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第1篇

【關鍵詞】 美國電影；第六日；西方文化；隱喻

【中圖分類號】G644.4 【文獻標識碼】A 【文章編號】2095-3089（2013）33-0-01

一、劇情述評

美國電影《第六日》（The 6th Day）是第一部探索人類克隆的動作影片，它把我們帶到科技已高度的不遠的未來，在那時，人類科技已可以任意克隆任何生物，甚至包括人類本身。然而，即便克隆人類的技術已相當成熟，但因社會倫理的限制，仍不被法律所允許。

人類的弱點之一就是往往抵擋不了利益的誘惑，在利益面前，不少人會很容易地就忘記了道德倫理和法律的約束而為所欲為。電影中韋恩實驗室（研究克隆技術的實驗室）的老板杜拉克便是典型的一例——他在醫學博士韋恩的幫助下不僅克隆了自己，也克隆了許許多多的被他認為對自己有利的人，電影的主角亞當·吉布森（Adam Gibson，阿諾德·施瓦辛格飾演）即為其中之一。

亞當回到家里發現一個與自己一模一樣的人取代了自己享受著本屬于自己的天倫之樂，其震驚、困惑、痛苦之情溢于言表。而作為觀眾，我們都不難想象假如這一切發生在自己身上，會是什么一個感受。于是，為奪回原屬于自己的一切——自己、家庭和愛，亞當開始了他的“正名”之旅。

如許多美國電影一樣，《第六日》也有一個好萊塢式的結局——亞當在其克隆體的幫助之下，成功揭開了這一驚天陰謀，并最終拿回了原本屬于自己的一切。

在這部電影中，克隆與愛兩大主題相互交織：為了愛，亞當違背了自己的本意為女兒克隆了他們的寵物狗；出于愛，亞當選擇與他的克隆體攜手合作，共同揭開了隱藏在克隆人背后的巨大陰謀；因為愛，克隆亞當黯然退出……。若是從圣經和基督文化的角度去審視影片的這兩大主題，實則是矛盾與沖突的相互交織——是上帝創造了世界和人類，而人類無權去克隆自己，但人類偏偏又克隆了自己；上帝與他所揀選的民立約，要愛上帝，愛家人，愛鄰居，愛一切基督徒如兄弟姐妹，而片中的主人公所做的一切事情的出發點正是“愛”，包括克隆。電影就是在這樣的矛盾沖突中給觀眾留下了無盡的回味和思索：人類在享受飛速發展的科技帶來便利的同時，也不免擔憂——科技高度發達之時，人類是否還能掌控自己的命運？高科技給人們帶來的是福音還是災難？在高科技面前，人類應該堅守的倫理底線是什么？

二、對克隆的矛盾心態

1997年2月22日英國生物遺傳學家維爾穆特成功克隆出“多莉”羊的新聞被報道之后，克隆技術便震驚了世界；2000年6月26日，人類基因圖譜被成功破譯，這更為克隆人類在理論上提供了可能。但很快，顧及到社會倫理道德以及多數人的反對，多數國家通過立法明令禁止克隆人類。

《第六日》帶給我們的不僅僅是視覺的沖擊和震撼，更多的則是引發了人們對克隆人的深刻思索。影片最后雖沒有援引“第六日法案”對瘋狂的杜拉克進行法律審判，但對他的道德倫理審判卻是顯而易見的。

雖然如此，人們對克隆卻不免存在有矛盾心態。正如影片中的亞當，其本意是，無論何種生物，“生命的基本法則是，出生，成長，生活，然后死去”。但對女兒的愛卻又使他不由自主地走進寵物克隆商場，克隆了他們家的寵物犬“奧利佛”。這在片中的人們看來，為自己和家人克隆一個健康的寵物作為替代品已被普遍認可，即便他們仍強烈反對克隆人。

克隆技術的出現和發展，顛覆了人們傳統的對生命的理解和思考：一則人們渴望借助克隆技術延續生命；另一方面，傳統的社會倫理法則又告訴他們不可越過雷池。正如影片中亞當的思索和疑慮：克隆出來的，沒有靈魂，危險嗎？既然安全，為何不允許克隆人類？如何合情合理合法地運用高科技，尤其是克隆技術來造福人類，矛盾和糾結仍在繼續。

三、西方倫理文化隱喻與《圣經》

文藝作品大都有其神話的、歷史的或現實的素材和思想淵源并受其價值觀念的影響，特別是神話傳說，“一直在塑造和影響那些民族的思維觀念，對各民族的思想觀念和文化發展產生了極其深刻的影響” [1]。而在西方世界，“《圣經》的故事和傳說是西方文化藝術的重要源泉……它的思想和哲理已經成為人們意識的重要組成部分”[2]。究其原因，在于《圣經》典故在西方社會中影響的普遍性和深入性：《圣經》典故在西方政治、經濟、文學、藝術領域普遍存在，且已深深融入哲學、宗教、和意識形態領域，成為西方人的道德和行為規范，其影響力之廣、之深是任何其他典故所無法匹敵的。

正如深受儒家思想影響的中國人的倫理道德觀念基本來自于儒家學說一樣，《圣經》及其典故所蘊含價值觀念成為以基督教為普遍的西方人所認可和信奉的社會倫理價值觀也就可以理解了。那么，西方電影取材于《圣經》典故并將其倫理思想作為影片的主題來表現并不出人意料。甚至可以不夸張地說，整整一部西方電影史從未脫離基督教文化的深刻影響[3]。

電影《第六日》也毫不例外地帶有濃厚的《圣經》文化色彩，我們從該片片名以及男主角的姓名這些細節就可見一斑，因為“一部電影及其片名總是浸潤在該民族的文學、歷史、哲學、宗教、傳統、習俗、傳說等形成的文化體系中” [4]。

