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

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: xuan wang 校对人员: Claire Yeh

We always hear that texting is a scourge.

人们总说短信的出现是一种灾难。

The idea is that texting spells the decline and fall

这么说的原因是短信降低了人们的读写能力，

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

或者至少是书面表达能力，

among young people in the United States

这个问题影响着美国青年人

and now the whole world today.

今天也变成了全球问题。

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

事实上，这个说法是错误的，

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

而且人们很容易信以为真，

but in order to see it in another way,

但是为了换一个角度来看待它，

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

为了将短信看作是实际上不可思议的，

not just energetic, but a miraculous thing,

而且不只是充满活力的事，也是不可思议的事，

a kind of emergent complexity

是一个我们正在经历的

that we're seeing happening right now,

一个紧迫而复杂事情，

we have to pull the camera back for a bit

我们就得回过头

and look at what language really is,

好好想想语言究竟是怎么一回事，

in which case, one thing that we see

这么看的话，我们可以说

is that texting is not writing at all.

短信其实根本就不是书面文字表达。

What do I mean by that?

为什么这么说呢?

Basically, if we think about language,

从根本上说，如果我们想到语言，

language has existed for perhaps 150,000 years,

语言已经存在了大概15万年，

at least 80,000 years,

至少也有8万年了，

and what it arose as is speech. People talked.

首先出现的是语音。人们彼此交谈。

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

这个大概就是出于我们人类的本能。

That's how we use language most.

大多数情况下，这就是我们如何使用语言的。

Writing is something that came along much later,

文字是在这之后很晚才产生的，

and as we saw in the last talk,

正如我们在上一个演讲所看到的，

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

对于文字是何时出现的还是有些小小的争议，

but according to traditional estimates,

但是根据传统估算，

if humanity had existed for 24 hours,

如果人类文明存在了24个小时，

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

那么文字是在晚上11点07分时产生的。

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

大家可见文字是最近才出现的。

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

所以首先是语音，然后文字作为一种技巧

as a kind of artifice.

出现了。

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

大家不要误会，文字写作确实有它自己的优势。

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

当你写字的时候，因为这是一个有意识的过程，

because you can look backwards,

因为你可以回顾过去，

you can do things with language that are much less likely

你可以用书面语言来完成一些说话时

if you're just talking.

不会表达的事情。

For example, imagine a passage from Edward Gibbon's

比如，让我们看看爱德华·吉本（英国历史学家）在

"The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:"

“罗马帝国衰亡史”一书中的一段（取自第二十四章），

"The whole engagement lasted above twelve hours,

“整个战争持续了至少12小时，

till the graduate retreat of the Persians was changed

直到波斯人纷纷仓皇溃退，

into a disorderly flight, of which the shameful example

其中表现最可耻的是

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

他们的指挥官们以及苏雷纳斯(最高统帅）本人。“

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

写的真的很美，但是，说实话，没人这么说话。

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

或者至少，如果真感兴趣的话也不该这样重复。

in reproducing. That --

这－

(Laughter)

（笑声）

is not the way any human being speaks casually.

不是人们平常说话时候的样子。

Casual speech is something quite different.

日常对话是非常不同的。

Linguists have actually shown

语言学家实际上已经指出

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

当我们在轻松的对话时，

we tend to speak in word packets of maybe

我们每句话会用大概

seven to 10 words.

7到10个字。

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

你会注意到这点，如果你有机会录下来

yourself or a group of people talking.

自己或者一组人说话。

That's what speech is like.

这就是语言对话的形式。

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

语言对话更松散。也更简洁得多。

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

和书面文字表达非常不同，它少了思考性。

So we naturally tend to think, because we see language

所以因为我们经常看到写出来的语言，

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

我们就很自然地认为，那就是语言，

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

但实际上语言是言语对话。这是两个不同的事物。

Now of course, as history has gone by,

当然，随着历史的演进，

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

在言语对话和书面文字表达之间有些交集

between speech and writing.

也是很自然的事情。

So, for example, in a distant era now,

比如说，在以前一个遥远的时代，

it was common when one gave a speech

当一个人作演讲，说起话来像在写作一样，

to basically talk like writing.

是很平常的事情。

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

我的意思是那种你在一部老电影里看到的演讲，

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

人们会清一下喉咙，然后说：

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

“啊喝，女士们，先生们，”

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

然后，他们会用一种和现在说话完全不同的方式讲下去。

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

这种讲话很正式。它使用像刚才吉本式的长句子。

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

基本上，它就是书面表达式的讲话，再比如，

we're thinking so much these days about Lincoln

我们这些天因为一部电影（《林肯》2012年）

because of the movie.

