Who counts as a speaker of a language? | Anna Babel

71,240 views ・ 2021-01-07

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00:00
Transcriber: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Camille Martínez
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翻译人员: Yip Yan Yeung 校对人员: Yanyan Hong
人们说,很久很久以前,
地球上的所有人都说着同一语言,
属于同一种族。
我猜那时候的人们太闲了,
00:12
People say that a long, long time ago,
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因为他们打算一起努力,
00:15
everybody on earth spoke the same language
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00:17
and belonged to the same tribe.
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达到上帝的高度。
于是他们开始建造一座通天塔。
00:19
And I guess people had a little too much time on their hands,
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00:22
because they decided they were going to work together
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上帝看见了,很生气,
决定惩罚一下人类的傲慢。
00:25
to become as great as God.
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上帝摧毁了这座塔,
00:27
So they started to build a tower up into the heavens.
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把人们分散到了世界的各个角落,
00:31
God saw this and was angry,
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让人们说着不同的语言。
00:33
and to punish the people for their arrogance,
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这就是巴别塔 (The Tower of Babel)的故事,
00:35
God destroyed the tower
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00:36
and scattered the people to the ends of the earth
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应该也不是真实的正史,
00:39
and made them all speak different languages.
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但是它确实告诉了我们
理解语言和说话者的方式。
00:42
This is the story of the Tower of Babel,
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00:45
and it's probably not a literal historical truth,
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值得一提是,我们总是会认为 说着不同的语言
00:48
but it does tell us something
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意味着我们无法和谐相处 或者会产生矛盾,
00:50
about the way that we understand languages and speakers.
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说着相同的语言意味着 我们属于同一个群体,
00:54
So for one thing, we often think about speaking different languages
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可以相互合作。
00:58
as meaning that we don't get along or maybe we're in conflict,
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现代语言学家认为
语言和社会群体类别之间的关系
01:02
and speaking the same language as meaning that we belong to the same group
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错综复杂,
01:05
and that we can work together.
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在理解语言的道路上困难重重,
01:08
Modern linguists know
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01:10
that the relationship between language and social categories
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以至于如此简单的一个问题:
01:13
is intricate and complex,
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“如何才算一门语言的使用者?”
01:15
and we bring a lot of baggage to the way that we understand language,
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都变得非常、非常难以回答。
01:19
to the point that even a seemingly simple question,
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我是俄亥俄州立大学的 一名西班牙语教授。
01:22
like, "What makes a person a speaker of a language?"
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我通常教授高阶课程,
01:25
can turn out to be really, really complicated.
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学生已经上了 4 到 5 年的
大学程度西班牙语课程。
01:28
I'm a Spanish professor at Ohio State.
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所以我班上的学生 整个学期都会和我说西班牙语,
01:31
I teach mostly upper-level courses,
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01:33
where the students have taken four to five years
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他们听我说西班牙语, 他们交西班牙语的书面作业。
01:35
of university-level Spanish courses.
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但是,开学的时候我问同学们:
01:38
So students who are in my class speak Spanish with me all semester long.
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“谁觉得自己 是一个说西班牙语的人?”
01:42
They listen to me speak in Spanish. They turn in written work in Spanish.
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没有几个人举手。
01:46
And yet, when I asked my students at the beginning of the semester,
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你可以把一门语言说得非常非常好,
01:49
"Who considers themselves a Spanish speaker?"
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但是你也不会认为 自己就是说那门语言的人。
01:52
not very many of them raise their hands.
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01:55
So you can be a really, really good speaker of a language
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也许这和你说得有多好无关,
01:58
and still not consider yourself a language speaker.
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也许取决于你是几岁 开始学这门语言的。
02:03
Maybe it's not just about how well you speak a language.
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但是如果我们关注一下 在家说西班牙语,
但是在工作上或者学校里 基本说英语的孩子,
02:07
Maybe it's also about what age you start learning that language.
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他们一般会觉得 自己两门语言都说得不是很好。
02:11
But when we look at kids who speak Spanish at home
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有时候他们会觉得 自己身处“无语言之境”,
02:15
but mostly English at work or in school,
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因为他们在学校 说西班牙语不太舒服,
02:18
they often feel like they don't speak either language really well.
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在家说英语也不太舒服。
02:22
They sometimes feel like they exist in a state of languagelessness,
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我们很清醒地意识到, 如果要成为一个好的双语者,
02:26
because they don't feel fully comfortable in Spanish at school,
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就得在一个身体里承载两个单语者,
02:30
and they don't feel fully comfortable in English at home.
