纪录片是以真实事件为创作题材,作为记载真人真事的载体,通过特有的表现视角、拍摄和剪接手法,运用适宜的语言组织模式,以重现事实的真相为目标,引发观众寻味和思考的一种艺术类型。西方的电视纪录片作为纪录片的开端,具有近百年的发展历史,在其发展传播的过程中积累和沉淀出来属于其自身的特点,并集中体现在其体裁的选取和语言运用的特点上。英语电视纪录片体裁和语言特点两者之间是相互影响的关系,体裁的选取直接决定其语言的使用;恰当的语言运用能更好的凸显出要表现的体裁。本文从英语电视纪录片的发展概况入手,对英语电视纪录片的体裁特点和语言特点进行深入探讨。 Documentary is based on the real events as the theme of creation, as a vehicle to record the truth of life, through the unique performance perspective, shooting and editing techniques, the use of appropriate language organization model to reproduce the truth of the facts as the goal, An art type. As the beginning of the documentary, the western TV documentary has nearly a hundred years of development history, accumulated and precipitated in its development and dissemination, belonging to its own characteristics, and embodied in the characteristics of its genre selection and language use. The genres of English TV documentary and their linguistic features are mutually influential. The choice of genre directly determines the use of language. Appropriate use of language can better highlight the genres to be expressed. This article starts with the general situation of the development of English television documentaries and probes into the genre characteristics and language features of English TV documentaries.