I thought that /gɪf/, with a hard G, had won.

我以為，/gɪf/，發/g/的音，贏了。

But apparently not.

但顯然不是。

It is more popular than /ʤɪf/, but it's not a landslide.

它比/ʤɪf/更受歡迎，但只是略勝一籌。

In a 2014 survey, only 70% of people said /gɪf/.

在2014年的一項調查中，只有70%的人說/gɪf/。

And the format's creator, Steve Wilhite, argues that it should be /ʤɪf/, and has been arguing that for a long time.

而這個格式的創造者，Steve Wilhite稱它應該是發/ʤɪf/才對，並一直爭論這個問題很久了。

In fact, when the Webby Awards let him give one of their famous five-words-only acceptance speeches, he said, " It's pronounced /ʤɪf/, not /gɪf/."

事實上，當他在威比獎發表有名的「只能說五個詞」演講時， 他說：「GIF 的發音是/ʤɪf/，不是/gɪf/。」

This is the slide he put up with that, and uh, yeah, you can see the problem there.

這是他那時放出來的投影片，呃，你可以看到其中的問題。

Now, one of the most fundamental principles of modern linguistics is descriptivism.

現代語言學的最基本原則之一是描述主義。

There should be no value judgment about particular words or pronunciations or types of speech.

不應該判斷特定的詞、發音或說話類型的價值。

There must be no correct way to speak handed down from on high.

不存在比較高階的說話方式。

We describe how people speak, if language changes, we change with it.

由我們來描述人們如何說話，而如果語言發生變化，我們也隨之變化。

So the Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations, despite Steve Wilhite calling them "Wrong. End of story."

因此，《牛津英語詞典》接受這兩種讀音，儘管Steve Wilhite稱：「錯。不要再編故事了。」

Turns out, even if you invented a word, you don't get to make the call on how it's pronounced.

事實證明，即使你發明了一個詞，你也不能決定它如何發音。

Whether he likes it or not, /gɪf/ is the more common pronunciation.

不管他喜不喜歡，/gɪf/的發音更常見。

That said: Linguistics also gives us the tools to look at all the other words in English and figure out, "Well, okay. We've got this new word. What other words is it most like?"

這就是說：語言學也讓我們能看看英語中其他的詞，然後弄清楚：「嗯，好吧。 我們已經有了這個新詞。它與其他什麼詞最像？」

You might hear the argument that /gɪf/ is short for Graphics Interchange Format.

你可能有聽說過/gɪf/是圖形交換格式的簡稱。

Graphics, not /ʤ/raphics.

圖形（/ˈɡræf.ɪks/），不是/ˈʤræf.ɪks/。

But that's not how English treats acronyms.

但這不是英文中首字母縮寫的用法。

In JPEG, the P isn't short for "potography."

在JPEG中，P並不是 potography 的簡稱。

In the same way, laser isn't pronounced "lass-uhr," and scuba isn't "scubb-uh."

同樣，laser也不是讀作 "lass-uhr"。而scuba不是 "scubb-uh"。

So rather than acronyms, what about other English words?

那麼，除了首字母縮寫外，其他的英語單詞呢？

Well, in the red corner: git, gift, gaffer. In the blue corner: gin, gist, gel.

紅方： git、gift、gaffer（發/g/音）。而藍方：gin、gist、gel （發/ʤ/音）。

Ok, so if you went through the whole dictionary, which side would have more words?

那如果你去翻閱整部字典，哪一方包含更多的單字呢？

Well, in 2015, a researcher called Michael Dow did just that, only counting the words that have one morpheme.

在2015年，一位叫Michael Dow的研究人員就是這麼做的，他只計算只有一個語素（語言中最小的有意義單位）的詞。

So words like "gift," you can't break that down into smaller lexical parts.

所以，像 「禮物 (gift)」這樣的詞，你不能把它分解成更小的詞彙單位。

"Gift-ed" wouldn't count, you can break that down into "gift" and "ed."

「Gift-ed 」就不算，你可以把它分解成 「gift（禮物） 」和 「ed（表過去式）」。

So just using those really basic words, it's a victory for the /ʤɪf/-ers.

也就是說，單看基本詞彙單位，支持/ʤɪf/的人獲勝。

There are more words where "g-i" is pronounced /ʤɪ/ than /gɪ/.

還有更多的單字把 g-i 發/ʤɪ/，而不是/gɪ/。

But... the /gɪ/ words are are used more often, so the likelihood of each pronunciation is about equal.

但是……/gɪ/的單字比較常用，所以實際上每種發音的可能性是差不多的。

But if you only look at words that start with g-i, /gɪ/ is more common.

但是如果你只看以g-i開頭的單詞，/gɪ/就比較常見。

So now we're on a question of psycholinguistics!

那麼現在我們就碰到一個心理語言學的問題了！

When we read a new word, do we consider all the times we've seen those letters before anywhere, or do we favor ones that are in the same position?

當我們讀到一個新詞時，我們是考慮到我們以前在別的地方見過這些字母的次數， 還是我們偏像於考慮那些在相同位置的上的字母？

And even if we do, why do we pick one over the other?

即使這樣做，為什麼我們要選擇一個而不是另一個？

Unless you're very young, GIF is a word that you almost certainly read before you heard.

除非你非常年輕，GIF是一個你肯定在聽到之前就讀過的詞。

And the first time you ever saw those three letters, your brain instantly tried to match them to patterns you already knew.

而你第一次看到這三個字母，你的大腦就會立即試圖將它們與你已經知道的結構相匹配。

Gib, gift, gin, git, give.

Gib, gift, gin, git, give。

Maybe /ʤ/ill or /g/ill, both of which are valid English words, one's an old measurement, one's a part of a fish.

也許/ʤ/ill 或/g/ill，都是有意義的英語單詞，一個是古老的測量法，另一個是魚的一部分。

/ʤ/illingham or /g/illingham, both English towns, a couple of hundred miles apart.

/ʤ/illingham或/g/illingham，這兩個英國城鎮相距幾百英里。

In a split second, your brain went through everything that it knew about g-i, decided which pronunciation you thought was right, and then locked that in your head.

在一瞬間，你的大腦瀏覽了它所知道的關於g-i的一切，決定哪一個才是正確的發音，並深深地刻在你腦海裡。

The correct answer is, of course...

當然，正確的答案是……

My co-author Gretchen McCulloch has a great podcast called Lingthusiasm, that covers all sorts of things like this.

我的合著者Gretchen McCulloch有一個很棒的播客，叫做Lingthusiasm涵蓋了像這樣的各種事情。

I recommend it, and the link is in the description.

我推薦它，鏈接就在描述中。