Name: 【TED】John McWhorter：Txtng正在殺死語言。JK!!!(John McWhorter：Txtng正在殺死語言。JK!!!) (【TED】John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!! (John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!!))
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T06:04:01.000Z
Duration: 13 min 49 s

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

我們總是聽說手機簡訊是個禍源

頻率副詞

We always hear that texting is a scourge.

The idea is that texting spells the decline and fall

不管是任何正常的識字能力，還是寫作能力

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

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

為了要以另外一種角度來看這件事

為了要證明傳簡訊是件神奇的事

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

not just energetic, but a miraculous thing,

we have to pull the camera back for a bit

language has existed for perhaps 150,000 years,

而它的起源是說話—人類開始交談

and what it arose as is speech. People talked.

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

說話是我們最常使用語言的方式

Writing is something that came along much later,

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

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

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

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

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

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

you can do things with language that are much less likely

For example, imagine a passage from Edward Gibbon's

《羅馬帝國的衰亡》當中有一段：

"The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:"

"The whole engagement lasted above twelve hours,

till the graduate retreat of the Persians was changed

into a disorderly flight, of which the shameful example

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

寫得真美！但說真的，沒人這樣講話

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

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

如果我們對繁衍後代還有興趣的話

is not the way any human being speaks casually.

Casual speech is something quite different.

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

we tend to speak in word packets of maybe

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

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

它沒那麼多深思熟慮的痕跡—跟寫作截然不同

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

所以我們自然地會認為，因為常常看到書面語

So we naturally tend to think, because we see language

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

但實際上語言是口語。它們是兩種東西

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

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

所以我的意思是，你們在舊電影裡面看過的演講

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

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

「嗯，女士們先生們」之後的演講

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

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

它很正式，它用很多像吉本那樣的長句

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

它基本上是講話像寫作一樣，所以，例如

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

we're thinking so much these days about Lincoln

葛底斯堡的演講其實沒什麼大不了

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

在那之前兩個小時，愛德華‧艾維雷特

For two hours before that, Edward Everett spoke

發表了一篇演講，老實說，主題我們現在不會有興趣

on a topic that, frankly, cannot engage us today

普通百姓站在那聽演講，長達兩個小時

Ordinary people stood and listened to that for two hours.

古代人就是這樣，說話跟書面語一樣

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

好吧，如果你們可以說話像寫作一樣

then logically it follows that you might want to also

問題就在於，從材料、技術的角度來說

The problem was just that in the material,

mechanical sense, that was harder back in the day

原因很簡單，當時的材料並不適合

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

It's almost impossible to do that with your hand

except in shorthand, and then communication is limited.

以手動打字機來記錄口語非常困難

On a manual typewriter it was very difficult,

and even when we had electric typewriters,

that even if you can type easily enough to keep up

跟上口語的步伐，多多少少還是要

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

somebody who can receive your message quickly.

一旦口袋裡有可以接收訊息的東西

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

【TED】John McWhorter：Txtng正在殺死語言。JK!!!(John McWhorter：Txtng正在殺死語言。JK!!!) (【TED】John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!! (John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!!))

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【TED】John McWhorter：Txtng正在殺死語言。JK!!!(John McWhorter：Txtng正在殺死語言。JK!!!) (【TED】John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!! (John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!!))

people

structure

kind

language