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但是语言学家知道双语能力 并不是这样的。
02:33
We have this really strong idea that in order to be a good bilingual,
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比较常见的情况是人们擅长
02:37
we have to be two monolinguals in one body.
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在一个语境使用一种语言, 在另一处用另一种语言。
02:41
But linguists know that's not really how bilingualism works.
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02:44
It's actually much more common for people to specialize,
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如今,并不只是 我们如何看待自己的问题,
02:48
to use one language in one place and another language in another place.
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还牵涉到他人如何看待我们。
我在玻利维亚——
02:54
Now, it's not always only about how we see ourselves.
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一个南美国家做了研究。
02:58
It can also be about how other people see us.
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在玻利维亚,就和美国一样,
有着不同的社会群体和种族。
03:02
I do my research in Bolivia,
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03:04
which is a country in South America.
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有一个种族叫做 盖丘亚族(Quechua),
03:06
And in Bolivia, as in the United States,
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是南美土著。
03:09
there are different social groups and different ethnic categories.
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盖丘亚族族人说的西班牙语与
03:13
One of those ethnic categories is a group known as Quechua,
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普通的西班牙语使用者 说的略有不同。
尤其是很多盖丘亚族族人说的
03:17
who are Indigenous people.
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03:19
And people who are Quechua speak Spanish a little bit differently
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有一些发音会更加相像。
03:22
than your run-of-the-mill Spanish speaker.
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我和我的同事设计了一项研究,
03:24
In particular, there are some sounds that sound a little bit more alike
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我们选取了一系列 发音非常相像的词组,
03:28
when many Quechua speakers use them.
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听起来非常相像,和盖丘亚族族人
03:31
So a colleague and I designed a study
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03:34
where we took a series of very similar-sounding word pairs,
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通常说西班牙语时相像的发音一致。
03:39
and they were similar-sounding in exactly the same sorts of ways
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我们给一些听众播放了 这些发音相似的词组,
03:42
that Quechua speakers often sound similar when they speak Spanish.
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告诉一半听众, 他们将要听到的录音来自
普通的西班牙语使用者,
03:48
We played those similar-sounding word pairs to a group of listeners,
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另一半听众将听到 来自盖丘亚族族人的语音。
03:52
and we told half of the listeners that they were going to listen
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所有人听的都是同一份录音,
03:55
to just your normal run-of-the-mill Spanish speaker
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但是我们发现,以为自己听的是
03:58
and the other half of the listeners that they were going to hear a Quechua speaker.
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普通西班牙语使用者语音的参与者
可以清晰分辨词组,
04:02
Everybody heard the same recording,
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而以为自己听的是 盖丘亚族族人语音的
04:04
but what we found was that people who thought they were listening
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参与者不太能分辨区别。
04:07
to a run-of-the-mill Spanish speaker
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04:09
made clear differences between the word pairs,
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在这里可以给大家看一下图表,
04:12
and people who thought they were listening to a Quechua speaker
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展示了我们的研究成果。
你可以看到上面这条线 稍微有一些弧度,
04:15
really didn't seem to make clear differences.
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这条线展示的是可以
04:18
So if a visual would help,
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清晰分辨词组的参与者的结果,
04:20
here are the results of our study.
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04:22
What you see here in the top line is a little bit of an arch.
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这些人也就是
以为自己在听西班牙语 使用者录音的人。
04:25
That's what you would expect
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下面这条线稍显平坦,
04:27
from people who are making clear differences between the word pairs,
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展示了
04:30
and that's what you see for people
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不太能清晰分辨区别的 参与者的结果,
04:32
who though they were listening to a Spanish speaker.
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也就是那些以为自己在听 盖丘亚族族人录音的人。
04:34
What you see on the bottom is a little bit more of a flat line,
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04:37
and that's what we expect to see
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既然录音都是一样的,
04:39
when people are not making clear differences,
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这就意味着是我们提示的社会类别
04:41
and that came from the group that thought they were listening to a Quechua speaker.
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让人们对语言的感受不同。
04:45
Now, since nothing about the recording changed,
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这可不是只发生在玻利维亚的怪事。
04:47
that means that it was the social categories that we gave the listeners
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在美国、加拿大、
04:51
that changed the way they perceived language.
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新西兰都进行了相似的研究,
04:54
This isn't just some funny thing that only happens in Bolivia.
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结果都是一样的。
我们把社会类别 带入了我们对语言的理解。
04:58
Research has been carried out in the United States,
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05:00
in Canada, in New Zealand,
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甚至还有针对美国大学生的研究,
05:03
showing exactly the same thing.