《圣經》這樣描述：“神就照著自己的形像造人，乃是照著他的形像造男造女……是第六日”（《舊約·創世紀》，1：27-31）[5]，而片中被多次重復的一句臺詞正是“在第六天，上帝創造了人，上帝造人時在第六天”，凸顯了片名《第六日》的宗教文化含義；《圣經》中還講道：“耶和華神用地上的塵土造人，將生氣吹在他的鼻孔里，他就成了有靈氣的活人，名叫亞當”（《舊約·創世紀》，2：7）[6]，片中主人公也恰恰以上帝所創造的第一個人的名字“亞當”命名；還有，主角亞當·吉布森（Adam Gibson）的姓“吉布森（Gibson）”在古德語中的含義又是“光明磊落的誓約”，此名表達父母希望子女繼承其祖先財物及傳統的愿望。

這些細節除了在藝術手法上起到呼應主題的作用之外，更深層的含義則是表現該片主創者文藝創作的價值取向，即《圣經》和基督文化所秉承的傳統的基督教倫理，即著眼于在肉體層面或物質范疇解讀人（尤其是基督徒）與他人、社會及萬物的關系嬗變，目標指向以神人和諧為基礎，重建被罪扭曲的人與他人、人與社會乃至整個自然界的關系[7]，重新回歸到“神”所安排的正常的社會和人類生活秩序。

可見，影片中所反映的克隆人爭議以及人們的矛盾心理，究其根源，正是來源于《圣經》深刻影響下的民族文化傳統，也反映了影片主創者對克隆人問題鮮明的“上帝取向”的生命價值觀和態度，即任何生命的誕生，尤其是人，只有通過正常途徑出生、成長的人，才是《圣經》中所講的“神所應許的”，才是“神”所喜悅的，才是合情合理合法的，否則就是對上帝的不敬——因為人不可能像上帝那樣創造人類和世界；當然就是也是反傳統的和倫理的，自然不會成為多數人的共識而被普遍接受。

四、結語

任何文藝作品都會反映作者本民族特有的文化傳統及其附帶的價值觀念。歐美大片對所有學英語、用英語的人來說不啻于一個學習和了解西方文化的生動而鮮活的教材，也為我們提供了一個加深中西文化間相互了解、增加彼此間信任的絕好窗口。另外，一部好的電影帶給人們的應該不僅僅是精神上的享受以及文化學習和交流的素材，電影故事背后的故事及其帶來的對生命和人性的理性思考也非常值得我們去關注。

參考文獻

[1]董廣坤，王傳順.《2012年》中的神話原型與末日隱喻[J].電影文學，2011：20.115-116.

[2]趙玲潔，趙彥榮.《圣經》在西方文化中的表現形式及影響[J].時代文學，2011：8.88-89.

[3]楊然.電影中的宗教魅力——談基督教文化在電影中的文化價值[J].電影評介，2009：19.8-9。

[4]佟磊，沈秋敏.淺談西方文化與西方電影片名翻譯[J].時代文學，2009：15.149-150.

第2篇

Key words：Black English; American English; American Culture; Influence

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. The Characteristics of Black English 2

2.1 Phonetics 2

2.2 Grammar 3

3. The Influence on American Culture 7

3.1 The Influence on American English 7

3.2 The Influence on American Art 9

3.3 The Influence on American Literature 11

4. The Practical Significance of Black English 14

5. Conclusion 15

Acknowledgements 16

References 17

 

1．Introduction

Black English is a social dialect of American English, and it has been historically influenced by West African languages, General Southern American English and English-based creoles.

 This kind of English shares several characteristics with the forms of Creole English spoken by people throughout the whole world. In addition, it also has pronunciation, grammatical structures, and vocabulary in common with various West African languages.[1]198 Since a large number of Black people migrate to America and they have the percentage of more than 12%, [2]496the Black English has been popularized in this country. But in the American society, people seldom realize the influence and contribution of Black English and they never give the equal state to Black people. In fact, the language and culture of American reflect the contributions of the Black English in many aspects, such as linguistic, art and literature.

Nowadays, it is reasonably acceptable to say that Black English is not only an independent language but also making practical significance to American English and the American Culture. Researchers need to study the significance in details. So this paper intends to collect the study of the characteristics of Black English, and then summarize its influences on the American English. Since the change of language can lead changes in other aspects, such as Art and Literature aspects, this paper also states the influence in detailed options.

The method of this paper is reviewing the past study and surveys, not just from the linguistic point of view or the historical aspects of Black English, but from its formation and characteristics to demonstrate the existence and development of Black English and the practical significance. Through the analysis of Black English on the profound impact of American culture, the paper advances a view on the value of Black English and its prospects. Finally it puts forward the importance and necessity of enhancing learning and research on Black Culture as the continuous improvement and economic conditions of Black people.

2. The Characteristics of Black English

Black English, as a unique variant of English, has many differences with the Standard English based on the structure of language. And this paper tends to discuss the features of Black English in phonetics and grammar aspects. Since Black English is not just a simplified version of English, it has a unique language system with the same fixed structure as any other dialect all over the world.

2.1 Phonetics

Most Black people use a distinctive English variant. This black dialect has aroused many linguists’ interests. Repeatedly been labeled as “pidgin English”, Black English’s role in the development of American Culture can not be questioned. Black English as a source of Black Culture has always been paid more attention by linguists and sociologists in nowadays.

2.1.1 The Weakened Consonant

Because of the influence of West African, some voiced consonants are the same with their form of voiceless consonant. Word-final devoicing of /b/, /d/, and /g/ are always pronounced to //, //, //, and in most cases these phonemes are ignored. In order to make a difference between them, sometimes the vowel before the voiced consonants could be slightly re-read harder, take the “heat and heed”, “let and led” and “fate and fade” which is ended with the word “e” as examples.

