Erin McKean: Go ahead, make up new words!

譯者: Harry Chen 審譯者: Yiding(Eden) Wen

I'm a lexicographer.

我是一個字典編纂師，

I make dictionaries.

而我編製字典，

And my job as a lexicographer

身為字典編纂師我的工作是─

is to try to put all the words possible into the dictionary.

盡可能試著把所有可行的 字彙收進字典裡，

My job is not to decide what a word is; that is your job.

我的工作不是決定什麼才是一個字， 那是你的工作；

Everybody who speaks English decides together

所有會說英文的人一起來決定

what's a word and what's not a word.

什麼是字而什麼並不算是字，

Every language is just a group of people who agree to understand each other.

每一種語言不過就是一群 同意彼此理解的人，

Now, sometimes when people are trying to decide whether a word is good or bad,

有時候大家想要斷定 一個字到底是好還是不好，

they don't really have a good reason.

他們並非真的有一個好依據，

So they say something like, "Because grammar!"

所以他們就會說像 「因為文法」的這種道理，

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

I don't actually really care about grammar too much -- don't tell anybody.

實際上我真的不是太在乎文法， 請不要跟其他人講喔。

But the word "grammar," actually, there are two kinds of grammar.

不過實際上「文法」這個字還分兩種，

There's the kind of grammar that lives inside your brain,

有一種文法存在於你的大腦中，

and if you're a native speaker of a language

假如你是一種語言的天生使用者，

or a good speaker of a language,

或是一種語言的擅長使用者，

it's the unconscious rules that you follow when you speak that language.

當你使用那個語言時 你所遵從的是潛意識的規則，

And this is what you learn when you learn a language as a child.

而這是當你小時後在學習語言時學到的。

And here's an example:

這邊有一個例子：

This is a wug, right?

這是一個"wug"對吧？(虛擬的單字)

It's a wug.

它是一個"wug"。

Now there is another one.

現在有另一張圖，

There are two of these.

裡面有2個這種東西，

There are two ...

那裡有2個什麼呢?

Audience: Wugs.

聽眾："wugs"。

Erin McKean: Exactly! You know how to make the plural of wug.

艾琳‧麥坎：完全正確！ 你知道該如何把"wug"變成複數。

That rule lives in your brain.

這規則就存在你的腦海裡，

You never had to be taught this rule, you just understand it.

你永遠不需要被教過這個規則， 你就是理解這條規則的，

This is an experiment that was invented by a professor at [Boston University]

這是一個在1958年(波士頓大學)

named Jean Berko Gleason back in 1958.

珍‧伯寇‧葛里森教授所研發的實驗，

So we've been talking about this for a long time.

所以像我們這樣子說話已經很長久了。

Now, these kinds of natural rules that exist in your brain,

如今存在你腦還裡的這些自然規則，

they're not like traffic laws, they're more like laws of nature.

它們不像是交通法規， 而比較像是自然的法則，

And nobody has to remind you to obey a law of nature, right?

根本沒有人提醒你遵守自然法則不是嗎？

When you leave the house in the morning, your mom doesn't say,

當你早上出門時你的母親不會說：

"Hey, honey, I think it's going to be cold, take a hoodie,

「嘿，親愛的，我想天氣將要變冷了， 帶上你的帶帽運動衫喔！

don't forget to obey the law of gravity."

別忘了要遵守地心引力的法則喔！」

Nobody says this.

沒人會說這樣子的話。

Now, there are other rules that are more about manners than they are about nature.

還有另一種規則與其說是自然法則 反而是比較像禮儀規矩，

So you can think of a word as like a hat.

你可以想個單字像是「帽子」呀，

Once you know how hats work,

你一旦知道了帽子的功用，

nobody has to tell you, "Don't wear hats on your feet."

根本不必有人告訴你： 「別把帽子戴在腳底！」

What they have to tell you is, "Can you wear hats inside?

他們得要跟你說的是 你是不是可以在裡面戴帽子、

Who gets to wear a hat?

