A Corpus-based Study On Lexical Features Of American TV Series English Subtitles

With the development of global integration and the opening-up policy of China, more and more kinds of foreign cultures have been introduced into China which has a broad and deep impact on the life, learning, working, etc. of Chinese people. As an extremely important part in the cultural field, audio and video products of foreign countries have being surged into China and accepted by Chinese people gradually. Watching English films and TV series with soundtrack is not only an entertainment in spare time, but also an important channel to learn English and understand the cultures of foreign countries. And it has been widely applied in English learning and teaching in China. English films and TV series with soundtrack are consist of subtitles, images and sounds, which can make English learners have a full range of audio-visual experience and greatly increase their interest in English learning. English learning is no longer confined to the study of unattractive texts and sounds. English learners can be affected by three sensory stimulations of watching, reading and listening, which improves the effects of English learning greatly. American TV series have benefit a large number of English learners by its standard American English accent. American's typical slang expressions and the cultural characteristics, social customs and habits of American.The American TV series English subtitles of8American TV series produced in the year of2003to2011, which are representative and welcomed by Chinese audiences, are collected to be ATSESC (American TV series English subtitles). And the comparative corpora of this study are ANSC (American National Spoken Corpus) and ANWC (American National Written Corpus). With the aid of Wordsmith. quantitative analysis is made first on the perspectives of lexical density, lexical frequency, word length and word class. And then qualitative analysis is made next on the aspects of slang words and vulgar words. There are three research questions in this study:firstly, what are the similarities and differences among American TV series English subtitles, American spoken English and American written English on the perspectives of lexical density, word frequency, word length and word class? Secondly, what are the lexical features of American TV series English subtitles? Finally, what are the reasons for these differences and the lexical features of American TV series English subtitles?Through the comparative analysis of the three corpora, we can know that American TV series English subtitle is a kind of style between American spoken English and American written English, and closer to American spoken English. But compared with it, the words in American TV series English subtitles are more complicated and formal. Furthermore, the slang words and vulgar words are frequently used in American TV series English subtitles. The frequency of these two kinds of words in American TV series English subtitles is not just higher than that in American written English, but also significantly higher than that in American spoken English.This study can be applicable and beneficial to the English teaching in universities, because American TV series has become a very important channel of language learning for English learners.