In the syllables which are combined with consonants and vowels, some nasals can also be weakened, such as “sum, sun, sung”, and only the vowel // in the word which is somewhat influenced by the nasal.

2.1.2 The Omission of Consonant Clusters

    The simplification of Consonant Clusters is an obvious feature of Black English. The mutes in English are //, //, //, //, //, //, //, //, //, //. Black English often omit the mutes in the end of a word, and the word “side”// is always pronounced to “sigh”//. This kind of omission is not arbitrary, and it is decided by the situation of pronouncing a word: when the mute at the end only represents the morpheme is not connected, for example, the frequency of reserving // is higher than integral part of the stem in the word “borrow”. It will also be reserved if there is vowel behind the mute, such as the first “d” in the phrase “tried hard”.

2.1.3 The Pronunciation of // and //

The omission of // is a notable characteristic of Black English. In American, it is a tendency of underclass to omit // before vowels but not only of Black English.[3]297Because of this kind of omission, there is no differences between “guard-god”, “fort-fought” and “sore-saw” in Black English.When // is between two vowels, the syllable after it needn’t be pronounced, as “Paris” could be read as//; when there is a word beginning with vowel behind it, the // could also be regretted.

// is voiceless before the consonant, such as the word “health” always be pronounced to // and so on. However, when // is after the vowel as the end of the word, it is assimilated by the phoneme before it, such as the similar pronunciation with “mail” and “may”//. In addition, // is voiceless before // and //, as “always”//, “already” //. The more interesting thing is that they pronounce “will” to “ah”，for example, “I ah be there in a minute.” While the correct form in Standard English is “I will be there in a minute.”

2.1.4 The Pronunciation of // and //

In Black English, // is always pronounced as // and // is always pronounced as //, for example, “think” is pronounced to be //. While the // in the end of a word is transformed to //, and “mouth” is pronounced to be //, “nothing” is to //. In addition, the “th” in the middle of a word is always pronounced to be //, so “mother” is to //, “other” is to //, and “brother” is to //.

Actually, there are many more characters than mentioned in the paper, but we can recognize the differences of phonetics between Black English and Standard English just from the mentioned examples.

 Smith Thurman, a well-known expert in Black English, said that black dialect used same number of English phonemes with white, and the only difference is the distribution pattern of phoneme.[4]553

2.2 Grammar

    There are also many researches who have found the special usage in grammar of Black English. For example, the different meanings in the sentences “He workin’” and “He done worked” are hard to be explained by the Standard English. The first means “He is working 253.It also indicates the difference between Simple progressive and emphasized perfective. Not only the tense plays a different role in the grammar, there are many other points such as the relative usage of the word “be”, the negation and transmission of the word.

2.2.1 Tense

    Syntax best embodies the characteristics of Black English. In the verb-system, the differences between Black English and Standard English are most significant, which is most similar with pidgin and Creole their ancestors used. In Black English, the only duty of the verb in the sentence is to indicate the time concept of one or a few verbs, and other verbs can be expressed in verb stem. Sometimes when the context gives essential temporal support, the tense can be totally regretted. For example, in the following section of black sermons, the Preacher has made it clear that he is talking about the past, because both the life and devotion of Jesus have already happened: “The man Jesus，he come your sins! He the thieves and here. He die to walk the earth. He you from go among try to Save the unrighteous. The master say whoever will let him come!”

In addition, the singular verb of third person in Present Tense is not ended with “s”, for example, “She work in the factory”.

Black English has two Perfect Tenses: “Remote Perfect aspect” which is constituted by the “been” and “Immediate Perfect aspect” constituted by “done”. At this point, Black English and West African languages is extremely similar. [6]

    (i) The “been” in “remote perfect aspect” has a certain meaning of action in past tense. And this kind of perfect tense could be divided into two forms: I been know him(momentary action), I been knowin’-him.(ongoing action).

    (ii) “Immediate Perfect aspect” uses the auxiliary verb “done”. In modern Black English, following sentence are commonly used:

    ① I done go.

    ② I done went.

③ I done gone.

    These three are used in different situations:

    ① Used in the Immediate Present sentences.

    ② Used in the Simple Past sentences.

    ③ Used in the semi adjective structures.

2.2.2 Relative usage of “be”

The usage of“be”in Black English is also very special. If one action, thing or state does not happen frequently, the“be”in this sentence will be deleted. For example, “he in the house -watchin’ TV”. The abbreviation of the copula such as “is” and “are” can also be deleted. In addition, when in a passive sentence the passive voice is not expressed so clearly by the speaker, “be” can also be deleted, for example, “the factory built in 1958”. However if the action happens frequently, “be” can be used as the predicate verb in the sentence“they be out in the yard every night.”

When“be” and“do” work together means this kind of thing happens frequently in the Interrogative sentences and Emphatic sentences. For example, “Do you be playing all day?” (Do they play all day?) “Yeah, the boys do mess around a lot.”(Yeah, the boys do mess around a lot.) Famous linguist William Labov researched a lot in the Black English and concluded that: all the“be”which can appear in the forming of abbreviation can be deleted in Black English. [7]113Actually, the usage of “be”is far more complex than this conclusion which is easily got from the above descriptions. 

2.2.3 Negation

There are three different versions of negation in Black English: “ain’t”, “don’” and “dit’n”, which can be written as “ain’t”, “don’t” and “didn’t”. While the special usage of “ain’t” is a feature of Black English. Ain not is a negative form in past tense: I ain’t see. In a sentence, the negation always repeated: I ain’t see nothin’ like that no place. The meaning is equivalent of: I did not see anything like that anywhere. (I’ve never seen this kind of thing in any place.) When the predicate is not active verb, ain’t become the only symbol of negation. For example, I ain’t afraid of nothing. He ain’t gonna get no money out of it. Besides, it can be combined with "ing" and make up the present continuous tense. For example, we ain’t kidding and we ain’t quitting, we ain’t turning back. 

