TED演讲:短信是语言杀手(5)

 It's evolved into something that is much subtler.  它已演变成某种更微妙的东西。

This is an actual text that was done by a non-male person of about 20 years old not too long ago.  这是一段真实的短信对话它是由一个20出头的姑娘在前不久写的。

I love the font you're using, btw.  第一句：顺便说一句，我喜欢你用的字体。

Julie: lol thanks gmail is being slow right now. 朱莉: lol谢谢谷歌邮箱现在变得好慢。

Now if you think about it, that's not funny.  如果大家想想看，这可不好笑。

No one's laughing.  也没有人在笑。

And yet, there it is, so you assume there's been some kind of hiccup¹.  但是，这个字（lol)却在那里，你会认为这可能就是打错了。

Then Susan says lol, I know,  然后苏珊说lol，我知道，

again more guffawing² than we're used to when you're talking about these inconveniences.  再一次，真让人捧腹大笑。这可不是我们一般遇上这样麻烦事的态度。

So Julie says, I just sent you an email.  朱莉接着说，我刚给你发了封邮件。

Susan: lol, I see it.  苏珊：lol,我收到了。

Very funny people, if that's what LOL means.  非常有趣的两个人，如果这是LOL的真实意思的话。

This Julie says, So what's up?  朱莉说，最近怎么样？

Susan: lol, I have to write a 10 page paper.  苏珊：lol,我得写一篇10页的作文。

She's not amused. Let's think about it.  这么看的话，她可不开心。

LOL is being used in a very particular way.  LOL是以一种特别的方式被使用的。

It's a marker of empathy. It's a marker of accommodation.  它代表着感同身受，代表着某种无奈妥协。

We linguists³ call things like that pragmatic particles.  我们语言学家称之为口头禅。

Any spoken language that's used by real people has them.  任何口语都有这些词语。

If you happen to speak Japanese, think about that little word ne that you use at the end of a lot of sentences.  如果你会说日语的话，想想你在很多句子后面加上的那个ne字。

If you listen to the way black youth today speak,  如果你听现在的年轻黑人说话，

think about the use of the word yo.  想想这个词yo的使用。

Whole dissertations⁴ could be written about it,  这都够写学术论文的了，

and probably are being written about it.  说不定人们已经开始写了。

A pragmatic particle, that's what LOL has gradually become.  LOL已经逐渐演变成了一个口头禅。

It's a way of using the language between actual people.  这就是人们使用语言的一种方式。

Another example is slash⁵.  另外一个例子是slash.

Now, we can use slash in the way that we're used to,  看看这个句子，我们要去一个派对,

along the lines of, We're going to have a party-slash-networking session.  同时（slash)来扩展一下人脉slash这里连接派对和扩展人脉两个活动。

That's kind of like what we're at.  我们通常这么使用这个字。

Slash is used in a very different way in texting among young people today.  今天Slash这个字用在年轻人的短信里却有非常不同的意思。

1 hiccup   

n.打嗝

参考例句：

• When you have to hiccup,drink a glass of cold water.当你不得不打嗝时，喝一杯冷水就好了。
• How long did he hiccup?他打嗝打了多久？

2 guffawing   

v.大笑，狂笑( guffaw的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Then, hand in hand they made off, guffawing gloatingly. 然后，他们手挽着手，哈哈大笑着回到了欧洲。 来自互联网

3 linguists   

n.通晓数国语言的人( linguist的名词复数 )；语言学家

参考例句：

• The linguists went to study tribal languages in the field. 语言学家们去实地研究部落语言了。 来自辞典例句
• The linguists' main interest has been to analyze and describe languages. 语言学家的主要兴趣一直在于分析并描述语言。 来自辞典例句

4 dissertations   

专题论文，学位论文( dissertation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We spend the final term writing our dissertations. 我们用最后一个学期的时间写论文。
• The professors are deliberating over the post graduates dissertations. 教授们正在商讨研究生的论文。

5 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。