John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!!

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Prevodilac: Miloš Milosavljević Lektor: Mile Živković

We always hear that texting is a scourge.

Stalno čujemo kako je SMS-ovanje zlo.

The idea is that texting spells the decline and fall

Razmišljanje koje stoji iza toga je da SMS-ovanje predstavlja slabljenje i pad

of any kind of serious literacy, or at least writing ability,

svakog oblika ozbiljne pismenosti, ili u najmanju ruku sposobnosti pisanja,

among young people in the United States

među mladima u Sjedinjenim Državama,

and now the whole world today.

a danas i u celom svetu.

The fact of the matter is that it just isn't true,

U stvari, to jednostavno nije tačno,

and it's easy to think that it is true,

a lako je pomisliti da jeste tačno,

but in order to see it in another way,

ali da bismo to videli na drugi način,

in order to see that actually texting is a miraculous thing,

da bismo videli da je SMS-ovanje u stvari čudesna stvar,

not just energetic, but a miraculous thing,

ne samo snažna, nego i čudesna stvar,

a kind of emergent complexity

neka vrsta narastajuće složenosti

that we're seeing happening right now,

koja vidimo da se dešava sada,

we have to pull the camera back for a bit

treba da vratimo kameru malo unazad

and look at what language really is,

i da vidimo šta je jezik stvarno,

in which case, one thing that we see

u kom slučaju, jedna stvar koju vidimo

is that texting is not writing at all.

je da SMS-ovanje uopšte nije pisanje.

What do I mean by that?

Šta mislim pod time?

Basically, if we think about language,

U osnovi, ako razmišljamo o jeziku,

language has existed for perhaps 150,000 years,

on postoji već možda 150.000 godina,

at least 80,000 years,

najmanje 80.000 godina,

and what it arose as is speech. People talked.

i nastao je kao govor. Ljudi su razgovarali.

That's what we're probably genetically specified for.

To je verovatno ono za šta smo genetski predodređeni.

That's how we use language most.

To je ono kako koristimo jezik najčešće.

Writing is something that came along much later,

Pisanje je nešto što je došlo mnogo kasnije,

and as we saw in the last talk,

i kao što smo videli u prethodnom govoru,

there's a little bit of controversy as to exactly when that happened,

postoji malo neslaganje oko toga kada se to dogodilo,

but according to traditional estimates,

ali po tradicionalnim procenama,

if humanity had existed for 24 hours,

ako, na primer, čovečanstvo postoji 24 sata,

then writing only came along at about 11:07 p.m.

onda se pisanje pojavilo otprilike oko 11:07 uveče.

That's how much of a latterly thing writing is.

Toliko skora stvar je pisanje.

So first there's speech, and then writing comes along

Znači prvo imamo govor i onda dolazi pisanje

as a kind of artifice.

kao neka vrsta pronalaska.

Now don't get me wrong, writing has certain advantages.

Sad da me ne shvatite pogrešno, pisanje ima određenih prednosti.

When you write, because it's a conscious process,

Kad pišeš, zato što je to svestan proces,

because you can look backwards,

zato što možeš da pogledaš unazad,

you can do things with language that are much less likely

možeš da uradiš stvari sa jezikom koje ne možeš

if you're just talking.

kada govoriš.

For example, imagine a passage from Edward Gibbon's

Na primer, zamislite pasus iz knjige Edvarda Gibona

"The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:"

"Slabljenje i pad Rimskog carstva":

"The whole engagement lasted above twelve hours,

"Ceo angažman je trajao preko dvanaest sati,

till the graduate retreat of the Persians was changed

dok se postepeno povlačenje Persijanaca nije pretvorilo

into a disorderly flight, of which the shameful example

u dezorganizovano bekstvo, za koje su sramni primer

was given by the principal leaders and the Surenas himself."

dale glavne vojskovođe i Surena lično."

That's beautiful, but let's face it, nobody talks that way.

To je divno, ali budimo iskreni, niko ne priča tako.

Or at least, they shouldn't if they're interested

Ili barem, ne bi trebalo ako je zainteresovan

in reproducing. That --

za reprodukciju. To...

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

is not the way any human being speaks casually.

