Internet Slang Is More Sophisticated Than It Seems　網(wǎng)絡(luò)用語比看起來更精妙

杰克·克萊因　賀叢芝

These are tough times for grammar snobs， those would-be avatars of flawless spelling and proper syntax who need look no further than a high-school friends Facebook posts or a family members text messages to find their treasured language being misused and neglected. Of course， split infinitives， dangling modifiers， and subject-verb disagreements have always appeared wherever words are uttered or keys are stroked.

Montreal-based linguist Gretchen McCulloch challenges the idea that the rise of informal writing signals a trend toward global idiocy. Instead， she marks it as an inevitable and necessary “disruption” in the way human beings communicate. “Were creating new rules for typographical1 tone of voice. Not the kind of rules that are imposed from on high， but the kind of rules that emerge from the collective practice of a couple billion social monkeys—rules that enliven our social interactions，” she argues in her new book， Because Internet： Understanding the New Rules of Language.

Of course， the old rules of language were broken long before people went online， and McCulloch offers that the internet concludes a process “that had begun with medieval scribes and modernist poets.” She also notes how “well-documented2 features” of regional and cultural dialects—such as southern American English and African American English—have influenced the language of the internet， most obviously on Twitter. But in contrast to the pre-internet age， she says， now we are all “writers as well as readers” of informal English.

Drawing from her research and that of other linguists， McCulloch shows how creative respellings， expressive punctuation， emoji， memes， and other hallmarks of informal communication online demonstrate a sophistication that can rival even the most elegant writing. Understanding the difference between ending a sentence with one exclamation point or two and knowing when or when not to be upset after receiving an all-caps text， McCulloch writes， “requires subtly tuned awareness of the full spectrum of the language.”

The prevalence of emoji， meanwhile， does not indicate verbal indolence or a pandemic of cuteness （though adorability is certainly part of it）. Instead， McCulloch writes， emoji represent a “demand that our writing … be capable of fully expressing what we want to say and， most crucially， how were saying it.”

對于那些追求拼寫完美、句法準(zhǔn)確的語法控而言，現(xiàn)代社會常常令他們苦惱不堪。只需看看中學(xué)好友在臉書上發(fā)布的帖子，或是家人發(fā)來的短信，他們就會發(fā)現(xiàn)，自己無比珍視的語言已然被誤用，語言規(guī)則正遭到漠視。當(dāng)然，只要人們開口說話，或敲擊鍵盤，諸如分裂不定式、懸垂修飾語、主謂不一致之類的語法錯(cuò)誤便隨處可見。

有一種觀點(diǎn)認(rèn)為，非正式用語的興起會導(dǎo)致人類越來越愚蠢。蒙特利爾的語言學(xué)家格雷琴·麥卡洛克對此提出了質(zhì)疑。她認(rèn)為，這種對人類交流方式的“破壞”是不可避免的，也是非常必要的?！拔覀冋跒橛∷⑽淖值恼Z氣語調(diào)建立新的規(guī)則。這些規(guī)則不是自上而下強(qiáng)制實(shí)行，而是數(shù)十億網(wǎng)民在集體實(shí)踐中形成的，讓我們的互動交流變得生動活潑?！彼谧约旱男聲兑?yàn)榛ヂ?lián)網(wǎng)：理解新的語言規(guī)則》中這樣寫道。

當(dāng)然，在人們開始上網(wǎng)之前，舊的語言規(guī)則就早已被打破。麥卡洛克提出，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)終結(jié)了“始于中世紀(jì)抄寫員和現(xiàn)代主義詩人”的一段歷程。她還闡述了美國南部英語和非裔美國英語等地域性和文化性方言“有證可查的特征”是如何影響網(wǎng)絡(luò)語言的，這種影響在推特網(wǎng)站上尤為明顯。但是她認(rèn)為，與互聯(lián)網(wǎng)之前的時(shí)代相比，我們現(xiàn)在都是非正式英語的“作者兼讀者”。

麥卡洛克通過自己和其他語言學(xué)家的研究，向我們展示了創(chuàng)造性的拼寫、極具表現(xiàn)力的標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號、表情符號、表情包等非正式在線交流標(biāo)志的精妙所在，它們甚至可以與最優(yōu)美的文字相媲美。要體會用一個(gè)感嘆號還是兩個(gè)感嘆號結(jié)束一句話的差別，要知道收到一條全大寫的信息后該難過還是不難過，麥卡洛克寫道：“需要對這種語言的各個(gè)方面有敏銳細(xì)膩的感知。”

不過，表情符號的盛行并不意味著人們從此懶于開口，也不代表可愛風(fēng)就此風(fēng)靡（雖然表情符號確實(shí)非常可愛）。實(shí)際上，麥卡洛克寫道，表情符號代表了“一種需求，我們希望語言文字……能夠充分表達(dá)我們想說的話，最重要的是，能夠充分體現(xiàn)出我們說這話的方式?！?/p>

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)撸?/p>

1 typographical印刷上的。

2 well-documented記錄詳盡的。