都在谈论林肯。

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

葛底斯堡演说并不是影片的重点。

For two hours before that, Edward Everett spoke

在这之前的两个小时，爱德华·埃弗里特的演讲，

on a topic that, frankly, cannot engage us today

说实话，没有办法打动现在的我们

and barely did then.

而且当时也效果甚微。

The point of it was to listen to him

问题的关键是听他

speaking like writing.

书面表达式的演讲。

Ordinary people stood and listened to that for two hours.

普通人得站着听两个小时。

It was perfectly natural.

这在当时是非常平常的事情。

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

这就是过去人们的演讲风格，正式得就像写作一样。

Well, if you can speak like writing,

那么，如果你可以说话像在写作，

then logically it follows that you might want to also

很自然的你也许会想要

sometimes write like you speak.

有时进行说话式的书面表达。

The problem was just that in the material,

问题就在传输媒介上，

mechanical sense, that was harder back in the day

过去很难支持这种动手的表达活动，

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

原因就在传输媒介无法满足这个需求。

It's almost impossible to do that with your hand

用手写基本上是不可能的，

except in shorthand, and then communication is limited.

除了速记外，但这又局限了交流。

On a manual typewriter it was very difficult,

用手写打印机也非常困难，

and even when we had electric typewriters,

即使我们有了电子打印机，

or then computer keyboards, the fact is

或者电脑键盘，事实是

that even if you can type easily enough to keep up

即便你可以轻松飞快的打字来跟得上说话的速度，

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

或多或少，你也需要你的谈话对象能

somebody who can receive your message quickly.

快速的看到你的信息。

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

一但你在口袋里有了能接受这个信息的装置，

then you have the conditions that allow

你就有条件来

that we can write like we speak.

像说话一样打字了。

And that's where texting comes in.

这时短信就出现了。

And so, texting is very loose in its structure.

所以，短信在结构上非常松散。

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

没有人在写短信的时候在乎大写字母或者标点，

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

话说回来，你在说话的时候也会想到这些东西吗？

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

不, 那么为什么要在写短信的时候这样做呢？

What texting is, despite the fact that it involves

除了与用手操作的书面文字表达有关外，

the brute mechanics of something that we call writing,

短信其实就是一种“指语”。

is fingered speech. That's what texting is.

这就是短信。

Now we can write the way we talk.

现在我们可以像说话一样打字。

And it's a very interesting thing, but nevertheless

这是非常有趣的事情，

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

尽管人们很容易认为短信的出现象征着一种倒退。

We see this general bagginess of the structure,

我们看到短信在结构上的松散，

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

缺乏一定的规则，

learning on the blackboard, and so we think

和我们习惯在黑板上学习的方式不同，

that something has gone wrong.

我们就想当然的认为出问题了。

It's a very natural sense.

这么想也很自然。

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

但事实上，它其实是

is a kind of emergent complexity.

自然而然产生的，并具有一定的复杂性。

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

这就是我们在这种“指语”上看到的。

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

为了更好的理解它，我们想要看到的是，

is the way, in this new kind of language,

在这种新的“语言”中，

there is new structure coming up.

它其实是具有一种新的结构。

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

比如说，在短信里有这样一个习惯用语，

which is LOL.

就是LOL。

Now LOL, we generally think of

我们通常认为LOL的意思是

as meaning "laughing out loud."

“捧腹大笑”。

And of course, theoretically, it does,

当然，从理论上看，它确实是这个意思，

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

如果我们看看过去的一些短信，

to actually indicate laughing out loud.

人们确实用它来表示笑的很开心。

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

但是对于现在的短信，或者

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

你很注意短信从根本上是怎么出现的，

you'll notice that LOL

你就会注意到LOL

does not mean laughing out loud anymore.

不再意味着“捧腹大笑”了。

It's evolved into something that is much subtler.

它已演变成某种更微妙的东西。

This is an actual text that was done

这是一段真实的短信对话

by a non-male person of about 20 years old

它是由一个20出头的姑娘

not too long ago.

在前不久写的。

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

第一句：“顺便说一句，我喜欢你用的字体。”

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

朱莉: "lol 谢谢 谷歌邮箱现在变得好慢"

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

如果大家想想看，这可不好笑。

No one's laughing. (Laughter)

也没有人在笑。（笑声）

And yet, there it is, so you assume

但是，这个字（lol)却在那里，

there's been some kind of hiccup.