...nije način na koji ljudi govore svakodnevno.

Casual speech is something quite different.

Svakodnevni govor je nešto sasvim drugo.

Linguists have actually shown

Lingvisti su u stvari pokazali

that when we're speaking casually in an unmonitored way,

da kada govorimo svakodnevnim govorom bez nadgledanja,

we tend to speak in word packets of maybe

govorimo u paketima reči, od možda

seven to 10 words.

7 do 10 reči

You'll notice this if you ever have occasion to record

Primetićete ovo, ako ste nekad imali priliku da snimite

yourself or a group of people talking.

sebe ili grupu ljudi kako razgovara.

That's what speech is like.

Tako izgleda govor.

Speech is much looser. It's much more telegraphic.

Govor je mnogo opušteniji. Mnogo je "telegrafskiji".

It's much less reflective -- very different from writing.

Mnogo je manje refleksivan. Vrlo različito od pisanja.

So we naturally tend to think, because we see language

Tako da prirodno imamo tendenciju da mislimo, zato što vidimo jezik

written so often, that that's what language is,

napisan tako često, da je to ono što je jezik,

but actually what language is, is speech. They are two things.

ali u stvari ono što jezik jeste je - govor. Dve su stvari.

Now of course, as history has gone by,

Naravno, kako je istorija tekla,

it's been natural for there to be a certain amount of bleed

bilo je prirodno da bude određene količine trvenja

between speech and writing.

između govora i pisanja.

So, for example, in a distant era now,

Tako, na primer, u ranijim epohama

it was common when one gave a speech

bilo je uobičajeno da, kada neko drži govor,

to basically talk like writing.

uglavnom priča kao sto bi i pisao.

So I mean the kind of speech that you see someone giving

Mislim na onu vrstu govora kad vidite nekoga

in an old movie where they clear their throat, and they go,

kao u starom filmu, kad pročiste grlo, i krenu:

"Ahem, ladies and gentlemen," and then they speak

(Nakašljavanje) "Dame i gospodo," i onda govore

in a certain way which has nothing to do with casual speech.

na način koji nema veze sa svakodnevnim govorom.

It's formal. It uses long sentences like this Gibbon one.

On je formalan. Koristi duge rečenice kao one kod Gibona.

It's basically talking like you write, and so, for example,

U osnovi je to pričanje onako bi pisao, i tako, na primer,

we're thinking so much these days about Lincoln

razmišljamo dosta ovih dana o Linkolnu

because of the movie.

zbog filma.

The Gettysburg Address was not the main meal of that event.

Getisburški govor nije bio glavni događaj tu.

For two hours before that, Edward Everett spoke

Pre toga, Edvard Everet je dva sata govorio

on a topic that, frankly, cannot engage us today

o temi koja, iskreno, ne može da nas zainteresuje danas

and barely did then.

i jedva da je mogla onda.

The point of it was to listen to him

Poenta je bila da ga slušamo kako

speaking like writing.

govori u stilu pisanja.

Ordinary people stood and listened to that for two hours.

Obični ljudi su stajali i slušali to dva sata.

It was perfectly natural.

Bilo je to savršeno prirodno.

That's what people did then, speaking like writing.

To je ono su ljudi radili onda, govorili kao što su i pisali.

Well, if you can speak like writing,

Ako možeš da govoriš kao što pišeš,

then logically it follows that you might want to also

onda logično sledi da možda želiš da

sometimes write like you speak.

ponekad pišeš onako kao što govoriš.

The problem was just that in the material,

Problem je bio samo što u materijalnom,

mechanical sense, that was harder back in the day

mehaničkom smislu, to je bilo teže tada

for the simple reason that materials don't lend themselves to it.

iz prostog razloga što materijali nisu bili odgovarajući za to.

It's almost impossible to do that with your hand

Bilo je skoro nemoguće uraditi to rukom

except in shorthand, and then communication is limited.

osim stenografijom, ali onda je komunikacija ograničena

On a manual typewriter it was very difficult,

Na mehaničkoj pisaćoj mašini je takođe vrlo teško,

and even when we had electric typewriters,

i čak kad su se pojavile električne pisaće mašine,

or then computer keyboards, the fact is

ili kasnije kompjuterske tastature, činjenica je da

that even if you can type easily enough to keep up

čak i ako kucaš dovoljno lako da ideš

with the pace of speech, more or less, you have to have

u korak sa brzinom govora, manje-više, moraš da imaš

somebody who can receive your message quickly.

nekoga ko može da primi tvoju poruku brzo.