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05:05
We incorporate social categories into our understanding of language.
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让这些大学生听一节大学课程。
一半的学生会看到他们的老师
05:10
There have even been studies carried out with American college students
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是一张白人的照片。
另一半学生会看他们的老师
05:14
who listen to a university lecture.
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是一张亚裔的照片。
05:16
Half of the students were shown a picture of a Caucasian face
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看到亚裔照片的学生
05:19
as the instructor.
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反馈说讲座不清晰、不好理解,
05:21
Half of the students were shown a picture of an Asian face
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05:24
as the instructor.
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而大家听的都是同一个录音。
05:26
And students who saw the Asian face
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05:28
reported that the lecture was less clear and harder to understand,
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社会类别真的会影响 我们对语言的理解。
05:33
even though everybody listened to the same recording.
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我的孩子去上学的时候,
05:39
So social categories really influence the way that we understand language.
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让我个人对此深有感触。
我的孩子们是拉丁美洲人,
我们在家说西班牙语,
05:44
And this is an issue that became especially personal to me
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但是他们与外面的朋友和祖父母
05:47
when my children started school.
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基本上都说英语。
05:50
My children are Latino,
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他们刚开始上学的时候,
这个地区要求
05:52
and we speak Spanish at home,
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05:53
but they speak mostly English with their friends out in the world,
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如果学生家庭有一个人 说非英语的语言,
05:57
with their grandparents.
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学生就得接受测试,
05:59
When they started school,
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决定他们是否需要英语作为 第二语言(ESL)的服务。
06:00
I was told that the district requires
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06:02
that any household that has a member who speaks a language other than English,
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我当时觉得:“太棒了! 我的孩子肯定搞得定这个测试。”
06:06
the children have to be tested
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06:08
to see if they need English as a second language services.
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但是事情并不是如此。
06:11
And I was like, "Yes! My kids are going to ace this test."
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我身后是我女儿的 ESL 考试成绩。
理解部分和听读部分
06:17
But that's not what happened.
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06:19
So you can see behind me the results from my daughter's ESL placement exam.
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她得了满分 5 分。
但是口语和写作只拿了 3 分。
06:24
She got a perfect five out of five for comprehension,
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我就想:“真奇怪,
06:29
for reading and listening.
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这娃一直喋喋不休的。”
06:31
But she only got three out of five for speaking and writing.
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(笑声)
但是我觉得这只是在一天里 考了一次,不算什么大事。
06:37
And I was like, "This is really weird,
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06:39
because this kid talks my ear off all the time."
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直到几年以后,我儿子上学了,
06:42
(Laughter)
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06:43
But I figured it's just one test on one day, and it's not a big deal.
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他也在考试中被评为
非英语母语使用者。
06:48
Until, several years later, my son started school,
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我想:“真奇怪,
06:51
and my son also scored as a non-native speaker of English
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不像是个巧合啊。”
然后我给老师发了条消息,
06:55
on the exam.
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她人很不错。
她给我发了长长的消息, 解释为什么我儿子会被如此评价。
06:58
And I was like, "This is really weird,
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07:00
and it doesn't seem like a coincidence."
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她说的几点引起了我的注意。
07:02
So I sent a note in to the teacher,
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07:04
and she was very kind.
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07:05
She sent me a long message explaining why he had been placed in this way.
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第一点,她说就算是 英语母语使用者,
也不一定会在这个测试中
07:10
Some of the things that she said really caught my attention.
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取得“优秀”的成绩,
这取决于他们在家里能接触到 什么样的资源和教导。
07:14
For one thing, she said that even a native speaker of English
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07:17
might not score at advanced level
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这就告诉了我,这个测试
07:19
on this test,
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07:21
depending on what kinds of resource and enrichment they were getting at home.
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并不能很好地衡量英语能力,
但是可以衡量孩子在家
07:26
Now, this tells me that the test wasn't doing a great job
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能获得多少资源,
这样的话,这些孩子就需要 学校提供别的支持,
07:30
of measuring English proficiency,
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07:32
but it may have been measuring something like how much resources
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而不是英语辅导。
07:35
kids are exposed to at home,
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她提到的另一点引起了 我作为一个语言学家的注意。
07:37
in which case, those kids need different types of support at school.
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07:41
They really don't need English language assistance.
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她说,她让我儿子重复一句话:
“谁拿了珍(Jane)的铅笔?”
07:45
Another thing that she mentioned caught my attention as a linguist.