The function of “ain’t” in Black English is same with the “haven’t” in Standard English. Therefore the “We haven’t contacted each of her since last Christmas.” can be evolved to “We ain’t contacted each of her since last Christmas.” Sometimes, “ain’t” can replace the phrase “didn’t” in simple negation sentence. So in Black English, sentences can be like following forms: “She ain’t email me yesterday.” The young boy insisted, “I ain’t steal his wallet.” “I ain’t run like that in years.”

Multi-negation means there is not only one symbol of negation. Under this regulation, the pronoun needs to add some mark of negation.

For example: “She ain’t see any thing/ anyone at the railway station” can be changed into “She ain’t see nothing/ nobody at the railway station”. If the subject is “nobody” but not “he” or “Janet”, it will add negative determiner at the beginning of the sentence. This is called “negative inversion” by linguists. As a result, it is very common to hear that “Didn’t nobody say nothing to the peoples!”

3. The Influence on American Culture

An important contribution of Black English is the influence on the American Culture. The familiar “negro spiritual”, the unusual rhythms and the famous performance in movie and literature —all these originated with the slaves. It is said that what is the best and most original in American popular culture has its roots in Black English. Important black speakers, singers, actors and writers are too numerous to list.

3.1 The Influence on American English

He Ruigao expresses his opinion in his article Black English that there are some differences in certain aspects of language between Black English and American English. And he believes that after all, Black English is a variant of English, so the differences are only in some degree rather than fundamental, and do not affect the people’s contacts.

It is clear that there is a strong relationship between Black English and American English, while the distinct characters of Black English are not fully explained and its origins are still a matter of debate. One theory is that Black English arose from one or more slave creoles that arose from the trans-Atlantic African slave trade and the need for African captives to communicate among themselves and with their captors.  According to this theory, these captives’ language developed into what are called pidgins, simplified mixture of two or more languages. As pidgins are from closely contact between members of different language communities, the slave trade would have been exactly such a situation. Not until the time of the American Civil War did the language of the slaves become familiar to a large number of educated whites. As the time passes, the Black English gradually plays an important role in the United States and U.S. Culture.

3.1.1 The Forming of Black English

In the slave society, there are so many different languages that the natives on two sides of the river cannot understand each other. But the safest way for them to keep their authority is to trade with the different nations on both sides of the river. The famous writer, Cotton Mather, claimed to have been very familiar with his slaves’ speech, and his imitative writing shows features presented in many Creole languages and even in modern Black English. By the time of the American Revolution, varieties among slave creoles were not quite mutually intelligible.

Not until the time of the American Civil War did the language of the slaves become familiar to a large number of educated whites. In Army Life in a Black Regiment (1870), Thomas Wentworth Higginson detailed many features of his soldiers' language. Shana Poplack has also provided corpus-based evidence from isolated enclaves in Samaná and Nova Scotia lived by descendants of migrations of early Black English-speaking groups. All of these researches suggest that the grammar of early Black English is closer to that of contemporary British dialects than modern urban Black English to current American dialects. We can find that the modern language is a result of divergence from mainstream varieties, rather than the result of creolization from a widespread American creole. 

3.1.2 The Relations with the American English

In United States, blacks worked in this land with the identity of slaves and inherited some habits from the African culture and language, and thus gradually formed a black American society with unique culture. While the communication between the black slaves and the slavers became a major hub linking the two cultures, and produced a subtle influence to American English, which mainly reflected in English words borrowed, as well as the meaning of the word twists and turns, and the absorption of idioms. Its pronunciation is, in some respects, common to Southern American English, which is spoken by many African Americans and many non-African Americans in the United States.

There is little regional variation among speakers of Black English.89 In order to understand the United States and American culture, and to acquire its development, Blacks melt their culture, such as language, literature and art, with those of the United States. Later, Black English is not only for Black people, it is still widely used by a number of regional dialects. Even in literature works, authors often use Black English to show the hero's nationality, identity and upbringing.

Not only the phonetics and grammar of Black English prove the influence to American language, but we can also achieve it from the assertion of Black English. For example, “the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice” means “she is very mature and favorable”. Another example, “you aren’t got a pot to piss in on a window to throw I tout of” means that you are very pool. “If I tell you a hen hip snuff, look under its wing and find a whole box” means that all you said is true. “You never miss yo water till yo well run dry” means that “you will never feel the importance of water until you are very thirst”.[10]6-7 The representative assertion is very lively and meaningful, suggesting the wisdom of the Black English.

3.2 The Influence on American Art

When Blacks live in Africa, they have the hobby to sing and dance during laboring. But then they are later taken away as slaves by the colonists to the southern United States plantation. They work in the fields wearing shackles and live in the primitive hut in the deserted swamp and jungle. But due to this kind of suffering, they create a valuable oral literature including hymns and blues and other Black Art, which has made an outstanding contribution to the culture to the United States.

3.2.1 The Integration with Music 

    It is generally believed that music of blacks has some distinctive forms from American music like American Ragtime, Blues, Jazz, Musical and Country music. Ragtime was first played by a black Anonymous piano, which was very popular in the late 19th century to early 20th century. It uses segmentation rhythm, trying to evolve from the popular dance music of blacks, and then Ragtime music appears. Scott. Joplin is one of the Ragtime representatives, and his performance of “Maple Leaf pull tone” has been a smash hit, which is so famous that all of the Ragtime pianist would play in their shows.

Blues is from field horn and songs with a strong feeling of African tradition and its tunes are always sad. The most famous Blues singer is Bessie Smith, known as Blues Queen. When Ragtime, Blues and other tunes with rich colors of Africa's influence add together with the elements in Europe, the Jazz comes into being.  