Once you have things in your pocket that can receive that message,

A jednom kad imaš stvar u svom džepu koja može da primi tu poruku

then you have the conditions that allow

onda imaš uslove koji dozvoljavaju

that we can write like we speak.

da možemo da pišemo kao što govorimo.

And that's where texting comes in.

I to je trenutak kada nastupaju SMS poruke.

And so, texting is very loose in its structure.

I tako, SMS poruke su vrlo slobodne u svojoj strukturi.

No one thinks about capital letters or punctuation when one texts,

Niko ne misli o velikim slovima ili interpunkciji kad šalje SMS poruku,

but then again, do you think about those things when you talk?

ali opet, da li misliš o ovim stvarima kad razgovaraš?

No, and so therefore why would you when you were texting?

Ne, i onda zašto bi i dok kucaš SMS?

What texting is, despite the fact that it involves

Slanje SMS-ova je, uprkos činjenici da to uključuje

the brute mechanics of something that we call writing,

surovu mehaniku nečega što zovemo pisanje,

is fingered speech. That's what texting is.

je govor prstima. To je ono što SMS-ovanje jeste.

Now we can write the way we talk.

Sada možemo da pišemo na način kako pričamo.

And it's a very interesting thing, but nevertheless

I vrlo je interesantno, ali ipak

easy to think that still it represents some sort of decline.

lako pomisliti da to i dalje predstavlja neku vrstu opadanja.

We see this general bagginess of the structure,

Vidimo tu opštu komotnu strukturu,

the lack of concern with rules and the way that we're used to

nedostatak brige o pravilima i načina na koji smo ranije

learning on the blackboard, and so we think

učili na tabli i tako mislimo

that something has gone wrong.

da je nešto krenulo po zlu.

It's a very natural sense.

To je vrlo prirodan osećaj.

But the fact of the matter is that what is going on

Ali u stvari ono što se dešava

is a kind of emergent complexity.

je neka vrsta kompleksnosti koja izrasta.

That's what we're seeing in this fingered speech.

To je ono što vidimo u ovom govoru prstima.

And in order to understand it, what we want to see

I da bismo to razumeli, ono što želimo da vidimo

is the way, in this new kind of language,

je način, u ovoj novoj vrsti jezika,

there is new structure coming up.

pojavljuje se nova struktura.

And so, for example, there is in texting a convention,

I tako, na primer, postoji konvencija u kucanju SMS-ova,

which is LOL.

zvana LOL.

Now LOL, we generally think of

LOL generalno znači

as meaning "laughing out loud."

"smejanje naglas" (Laughing Out Loud).

And of course, theoretically, it does,

I naravno to teoretski jeste,

and if you look at older texts, then people used it

i ako pogledate starije tekstualne poruke, ljudi su je koristili

to actually indicate laughing out loud.

da stvarno označe smejanje naglas.

But if you text now, or if you are someone who

Ali ako kucate SMS danas ili ako ste neko ko

is aware of the substrate of texting the way it's become,

je svestan supstrata SMS pisanja na način na koji je postao,

you'll notice that LOL

primetićete da LOL

does not mean laughing out loud anymore.

više ne znači glasno smejanje.

It's evolved into something that is much subtler.

Evoluiralo je u nešto što je mnogo suptilnije.

This is an actual text that was done

Ovo je SMS tekst koji je napisala

by a non-male person of about 20 years old

ženska osoba od oko 20 godina starosti

not too long ago.

nedavno:

"I love the font you're using, btw."

"Sviđa mi se font koji koristiš, btw."

Julie: "lol thanks gmail is being slow right now"

Džuli: "lol hvala gmail se nešto usporio"

Now if you think about it, that's not funny.

Ako razmislite, to nije smešno.