你会认为这可能就是打错了。

Then Susan says "lol, I know,"

然后苏珊说“lol，我知道，”

again more guffawing than we're used to

再一次，真让人“捧腹大笑”。

when you're talking about these inconveniences.

这可不是我们一般遇上这样麻烦事的态度。

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

朱莉接着说，“我刚给你发了封邮件。”

Susan: "lol, I see it."

苏珊：“lol,我收到了。”

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

非常有趣的两个人，如果这是LOL的真实意思的话。

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

朱莉说，“最近怎么样？”

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

苏珊：“lol,我得写一篇10页的作文。”

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

这么看的话，她可不开心。

LOL is being used in a very particular way.

LOL是以一种特别的方式被使用的。

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

它代表着感同身受，代表着某种无奈妥协。

We linguists call things like that pragmatic particles.

我们语言学家称之为“口头禅”。

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

任何口语都有这些词语。

If you happen to speak Japanese, think about

如果你会说日语的话，

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

想想你在很多句子后面加上的那个“ne”字。

If you listen to the way black youth today speak,

如果你听现在的年轻黑人说话，

think about the use of the word "yo."

想想这个词“yo”的使用。

Whole dissertations could be written about it,

这都够写学术论文的了，

and probably are being written about it.

说不定人们已经开始写了。

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

LOL已经逐渐演变成了一个口头禅。

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

这就是人们使用语言的一种方式。

Another example is "slash."

另外一个例子是“slash.”（斜线符号）

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

看看这个句子，"我们要去一个派对

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

同时（slash)来扩展一下人脉"

a party-slash-networking session."

slash这里连接派对和扩展人脉两个活动。

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

我们通常这么使用这个字。

Slash is used in a very different way

今天Slash这个字用在年轻人的短信里

in texting among young people today.

却有非常不同的意思。

It's used to change the scene.

它被用来转换话题。

So for example, this Sally person says,

比如说，这个萨莉说，

"So I need to find people to chill with"

“我想找个伴儿来陪我”

and Jake says, "Haha" --

然后，杰克说，“哈哈” －

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

你也可以写一篇关于“哈哈”的论文，但是我们没有时间聊它了 －

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

“哈哈，所以你自己去？为什么？”

Sally: "For this summer program at NYU."

萨莉说：”是今天夏天在纽约的项目。“

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

杰克：”哈哈。Slash（对了），我正在看这个视频，

trying to shoot with one eye."

太阳队的球员正试着用一只眼投篮。“

The slash is interesting.

这个Slash在这里很有趣。

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

我都不知道杰克这之后到底在说些什么，

but you notice that he's changing the topic.

但是大家注意到他在转换话题。

Now that seems kind of mundane,

这看上去很平常，

but think about how in real life,

但是想想我们的现实生活，

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

如果我们在谈话中想转换话题，

there are ways of doing it gracefully.

有很多很好的方式。

You don't just zip right into it.

你不会随便地单刀直入。

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

你会拍拍大腿然后若有所思的看着远方，

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

或者你会说，“嗯......”来假装你在思考着，

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

但实际上－

(Laughter) —

（笑声） －

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

实际上你正在试图切换话题。

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

你没有办法在短信里这么做，

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

所以在这个交流媒介里产生了各种转换话题的方法。

All spoken languages have what a linguist calls

任何口语都有语言学家称作的

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

一个或者两到三个的新信息标记词（话题转换词）。

Texting has developed one from this slash.

短信用这个slash（斜线）作为一个新信息产生的标记。

So we have a whole battery of new constructions

于是我们有了这些充满活力的新语言结构，

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

然而人们还是很容易的认为，

well, something is still wrong.

还是有问题。

There's a lack of structure of some sort.

它（短信）缺乏某种结构。

It's not as sophisticated

它不像华尔街日报上使用的语言

as the language of The Wall Street Journal.

那么有深度。

Well, the fact of the matter is,

实际上，

look at this person in 1956,

看看这个人在1956年写的，

and this is when texting doesn't exist,

那时短信还没有出现，

"I Love Lucy" is still on the air.

“我爱露西”（美国50年代当红肥皂剧）还在热播。

"Many do not know the alphabet or multiplication table,

“很多人都不会拼写字母或者背乘法口诀表，”

cannot write grammatically -- "

也不会按照语法写作－“

We've heard that sort of thing before,

我们以前就听到这种抱怨，

not just in 1956. 1917, Connecticut schoolteacher.