With the integration of grammar, the ways people sing a song become various in American. Many young people jump into the swim of “rap” and “hip-hop”, which is considered as a really fashion style to express one song and the soul. While among the most famous masters, more than 90 percent are black people, such as the episode in Prison Break.

The word “rap” meant “blame” in the middle of 18th century and was always used in phrase in the 19th, “to take the rap” meant “to take the blame”. After the civil war, black people used it to blame white people and requested the equality with them. And finally it replaced the word “conversation” to be popular among the white teenagers. There are many simplifications of words in “rap” which become totally different with American English. For example, the “er” in the end of word is changed into “a”, “nigger” into “nigga”.[11]185 Besides, the “ks” or “cks” in the end of a word can be replaced by “x” because they have the same pronunciation. All of these examples prove that it has become a new version of grammar in American English. For example, the “re” or “e” which can’t be heard during a speedy song are always omitted such as “more” and “mo”, “for” and “fo”, or the number “4”. The omission of “g” in “ing” is another new grammar in American English.

Some words also change its pronunciation. For example, in the word “through”, “gh” never being pronounced is know to all, since we pronounce “th” // in stead of // there is no difference in pronunciation with the word “true”.

In the “rap”, the Black English has many distinct characters and its lyrics tend to be more fashion and creative. Most of these new word are very short or the abbreviation of some long words so that even the local Americans can not understand. In order to keep its character of fashion, “rap” uses word on the point of fashion. Therefore, the characteristics of Black English are the foundation of “rap”, which makes it no longer a simple style of music but a diverse style.

3.2.2 The Integration with Film 

Film is an integrated form of art, with combination of test technology, art and commerce, and the thought of images it brings to the human mind is revolutionary. Because it's easy to be accepted, the film is destined to be a mass media on hundreds of millions people when it appears. In a short century, Hollywood becomes a symbol of American mass culture, and the influence on American society is immeasurable.

Film expresses and promotes the life style and values of Americans. During the war era, it boosts moral e of the soldiers. While in the Depression era, it could replace the cash of the American dream and reflected the public's ideals and dreams. In this case, blacks also express their dream to achieve the equality in the American society through the film, such as Shaw shank Redemption, the Pursuit of Happiness and Death Pact and so on. Because of the success of these works and the influence on future, some later generations continued to collect and summarize the classic dialogue in these black films, and to commemorate the black culture for future generations to study at the same time.

There are two characteristics of grammar which can be easily found in the black films.First is the invariant of “be”, and second is the multi-negation of“ain’t”.The invariant of“be”is used before verb, adjective, noun and passive voice in Black English.

(i)Your gas bill be high, don’t it? (Your gas bill is usually high, isn’t it?)

(ii) My boss be in his office by 8am. (My boss is usually in his office by 8am.)

(iii)It don’t be dogged. I grease it and oil it. (It isn’t usually dogged, I grease it and oil it.)

Laurel Avenue (1993) is a story about a family’s effort to counter drug, faction and violence in order to achieve the “American Dream”. In the film, when Rashhawn’s uncle blamed on his sailing drug, he said that “What the hell I be giving you money fuh[for ]？” while his word can also be translated to “Do you know why I always give you money ? ”

It is worthy to mention that this kind of grammar in the film is also very popularized by young Latinos. Therefore, the Black English users have crossed the racial boundaries and expanded to the crowd who are favor of hip hop culture.

The multi-negation of “ain’t” can be fully realized in the most influential black filmmaker Spike Lee’s masterpiece Do the Right Thing. The story happened in Brooklyn, New York, and demonstrated an explosion caused by the ethnic problems. There are a large number of unique performances of Black English in the dialogues:   “Ain’t no brothers on the wall? I ain’t run like that in years. Don’t call me no bum. Jade don’t come here no more, all right? Don’t call me nothing.”

Although many so-called “not standard”regulations of Black English have been criticized for a long time, its expression is an important means to promote Black Culture of the Hollywood directors and become a beautiful view in American films.

3.3 The Influence on American Literature

In the destiny of black, there must be a clearly visible way, on which they have worked with effort to win dignity and literary. Through their effort, it exhibited such a road as well as those marks in relation to life along the way: once in Black history, unforgettable pain is essential for the experience to the results today. Black Literature, in the United States and the world, has been mainly as slaves, especially in countries outside Africa.

The Black English writer Toni Morrison was born in black family, and later achieved today’s scholars and writer’s identity by reading. In 1993, because of her “making the important part of American society much more vigorously through the rich poetic imagination and expression”, she won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and became the only black women writer in history to be honored.

Not only the Black Literature but also the American Literature has these characters of Black English in their works.

The Sound and the Fury (1929) is written by a famous American writer William Faulkner (1897-1962). The first part, “April 7th, 1928”, describes the conversation and action between the children in the farm waiting for the coming of procession.

“I skeered I going to holler,” T.P said.

“Get on the box and see is they started.”

“They haven’t started because the band hasn’t come yet.” Caddy said.

“They ain’t going t have no band.” Frony said.

“How do you know?” Caddy said.

“I know what I knows,” Frony said.

“You don’t know anything,” Caddy said.

“She went to the tree.”

“Put me up,” Versh.

“Your paw told you to stay out that tree,” Versh said.

“That was a long time ago,” Caddy said,

“I except he’s forgotten about it, besides he said to mind me tonight. Didn’t he say to mind me tonight?”

“I’m not going to mind you, T .P and Frony are not going to either,” Jason said.[12]4

The children in this conversation turn out to be totally different between T.P, Frony, Versh and Caddy, Jason. The dialogue of the first three people has some characters of Black English. For example, “be” in the sentence “I (am) skeered (that) I (am ) going to holler” which is the distinct signal of Black English. On the contrary, the conversation of Candy and Jason do not omit this part as Jason says that “I’m not going to mind you，TP and Frony are not going to either”. And the singular verb of third person even does not have any difference with first person or any one else in the sentence “I know what I knows”. In addition, the mixture of // and // of the word “git” in the sentence “got on the box” is very common in Black English. It turns out that T.P, Frony and Versh are children of black in the farm, while Caddy and Jason are children of the farmer.