No one's laughing. (Laughter)

Niko se ne smeje. (Smeh)

And yet, there it is, so you assume

Ali ipak "lol" je tu, tako da pretpostavljate

there's been some kind of hiccup.

da postoji neka začkoljica.

Then Susan says "lol, I know,"

Onda Suzan kaže: "lol, znam"

again more guffawing than we're used to

opet sa većim grohotom nego što smo navikli

when you're talking about these inconveniences.

kada pričamo o ovakvim nezgodama.

So Julie says, "I just sent you an email."

Onda Džuli kaže: "Upravo sam ti poslala mejl".

Susan: "lol, I see it."

Suzan: "lol, vidim ga".

Very funny people, if that's what LOL means.

Vrlo duhoviti ljudi, ako je to ono što LOL znači.

This Julie says, "So what's up?"

Džuli kaže: "Inače, šta ima?"

Susan: "lol, I have to write a 10 page paper."

Suzan: "lol, moram da napišem rad od 10 strana."

She's not amused. Let's think about it.

Nije joj zabavno. Hajde da razmislimo o tome.

LOL is being used in a very particular way.

LOL je upotrebljen na vrlo poseban način.

It's a marker of empathy. It's a marker of accommodation.

On označava empatiju. On označava prilagođavanje.

We linguists call things like that pragmatic particles.

Mi lingvisti tako nešto nazivamo pragmatičnim partikulama.

Any spoken language that's used by real people has them.

Ima ih svaki govorni jezik koji koriste stvarni ljudi.

If you happen to speak Japanese, think about

Ako slučajno govorite japanski, pomislite na

that little word "ne" that you use at the end of a lot of sentences.

onu malu reč "ne" koju koristite na kraju mnogih rečenica.

If you listen to the way black youth today speak,

Ako slušate način na koji crna omladina danas govori,

think about the use of the word "yo."

pomislite na upotrebu reči "yo".

Whole dissertations could be written about it,

Čitave disertacije se mogu napisati o tome,

and probably are being written about it.

i verovatno se pišu.

A pragmatic particle, that's what LOL has gradually become.

Pragmatična partikula, to je ono što je LOL postepeno postao.

It's a way of using the language between actual people.

To je način korišćenja jezika između stvarnih ljudi.

Another example is "slash."

Još jedan primer je kosa crta.

Now, we can use slash in the way that we're used to,

Sad, možemo da koristimo kosu crtu na način kako smo navikli,

along the lines of, "We're going to have

kao u primeru: "Napravićemo

a party-slash-networking session."

žurku / poslovno umrežavanje".

That's kind of like what we're at.

To je otprilike ono na čemu radimo.

Slash is used in a very different way

Kosa crta se koristi na vrlo različite načine

in texting among young people today.

u SMS-ovanju među mladima danas.

It's used to change the scene.

Koristi se za promenu scene.

So for example, this Sally person says,

Tako na primer, Seli kaže:

"So I need to find people to chill with"

"I tako treba da nađem društvo"

and Jake says, "Haha" --

i Džejk kaže: "Haha"...

you could write a dissertation about "Haha" too, but we don't have time for that —

možemo da napišemo disertaciju o "Haha" takođe, ali nemamo vremena za to.

"Haha so you're going by yourself? Why?"

"Haha znači ideš sama? Za šta?

Sally: "For this summer program at NYU."

Seli: "Za neki program na Univerzitetu Njujorka."

Jake: "Haha. Slash I'm watching this video with suns players

Džejk: "Haha. (Kosa crta) ja gledam neki video sa igračima Sana

trying to shoot with one eye."

koji pokušavaju da šutiraju s jednim okom."

The slash is interesting.

Kosa crta je intenteresantna.

I don't really even know what Jake is talking about after that,

Ja u stvari i ne znam o čemu Džejk priča posle toga,

but you notice that he's changing the topic.

ali primetićete da menja temu.

Now that seems kind of mundane,

To izgleda nekako uobičajeno,

but think about how in real life,

ali razmislite o tome kako u stvarnom životu,

if we're having a conversation and we want to change the topic,

ako smo u konverzaciji i hoćemo da promenimo temu,

there are ways of doing it gracefully.

ima načina da se to uradi elegantno.

You don't just zip right into it.

Ne skočite jednostavno odmah na to.