并不仅仅在1956年。1917年，康涅狄格州的教师也这样。

1917. This is the time when we all assume

1917年，这是我们都认为的

that everything somehow in terms of writing was perfect

写文章没的说的时代，

because the people on "Downton Abbey" are articulate,

因为“唐顿庄园”（当时英国的热播剧）

or something like that.

里的人物各个都伶牙俐齿的。

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

然而，“整个国家里的每一所学院都应感到羞愧，

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

我们的新生不会拼写，也不会点标点。“

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

诸如此类的言论。我们还可以再往前看。

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

这是1871年的哈佛大学校长。

There's no electricity. People have three names.

那个时代还没有电力。人们还都有三个名字。

"Bad spelling,

”糟糕的拼写，

incorrectness as well as inelegance of expression in writing."

不正确以及毫不优美的书面表达。“

And he's talking about people who are otherwise

他可是在说那些为了上大学

well prepared for college studies.

作了充分准备的人。

You can go even further back.

我们再往前看。

1841, some long-lost superintendent of schools is upset

1841年，一个久违的督学官非常失望，

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

因为他早已经注意到人们

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

“对文字本源的完全忽视”等等等等。

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

或者大家可以直接跳转回公元63年。 － （笑声）

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

有个可怜人不喜欢人们

people are speaking Latin.

说拉丁语的方式。

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

实际上，他正在控诉的是日后形成的法语。

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

所以，总有－（笑声）（掌声） －

there are always people worrying about these things

总会有人为这些事情担心

and the planet somehow seems to keep spinning.

但是地球似乎并没有因此停止旋转。

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

所以，我对当今的短信的看法是

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

我们正在经历一种由年轻人发展出的

that young people are developing,

新的书写方式，

which they're using alongside their ordinary writing skills,

同时他们也在使用他们正常的书面表达写作技巧，

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

这意味着他们可以两者兼修。

Increasing evidence is that being bilingual

补充证据就是拥有双语能力

is cognitively beneficial.

对认知的发展是有利的。

That's also true of being bidialectal.

这在精通两种方言上同样适用。

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

如果你会用两种方言写作的话，这也是千真万确的。

And so texting actually is evidence of a balancing act

所以短信实际上是一个平衡之举的佐证

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

当然，年轻人们是在无意识的这样使用短信的，

but it's an expansion of their linguistic repertoire.

但这是他们语言能力的一种扩展。

It's very simple.

非常简单。

If somebody from 1973 looked at

如果一个1973年的人

what was on a dormitory message board in 1993,

看着1993年一个学生宿舍信息栏，

the slang would have changed a little bit

俚语等习惯用语

since the era of "Love Story,"

会跟“爱情故事”（70年代美国热播剧）时代有些不同，

but they would understand what was on that message board.

但是他们会看明白那个信息栏上的内容。

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

我们让1993年的那个人－这可不算太久远，

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

那还是“比尔和泰德历险记”（1989年美国电影）时代，

Take those people and they read

我们让这些人读

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

现在20岁年轻人写的一段短信。

Often they would have no idea what half of it meant

他们应该通常连一半的内容都猜不出来

because a whole new language has developed

因为我们的年轻人已经发展出了一种

among our young people doing something as mundane

新的语言，它是通过在孩子们的

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

小设备上的看似平常的敲敲打打

on their little devices.

中演变出来的。

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

总结一下，如果我可以穿越到未来，

if I could go into 2033,

如果我去到2033年，

the first thing I would ask is whether David Simon

我会问的第一个问题就是大卫·西蒙拍没拍

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

“火线”（美国HBO剧集）的续集。

And — I really would ask that —

我真的会问这个的

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

我还会想知道“唐顿庄园”到底发生了什么。

That'd be the second thing.

这是第二个问题。

And then the third thing would be,

第三个问题就是，

please show me a sheaf of texts

请给我一叠16岁姑娘们

written by 16-year-old girls,

写的短信，

because I would want to know where this language

因为我想知道这个语言

had developed since our times,

已经发展成什么样子了，

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

更好的就是我可以把这些短信发给现在的大家和我

so we could examine this linguistic miracle

我们就可以研究研究这个当下正在发生着的

happening right under our noses.

语言奇迹。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you. (Applause)

谢谢大家。 （掌声）