On the other hand, many black people like Frederick and William, not only struggle to learn the culture, but also use the pen as a weapon after the flight. They took active part in the abolitionist movement and expressed positive public opinions. Slave owner always treat Black people as the inferior race, so Black people’s ability to carry out literature itself is a powerful evidence of that lie, let alone the rich ideological content in their articles. And all of these proof that Black people is an excellent nation with a historical cultural tradition on the literature and their language also plays an irreplaceable role in the development of American literature.

4. The Practical Significance of Black English

In1863， 2 years before the war ended, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the Confederate states. Shortly after the war ended in 1865, the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution freed all slaves. A few years later, the fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments gave the former slaves full civil rights, including giving African-American men the right to vote.[13]77

In politics, more blacks are voting, and more are getting elected. Since 40 years ago, the Black middle-class group has risen from scratch and grown in their standard of living. There are no difference in professional skills and educational background with the white middle class. Outstanding representatives of Black people appear in many areas of the United States, such as the Black mayor, governor, ministers and members of Congress, and all of them are no longer surprise to us. The much more important thing is that Democratic candidate Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential election in 2008 to become the first real chance to win the presidency in the Black.

Blacks are also trying to improve their financial position by going into professions or starting their own business. There are now more than 600,000 black-owned companies in the U.S. and blacks are more numerous than ever in the professions-as teachers, doctors, lawyers, judges and ministers.

In 1952, Ralph Ellison, a black author, wrote a book about blacks in the U.S. called the Invisible Man. Since the 1960s, blacks have become more visible on TV and in movies and magazines. Networks, filmmakers and advertisers now realize that black consumers want to see their race represented. Today, blacks in significant numbers work as newscasters, TV actors and actresses, and movie stars.

Huang Weifeng says in his African American English on a Number of Historical Issues that, “Only when the racism in American society has been completely eradicated from the mind, the Black Cultural expressions of Black English can really be recognized.”81

5. Conclusion

“Black English” is widely used as the name because it is used by Black people. In fact, its user of this language is far beyond our imagination. In addition to the external community in the black population, it is also used by lower middle and low classes in America. It has profound impacts on American culture and communication in various aspects, especially with the continuous improvement of their political, economic and cultural status, and Black English has been paid more and more attention. In view of this, the paper starts to explore the formation and characteristics of its existence and development. It is said that the view of helping people understand the Black Culture correctly, the concept of eliminating the racial discrimination and enhancing the awareness to protect national culture plays an important role to cultural exchanges and cultural diversity.

The above discussion of Black English is by no means comprehensive but it can serve our purpose to improve the regulation and state of Black English. The significance of studying the nature of Black English is really multifaceted. While the most direct one is the significance for lingu istic research. The attitude to the question that whether Black English is a dialect or a language determines the methods of research. This paper argues that Black English is essentially a separate system and its significance to the American Culture. It should be researched as an independent study of language. [17]34

Undoubtedly, the Black English makes Black people more dramatic in the movies. The syntax rules and special vocabulary of Black English, which are incompatible with the mainstream of English, become the foundation of their culture with their bold dance and passive music. Although most black people using Black English live in the southern United States and the countries, those well-educated middle-class blacks also use Black English in some informal gatherings.

With the black music, novels and movies continuously mix into the mainstream of American society, the syntax rules and special vocabulary of Black English begin to be accepted by American English and become parts of the American culture. Because of the worldwide spread of English and increasingly prosperous Black Culture, the Black English will be more widely active in screen as a mature variation of English and an important way to display the diverse culture of the United States.

Acknowledgements

My initial thanks go to my tutor, Wu Qing, who patiently supervised my dissertation and was at times very willing to offer me illuminating advice or suggestions. Without her help, I could not have finished this dissertation.

I am also indebted to other teachers and my classmates who have not only offered me their warm encouragements but also shared with me their ideas and books.

       My greatest personal debt is to my grandparents and parents, who have cultivated a soul of sensitivity, hospitality, and honesty out of me, and offered a harbor of happiness and sweetness for me.

The remaining weakness and possible errors of the dissertation are entirely my own.

References

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[2] Roger Porter. Past and Present [M]. James. Mill Company, 1971.

[3] 侯維瑞. 英國英語與美國英語[M]. 上海外語教育出版社, 1992.

[4] 斯密瑟曼. 交談與證實: 黑美洲的語言[M]. 美國紐約出版社, 1977.

. Blackwell, 2002.

[6] 方久華, 熊敦禮. 美國黑人英語語言特點探討[J]. 華中科技大學學報, 湖北武漢, 2007.

[7] 拉波夫. 在社會環境里研究語言[M]. 中國社會科學出版社,1979.

[8] Baker, Houston A., Jr. Blues. Ideology and Afro-American Literature: a Vernacular Theory [M].University of Chicago Press, 1984.

[9] Baugh, John, Beyond Ebonics. Linguistic Pride and Racial Prejudice [M].New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

[10] 杰克•丹尼爾. 黑人英語中的影響[M]. 英國倫敦出版社, 1973.

[11] 蔡昌卓. 美國英語史[M]. 北京大學出版社, 2002.

. McGraw-Hill, 1929.

[13] 張衛平. 美國制度與文化[M]. 中國人民大學出版社, 2006.

[14] 黃衛峰. 對現代英語詞匯學的兩處質疑[J]. 云夢學刊, 2003.

[15] 侯維瑞. 英國英語與美國英語[M]. 上海外語教育出版社, 1992.