You'll pat your thighs and look wistfully off into the distance,

Nego ćete se lupiti po butini i baciti čežnjiv pogled u daljinu,

or you'll say something like, "Hmm, makes you think --"

ili ćete reći nešto kao "Hm, da se prosto zapitaš..."

when it really didn't, but what you're really --

što zaista ne činite, nego ono što u stvari...

(Laughter) —

(Smeh)

what you're really trying to do is change the topic.

...što u stvari pokušavate da uradite je da promenite temu.

You can't do that while you're texting,

To ne možete da uradite dok kucate SMS,

and so ways are developing of doing it within this medium.

i tako se razvijaju načini da se to uradi pomoću ovog medijuma.

All spoken languages have what a linguist calls

Svi govorni jezici imaju ono što lingvista naziva

a new information marker -- or two, or three.

jedan novi obeleživač informacije - ili dva, ili tri.

Texting has developed one from this slash.

SMS-ovanje je razvilo jedan od ove kose crte.

So we have a whole battery of new constructions

Tako da imamo čitavu seriju novih konstrukcija

that are developing, and yet it's easy to think,

koje se razvijaju i još uvek lako je pomisliti,

well, something is still wrong.

pa, nešto i dalje nije u redu.

There's a lack of structure of some sort.

Postoji neka vrsta nedostatka u strukturi.

It's not as sophisticated

Nije tako sofisticiran

as the language of The Wall Street Journal.

kao jezik Vol strit žurnala..

Well, the fact of the matter is,

Pa, u stvari,

look at this person in 1956,

pogledajte ovu osobu iz 1956. godine

and this is when texting doesn't exist,

ovo je vreme kad SMS-ovi nisu postojali,

"I Love Lucy" is still on the air.

"I Love Lucy" se još prikazivala:

"Many do not know the alphabet or multiplication table,

"Mnogi ne znaju abecedu ili tablicu množenja,

cannot write grammatically -- "

ne znaju da pišu gramatički pravilno..."

We've heard that sort of thing before,

Čuli smo takve stvari i ranije,

not just in 1956. 1917, Connecticut schoolteacher.

ne samo 1956. god. 1917, učitelj iz Konektikata.

1917. This is the time when we all assume

1917! Ovo je doba kad svi pretpostavljamo

that everything somehow in terms of writing was perfect

da je sve u pisanju bilo nekako savršeno

because the people on "Downton Abbey" are articulate,

zato što su ljudi u seriji "Downtown Abbey" artikulisani

or something like that.

ili otprilike tako nešto.

So, "From every college in the country goes up the cry,

Dakle: "Iz svakog koledža u zemlji slušamo jadikovke,

'Our freshmen can't spell, can't punctuate.'"

'Naši brucoši ne znaju da pišu, ne znaju interpunkciju.' "

And so on. You can go even further back than this.

I tako dalje. Možete da idete i dalje unazad od ovoga.

It's the President of Harvard. It's 1871.

Ovo je predsednik Harvarda. 1871. godina.

There's no electricity. People have three names.

Nema struje. Ljudi imaju tri imena.

"Bad spelling,

"Loše pisanje,

incorrectness as well as inelegance of expression in writing."

netačnost kao i neelegantnost izražavanja u pisanju."

And he's talking about people who are otherwise

A on govori o ljudima koji su inače

well prepared for college studies.

dobro pripremljeni za koledž.

You can go even further back.

Možete da idete i još dalje unazad.

1841, some long-lost superintendent of schools is upset

1841. neki davno zaboravljeni nadzornik škola je uznemiren

because of what he has for a long time "noted with regret

zbog nečega što se već dugo dešava i "sa žaljenjem primećuje

the almost entire neglect of the original" blah blah blah blah blah.

skoro potpuno zanemarivanje originalnog..." bla bla bla bla bla.

Or you can go all the way back to 63 A.D. -- (Laughter) --

Ili možete da se vratite čak u 63. g. nove ere (Smeh)

and there's this poor man who doesn't like the way

i imate jednog jadnika kome se ne sviđa kako

people are speaking Latin.

ljudi govore latinski.

As it happens, he was writing about what had become French.

