被列入了標準 詞典中。  相反，俗語是指那些幾乎所有講這種語言的人都理解並在非正式的口頭或書面中

使用，卻不適用於更正規的一些場合的詞和短語。  幾乎所有的習慣用語都屬於俗語，而俚

語指的是為很多講這種語言的人理解但大多數人不把它們列入好的、正式用法之內的詞和短 語；俗語甚至俚語都可能在標準字典中查到，但是字典中會標明它們的性質。

俗語和俚語 詞彙的應用都是口頭較多、筆頭較少。俗語用法經常地被接受為標準用法。  一些俚語也變

成了標準用法，但另外一些俚語只經歷了短暫的流行，而後就被棄之不用了。  有時候，多 數人從來不接受某些俚語，但是他們把這些俚語保存到集中記憶中。

每一代人似乎都需要 獨有的一套詞彙來描述熟知的物體和事件。  很多語言學家指出，大量俚語的形成需要三個

文化條件：第一，對社會中新事物的引入和接受；第二，一個由大量子群構成的多樣化人口；

第三，各子群與多數人口之間的聯繫。最後需要提到的是，"標準語"、"俗語"和"俚語"這些 術語只是對研究語言的專家才有用的抽象標籤。  

不論何種語言，只會有很小一部分使用者

能夠意識到他們是在使用俗語或俚語。  講英語的多數人能夠在適當的場合中選擇使用所有 這三種語言類型。