[16] 張衛平. 美國制度與文化[M]. 中國人民大學出版社, 2006.

[17] 葛詠濤. 美國文化風云人物[M]. 四川大學出版, 2007.

 

誠 信 承 諾

我謹在此承諾：本人所寫的畢業論文《論黑人英語對美國文化的影響及其現實意義》均系本人獨立完成，沒有抄襲行為，凡涉及其他作者的觀點和材料，均作了注釋，若有不實，后果由本人承擔。

 

                承諾人（簽名）： 徐珊珊     

第3篇

關鍵詞：權力距離　不確定性規避　個人主義-集體主義　男性度-女性度

一、Hofstede的文化心理模式與寫作

荷蘭跨文化合作研究所的霍夫斯特德(Hofstede，1980)做過一項著名的跨文化比較研究，他曾對IBM公司在40個國家、地區中的10余萬雇員，用20種語言進行了一項長達7年的研究，發現這些國家在文化上的差異主要表現為4個方面：即“權力距離”、“不確定性回避”、“個體取向與集體取向”、“男性化與女性化”。這4個方面也就是民族文化差異的4個維度，每一種文化的特點都可以用它在這4個維度上的強弱來表示。

1.“權力距離”(power distance) ，指一種文化對社會地位差別和等級重要性的看重程度。也可視為上級對下級，管理者對被管理者的影響力和控制力的大小。在權力距離大的文化中，整個社會是一個等級較鮮明的組織系統；而權力距離較小的文化則會使人們有較為平等的觀念。

2．“不確定性規避”(uncertainty avoidence)，指社會大眾面對不確定性和模糊情境所產生恐懼感的強弱，及是否采取措施消除這種恐懼感。不確定因素規避指數高的文化信賴權威，避免分歧和不確定；而不確定因素規避指數低的文化樂于冒險和接受新奇、陌生的事物。

3．“個人主義-集體主義”(inpidualism-collectivism)，指一種文化依賴和忠于個人自我的程度。個人主義傾向的社會，注重自我需要的滿足，追求多樣化的生活和自我價值的實現；而集體主義傾向的社會則重視集體的利益及個人對集體的責任。

4．“男性度-女性度”(masculinity-femininity)，指一種文化是看重自信、成就和財富擁有，還是更看重社會支持、生活質量等其他方面。男性度指數高的社會崇尚成就和野心及其他陽剛行為；男性度指數低的文化中，工作和成就則是次要的，提倡的是人與人的相互依賴與和諧相處，同情弱者，重視人與自然的和諧。

文化屬于社會結構的概念，是社會形態的組成部分，文化模式就是一個社會中所有文化內容(包括文化特質與文化叢)組合在一起的特殊形式和結構，因此，文化模式反映的是一個社會的結構、形態、運行等總的社會意識。語言作為文化的載體，必然負載著一個民族的文化心理模式。美國應用語言學家羅伯特.凱普蘭(Robert Kaplan，1966)便發現，語言和寫作是文化現象，每一種語言都有其獨一無二的修辭習慣，篇章的組織方式反映了人的思維模式。他總結了五種文化不同的段落組成類型，其中英語的段落模式與漢語的段落模式便有很大的不同，英語篇章的組織和發展是"直線型"(linear)，即直截了當地陳述主題，進行論述；漢語學生典型作文方式呈"螺旋型"(circular/spiral)，即不直接切入主題，而是在主題外圍"兜圈子"或"旁敲側擊"，最后進入主題。卡普蘭有關思維模式和寫作的研究導致了對比修辭研究的發展。文化和心理模式的研究成為探討第二外語寫作的重要角度。本文便想從霍夫斯特德的四種文化思維模式來透視中國學生英語論文與英語母語論文的差異。

二、中國人的文化心理模式

1．中國文化中較大的權力距離

中國經過長期的封建社會和儒家禮教的熏陶，整個社會都籠罩在“三綱五常”的等級觀念中。上下級甚至父子、兄弟之間都有不同的權力等級。雖然“君叫臣死，臣不得不死；父叫子亡，子不得不亡”等封建觀念已然過時，但“長兄如父、官大一級壓死人、師道尊嚴”這些上下觀念依然深入人心。較大的權力距離使得中國文化中的人們比較尊重上級、長者或已有的權威，習慣順從和接受。與之相比，英語國家封建社會的歷史都較短，文化在很大程度上繼承了古代希臘文明的民主議會制度，說英語人數最多的美國和澳洲又都是年輕的大陸，英語文化的權力距離相對較小，人們崇尚平等，敢于提出自己的觀點。

2．中國文化中較高的不確定性規避指數

不確定性和標新立異往往與社會等級化的程度成反比。在即成的、穩定的社會組織系統中，不確定性自然不受青睞。因此，中國文化的不確定性規避指數也相應較高，人們對尚未被社會輿論或權威確定的事物往往采取規避態度，不太喜歡競爭和沖突，追求有秩序的社會生活，力求將可能發生的不確定性降低到最低限度。另外，中國作為四大文明古國，處肥沃之地，以居住地為根，衍出“家本位”，更導致人們對不確定和模糊情境的較強恐懼；而多數英語國家探險和遷移的傳統使得英語文化中的人們較喜歡探索未知的領域，敢于冒險和面對挑戰。

3．中國文化強調集體主義

在英語文化中，個人主義(inpidualism)包含著自我認知、自我實現、自我控制、自我突破等優秀品質(Waterman，1984)。但在中國文化中，個人主義常有自私、不考慮集體利益、特立獨行等負面內涵。中國的文化更重視互相依賴和共享的集體利益。自我的價值實現、成就的追求會受到有意識的壓抑和貶低，以求得同集體中其他成員的和諧。