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然后他重复道:“谁拿了珍铅笔?”
07:49
She said that she had asked my son to repeat the sentence,
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07:52
"Who has Jane's pencil?"
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她说,这是非英语母语使用者 学生的一个典型错误,
07:56
And he repeated, "Who has Jane pencil?"
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他们的母语不包含类似 “所有格”这样的结构。
08:00
She said this is a typical error made by a non-native English-speaking student
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这让我关注的原因
是因为我知道
08:05
whose native language does not contain a similar structure for possessives.
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有一种系统性的、规范化的英语种类,
语法上就会用到这样的所有格结构。
08:11
The reason this caught my attention
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08:13
is because I know
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08:15
that there is a systematic, rule-governed variety of English
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语言学家称这个种类为 “非裔美国英语”。
08:19
in which this possessive construction is completely grammatical.
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其实,非裔美国英语是一种
遍布美国的方言合集,
08:24
That variety is known to linguists as "African-American English."
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通常出现在非裔美国人社群里。
08:29
And African-American English is actually group of dialects
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但是也发生在了我儿子的学校里,
有 60% 的学生是非裔美国人。
08:32
that's spoken across the United States,
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08:34
mostly in African-American communities.
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我们也知道这个年龄的
孩子很容易从朋友那边学东西,
08:37
But it just so happens that my son's school
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is about 60 percent African-American.
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他们从语言玩起,
用在不同语境里。
08:42
And we know that at this age,
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我猜老师看着我儿子的时候,
08:45
children are picking things up from their friends,
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08:47
they're experimenting with language,
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不会想到这孩子 说着一口非裔美国英语。
08:49
they're using it in different contexts.
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08:52
I think when the teacher saw my son,
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所以她没有把他评为
08:56
she didn't see a child who she expected to speak African-American English.
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一个天生会多种英语方言的孩子,
而是把他评为了标准英语 能力欠佳的孩子。
09:02
And so instead of evaluating him as a child who was natively acquiring
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09:06
multiple dialects of English,
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09:08
she evaluated him as a child whose standard English was deficient.
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语言和社会类别交织在一起,
我们对语言的理解任重道远。
09:16
Language and social categories are intricately connected,
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如果你问我这个问题:
“如何才算一门语言的使用者?”
09:20
and we bring so much baggage to the way that we understand language.
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我无法给出一个简单的答案。
但是我可以告诉你
09:25
When you ask me a question like,
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人们都在寻找规律,
09:27
"Who counts as a speaker of a language?"
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我们也一直在寻找
09:29
I don't really have a simple answer to that question.
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不同信息之间的联结。
09:32
But what I can tell you
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09:34
is that people are pattern seekers,
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我们可能会遇到这样的问题,
09:36
and we're always looking for ways to connect the dots
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我们的潜在偏见投射到了语言上。
09:39
between different types of information.
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我看着和我孩子差不多的小朋友时,
09:43
This can be a problem
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09:45
when our underlying biases are projected onto language.
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我会用一种最温和、 最善意的目光看着他们,
09:50
When I look at children like my own,
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这些从人种上就被划为 非英语母语使用者的孩子们。
09:53
and I see them in the gentlest and most well-meaning of ways
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我不禁想到,
他们从小学毕业以后,
09:58
being racially profiled as non-native speakers of English,
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步入高中、大学、就业的时候, 会怎么样?
10:04
it makes me wonder:
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10:05
What's going to happen
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他们去参加面试的时候,
10:07
as they move from elementary school
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桌子对面的人会不会
10:09
onto high school and college and onto their first jobs?
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看看他们的肤色或姓氏,
10:13
When they walk into an interview,
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觉得他们说着西班牙语口音,
10:16
will the person sitting across the table from them
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或者说着糟糕的英语呢?
10:19
look at their color or their last name
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这些评价会给人们的一生留下
10:22
and hear them as speaking with a Spanish accent
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不可磨灭的阴影。
10:25
or as speaking bad English?
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我希望那个人可以像你一样
10:28
These are the kinds of judgments that can have long-reaching effects
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思考一下语言和社会类别之间
10:31
on people's lives.
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自然而然的联结,
10:35
So I hope that that person, just like you,
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质疑一下自己对于 “谁才算是一门语言的使用者”
10:38
will have reflected on the naturalized links
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这个问题的假设。
10:41
between language and social categories
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谢谢。
(掌声)
10:43
and will have questioned their assumptions about what it really means
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10:47
to be a speaker of a language.
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10:50
Thank you.
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10:51
(Applause)
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