Kako se ispostavlja, on piše o nečemu što je kasnije postalo francuski.

And so, there are always — (Laughter) (Applause) —

I tako, uvek ima - (Smeh) (Aplauz) -

there are always people worrying about these things

uvek ima ljudi koji su zabrinuti oko ovih stvari,

and the planet somehow seems to keep spinning.

a planeta izgleda da se nekako i dalje vrti.

And so, the way I'm thinking of texting these days is

I tako, ono kako ja mislim o SMS-ovanju danas je

that what we're seeing is a whole new way of writing

da je ono čemu prisustvujemo potpuno novi način pisanja

that young people are developing,

koji mladi razvijaju,

which they're using alongside their ordinary writing skills,

koji koriste pored njihovog uobičajenog pisanja,

and that means that they're able to do two things.

i to znači da su sposobni za dve stvari.

Increasing evidence is that being bilingual

U prilog tome je i činjenica je da biti dvojezičan

is cognitively beneficial.

je dobro za misaoni proces.

That's also true of being bidialectal.

To je isto slučaj i za dvodijalektičnost

That's certainly true of being bidialectal in terms of your writing.

To je sigurno slučaj i za dvodijalektičnost u domenu vašeg pisanja.

And so texting actually is evidence of a balancing act

I tako je SMS-ovanje u stvari pokazatelj balansiranja

that young people are using today, not consciously, of course,

koji mladi koriste danas, nesvesno, naravno,

but it's an expansion of their linguistic repertoire.

ali to je proširivanje njihovog jezičkog repertoara.

It's very simple.

Vrlo je jednostavno.

If somebody from 1973 looked at

Ako neko iz 1973. pogleda

what was on a dormitory message board in 1993,

šta piše na oglasnoj tabli studentsog doma 1993.,

the slang would have changed a little bit

sleng se promenio vrlo malo

since the era of "Love Story,"

od epohe "Ljubavne priče",

but they would understand what was on that message board.

ali bi razumeli ono što je na toj tabli.

Take that person from 1993 -- not that long ago,

Uzmite osobu iz 1993. - ne toliko davno,

this is "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" -- those people.

ovo je epoha "Neverovatne avanture Bila i Teda" - ti ljudi.

Take those people and they read

Uzmite ove ljude koji čitaju

a very typical text written by a 20-year-old today.

tipičan tekst koji je napisao heki dvadesetogodišnjak danas.

Often they would have no idea what half of it meant

Uglavnom oni ne bi imali pojma šta znači pola od toga

because a whole new language has developed

zato što se čitav novi jezik razvio

among our young people doing something as mundane

među mladim ljudima koji rade nešto uobičajeno

as what it looks like to us when they're batting around

kao što to izgleda nama kad kuckaju

on their little devices.

po njihovim malim uređajima.

So in closing, if I could go into the future,

I tako za zaključak, kad bih mogao da odem u budućnost,

if I could go into 2033,

kad bih mogao da odem u 2033.g.

the first thing I would ask is whether David Simon

prva stvar koju bih pitao je da li je Dejvid Sajmon

had done a sequel to "The Wire." I would want to know.

snimio nastavak "Žice". Želeo bih da znam.

And — I really would ask that —

I - stvarno bih to pitao -

and then I'd want to know actually what was going on on "Downton Abbey."

i onda bih hteo da znam u stvari šta se dešavalo u "Downtown Abbey".

That'd be the second thing.

To bi bila druga stvar.

And then the third thing would be,

I onda treća stvar bi bila,

please show me a sheaf of texts

molim vas pokažite mi kolekciju poruka

written by 16-year-old girls,

koje su napisale šesnaestogodišnjakinje,

because I would want to know where this language

zato što bih želeo da znam u kom pravcu se ovaj jezik

had developed since our times,

razvio od našeg vremena,

and ideally I would then send them back to you and me now

i u idealnom slučaju bih ih onda poslao nazad meni i vama danas

so we could examine this linguistic miracle

tako da možemo da istražimo ovo lingvističko čudo

happening right under our noses.

koje se dešava ispred našeg nosa.

Thank you very much.

Hvala vam puno.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

Thank you. (Applause)

Hvala. (Aplauz)