誰需要戴帽子、

What are the kinds of hats you get to wear?"

你得要戴什麼樣子的帽子？

Those are more of the second kind of grammar,

這些比較像是第二類的文法，

which linguists often call usage, as opposed to grammar.

字典編撰師們相對於文法常叫它用法。

Now, sometimes people use this kind of rules-based grammar

有時候人們用第二種規則基礎的文法，

to discourage people from making up words.

讓大家沒信心創造字，

And I think that is, well, stupid.

而我認為這是非常蠢的事。

So, for example, people are always telling you,

舉例來說，大家總是跟你講：

"Be creative, make new music, do art, invent things, science and technology."

「要有創意的、製作新的音樂、玩藝術 、發明東西、科學、技術的。」

But when it comes to words, they're like,

但是講到文字的時候， 這些話會像是：「不要！不可以的！

"Don't! No. Creativity stops right here, whippersnappers. Give it a rest."

狂妄的小子！創新就到此為止啦， 讓一切平靜下來吧！」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

But that makes no sense to me.

但是那一套對我沒用，

Words are great. We should have more of them.

文字是最棒的， 我們應該有更多文字，

I want you to make as many new words as possible.

我希望你們儘其所能創造更多新字，

And I'm going to tell you six ways that you can use to make new words in English.

我將要告訴你們六種你們可以 運用來創造英文新單字的方法：

The first way is the simplest way.

第一個是最簡單的方法，

Basically, steal them from other languages.

基本上就從其他語言裡盜用過來，

["Go rob other people"] (Laughter)

「去搶劫其他人吧！」 (笑聲)

Linguists call this borrowing,

語言學家稱這個叫借用，

but we never give the words back , so I'm just going to be honest

但是我們絕不會再把這些字還回去， 所以我就是打算要誠實而叫它盜用，

and call it stealing.

We usually take words for things that we like, like delicious food.

通常我們會從拿我們喜歡的 東西來取字比如說美味的食物，

We took "kumquat" from Chinese, we took "caramel" from French.

我們從中文拿來了「金桔」、 從法文拿來了「焦糖」，

We also take words for cool things like "ninja," right?

我們也為很酷的「忍者」借字過來對吧?

We took that from Japanese,

我們從日文裡拿過來，

which is kind of a cool trick because ninjas are hard to steal from.

這是非常好玩的惡作劇， 因為你偷不到忍者！

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

So another way that you can make words in English

那麼另一個你可以造出英文字的方法，

is by squishing two other English words together.

是把兩個不同的英文字給湊在一塊，

This is called compounding.

這個叫做「合併」，

Words in English are like Lego:

英文像是「樂高」的字等，

If you use enough force, you can put any two of them together.

如果你使用足夠的力氣， 你可以把任何的兩個字湊在一塊兒，

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

We do this all the time in English:

在英文中我們一直這樣做，

Words like "heartbroken," "bookworm," "sandcastle" all are compounds.

單字像是「心碎」、「書蟲」、 「沙堡」都是合併式單字，

So go ahead and make words like "duckface," just don't make duckface.

所以去吧！造出像鴨臉的單字來， 只是不要裝鴨臉就好 (嘟嘴搞笑)。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Another way that you can make words in English is kind of like compounding,

另一個方式你可以造出 有點像是合併式的單字，

but instead you use so much force when you squish the words together

代替你用很大的力氣把兩個字擠在一起，

that some parts fall off.

那把一些部分給拿掉了，

So these are blend words,

所以這些是混合的字，

like "brunch" is a blend of "breakfast" and "lunch."

像是「brunch」是混合了 breakfast以及lunch、

"Motel" is a blend of "motor" and "hotel."

「Motel」是混合了motor以及hotel，

Who here knew that "motel" was a blend word?

在場有誰知道「汽車旅館」 是一個混合字呢?

Yeah, that word is so old in English

沒錯，這個字在英文裡很久了，

that lots of people don't know that there are parts missing.