4．中國文化的女性主義傾向

根據霍夫斯特德的界定，男性主義的文化崇尚成就和野心；而女性主義文化提倡的，人與人的相互依賴、重視的是人與自然的和諧相處。雖然中國有男尊女卑思想，且對物質和金錢非常崇拜，表面上看是一個男性度高的社會；但本質上，對追求成功、重視成就、崇尚力量、速度、高大等男子氣概并不認同。相反，中國的儒家精神倡導“修身、齊家、治國、平天下”，強調道德規范自覺能力，人的價值通過“內省”、“克己”來表現，形成中國人內傾的性格。 林語堂先生在其成名作《中國人》上，把中國人的性格概括為，“老實溫厚，遇事忍耐，消極避世，超脫老滑，和平主義，知足常樂，幽默滑稽，因循守舊。”雖然有些偏頗，但也真實反映了中國文化的女性主義傾向。

從以上四種文化維度的內涵和數據上都可以看出，中國文化與英語文化在價值取向上有很大差異。這些差異不僅體現為跨文化交際中的障礙，對第二外語寫作也會產生一定的負遷移作用。Connor(1997)在《對比修辭——第二語言寫作中的跨文化層面》一書中提到，霍夫斯特德的四種文化維度可以用來進一步從心理學的角度探討跨文化寫作的差異。 Nelson & Carson(1995)和SU-YUEH WU也都分別對中國和北美學生英文寫作中的各自的“集體主義”或“個人主義”傾向進行過研究。本文想通過將中國學生用英語寫的學術論文與英語母語學者用英語寫的學術論文進行對比，從霍夫斯特德的四個文化維度角度來找尋差異的原因，以改進我國學生的英語論文水平。

轉貼于 三、中國學生的ESL學術論文和英語母語學者學術論文的對比

1．引用時附帶的尊稱

英文母語論文中每逢引用名家或其他作者的原文時，往往只加上“According to(根據xxx的話)”、“As xxx says(如xxx所說)”，或直接在引號后注上所引的出處。英語母語的論文很重視將別人的話加上引號，標明出處。但標明本身即意味著尊重，很少再附加其他的尊稱。但中文的論文在引用名家之言時，僅僅說明出處似乎遠不能表達對作者的尊重，“xx先生”、“xx教授”、“xxx翁”、“著名xxx家”等標簽常常可見。中國學生的英語論文中在引用時也相應地有“the well-known(famous/great/experienced(知名的/著名的/偉大的/資深的))”等恭維性修飾詞，或“其觀點對xx領域做出重要貢獻(奠定了xx的基礎)”等推崇性句子，以表明其所引話語的權威性。這種對權威的恭維明顯是受中文傳統的影響。而這種傳統可能是源于中國較大的權力距離造成的習慣思維。在權力距離大的社會中，直接提到長者的名諱是十分無禮的，甚至有砍頭之罪。這種傳統流傳下來，便造成了習慣性的附加尊稱，在用第二語言寫作時，也難以避免。

2．引用成語或俗語的頻率

這里所說的成語或俗語是指已在語言中固定下來的表達法，這些引用在英語論文中并不得到欣賞，被稱為“cliché”(陳詞濫調)，英語的論文中喜歡使用某些自創的隱喻，或靈活使用一些慣用語，卻很少照搬已有的成語或俗語(在統計的5篇文章中，這種“cliché”的數量為零)。而中文論文卻把這些固定成語、諺語或格言看作是全篇必備的“華彩樂章”，一種文采的體現。因此中文中的引用不僅僅包括英語中常用的“觀點回顧”(literature review)，更重要的是用名家之言、古詩、古諺使自己的話更有說服力。這種應用成語俗語的習慣也常常被沿用到中國學生的英語寫作中，動輒“as the old saying”(古語云)等。然而，這種引用在英語中卻有“拉大旗，作虎皮”之嫌。對成語、名家的引用也反映了不同文化對權威的態度以及對不確定性的規避程度。中國文化不確定性的規避指數較高，權威之言意味著被社會廣泛認可，因此，引經據典可以盡量避免分歧，減少可能發生的不確定性。相反，英語文化喜歡競爭與沖突，因此，自己的觀點盡量用自己獨特的表達方式，避免步人后塵。英語文章不僅不喜歡使用“陳詞濫調”，對自己的觀點還常常從不同角度反證其可能性。而中國學生的論文則追求自圓其說，盡量減少不確定性。

3．結論中第一人稱復數和第一人稱單數的使用頻率

從數據上看，中文的5篇論文與英語的五篇論文使用第一人稱復數(we/us/our)的頻率似乎相當，但實際上，5篇英語文章的結論都在700-1000詞左右，而漢語的結論則都在200-300字左右，中國學生的英語論文的結論也很短，都在200詞左右。在這樣的字詞總數比例下，第一人稱復數在漢語文章中的使用頻率就遠遠高于在英語文章中的使用頻率。英語文章結論中使用較多的是第一人稱單數(first singular pronouns)和個人的觀點(personal anecdotes)。在有的文章中達到12次之多，如

By way of concluding， I would like to make four comments.

I have now stated that…

I have suggested that…

I consider it important to …

I want to make it clear that…

My second/third comment relates to

I have pided…

I have outlined…

I believe that…

My concern here is …

第一人稱單數和個人觀點的使用體現了文章作者對自我的展示和肯定，體現了英語文化中的個人主義傾向和男性主義傾向。他們認為個人的經歷最有說服力，只有自己相信自己，才能說服讀者。而中文論文卻相比之下，對自己的觀點比較謙虛，常常出現“以上各點信手寫來，全是一孔之見，還望行家不吝指正”(李觀儀，2003)等謙辭，以保持學術界的和諧。這種對和諧的追求體現了中國文化的集體主義和女性主義傾向。中國學生的英語論文對自己的觀點評價不夠自信，更多使用的是第一人稱復數，也顯然受此影響。

四、結語