很多人都不知道有些地方缺少了，

"Edutainment" is a blend of "education" and "entertainment."

「Edutainment」就是混合了 education和 entertainment的，

And of course, "electrocute" is a blend of "electric" and "execute."

當然了，「electrocute」就是 混合了electric還有execute。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

You can also make words by changing how they operate.

你也可以改變字的功用來造字，

This is called functional shift.

這就叫做功能性的轉換，

You take a word that acts as one part of speech,

你挑了作為某種詞類的一個字，

and you change it into another part of speech.

而你把它改成另一種詞類，

Okay, who here knew that "friend" hasn't always been a verb?

好的，這裡有誰知道「朋友」 並非一直以來就是當作動詞的，

"Friend" used to be noun and then we verbed it.

「朋友」以前是當名詞 後來我們把它動詞化了，

Almost any word in English can be verbed.

幾乎任何英文裡的字都能被當成動詞，

You can also take adjectives and make them into nouns.

你也可以拿形容詞把它們變成名詞，

"Commercial" used to be an adjective and now it's a noun.

「commercial」以前是當形容詞 而現在它是個名詞，

And of course, you can "green" things.

沒錯你還可以讓東西「變環保些」。

Another way to make words in English is back-formation.

另一個方式是利用字尾調整造出新單字，

You can take a word and you can kind of squish it down a little bit.

你可以挑一個字然後你可以 像擠壓一樣把它變短一些，

So for example, in English we had the word "editor" before we had the word "edit."

舉例來說在英語裡我們有著 editor是早在有edit之前，

"Edit" was formed from "editor."

edit是由editor而來的，

Sometimes these back-formations sound a little silly:

偶爾這些字尾變化聽起來有點傻氣，

Bulldozers bulldoze, butlers butle and burglers burgle.

就像推土機推平地、男管家作管家、 闖空門的人闖空門。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Another way to make words in English

另一個造出英文字的方法

is to take the first letters of something and squish them together.

是拿走某些東西的第一個字母， 然後把他們擺在一塊兒，

So National Aeronautics and Space Administration becomes NASA.

所以「國家航空暨太空總署」 就變成了NASA了，

And of course you can do this with anything, OMG!

當然你可以對任何東西這樣做， 像是:我的天呀！(OMG)

So it doesn't matter how silly the words are.

因此這些字有多傻氣都沒有關係，

They can be really good words of English.

他們可以當英文裡真正好的的字，

"Absquatulate" is a perfectly good word of English.

「偷走」是一個超級好的英文字，

"Mugwump" is a perfectly good word of English.

「變節者」是一個超級好的英文字，

So the words don't have have to sound normal, they can sound really silly.

因此字不需要得聽起來很正常， 它們可以聽起來真的很傻氣。

Why should you make words?

為什麼你應該來造字呢?

You should make words because every word

你應該造字是因為每一個字

is a chance to express your idea and get your meaning across.

都是一個機會來表達你的想法 以及說清楚你的意思，

And new words grab people's attention.

而且新的單字能吸引大家的注意，

They get people to focus on what you're saying

它們讓大家專注於你所講的東西，

and that gives you a better chance to get your meaning across.

這樣就給了你一個更好的機會 來說清楚你的意思，

A lot of people on this stage today have said,

許多在今天這個講台的人曾經說過，

"In the future, you can do this,

「在未來你可以做這個、 你可以對這個有幫助、

you can help with this, you can help us explore, you can help us invent."

你可以幫我們做探索、 你可以幫我們創新。」

You can make a new word right now.

現在你就可以造出新的字來，

English has no age limit.

英文沒有年齡限制，

Go ahead, start making words today,

放手去做今天就開始造新字吧，

send them to me, and I will put them in my online dictionary, Wordnik.

把它們寄來給我，我會把它們放上 我的線上字典「Wordnik」

Thank you so much.

非常謝謝你們的！

(Applause)

(掌聲)