2020年经济学人 约翰逊语言专栏--关于苏格兰语地位的政治辩论(1)

来源于《图书和艺术》版块

Johnson

约翰逊语言专栏

A cup o’ kindness

一杯善意的酒

A politically charged debate over the status of the Scots tongue

关于苏格兰语地位的政治辩论

As they cleared their heads after Burns Night on January 25th, having celebrated¹ their national poet with whisky and haggis, another hangover loomed² for Scots in less than a week’s time. A majority of them rejected Brexit in the referendum of 2016, whereas a majority in the United Kingdom overall supported it. Scotland is now leaving the European Union against its will—prompting a renewed call for Scotland, in turn, to leave the UK.

在1月25日的彭斯之夜，苏格兰人用威士忌和羊杂碎庆祝完民族诗人之后清醒了，而同时不到一周的时间内，他们又被新一轮宿醉笼罩。他们中的大多数在2016年的公投中反对脱欧，而英国的大多数人总体上支持脱欧。苏格兰现在违背自己的意愿离开欧盟，这促使人们再次呼吁苏格兰离开英国。

1.jpgNaturally, the case for independence plays up characteristics that di?erentiate Scotland from England. Among them is language, which diverges³ from the talk south of the border in two main ways. One is Gaelic, a Celtic language impenetrable to outsiders (it is related closely to Irish and Manx but only distantly to English), which, however, is spoken only by around 50,000 people, or about 1% of Scotland’s population. The bigger di?erence is Scots—though quite how di?erent it is remains⁴ a matter of debate.

当然，独立的主张强调了苏格兰与英格兰的不同之处。其中之一是语言，它从两方面偏离了南部边境的语言。其中之一是盖尔语，这是一种外人无法理解的凯尔特语言(它与爱尔兰语和曼克斯语关系密切，但与英语关系不大)，然而，只有大约5万人(约占苏格兰人口的1%)讲这种语言。更大的区别是苏格兰语——尽管有多大的不同仍然是一个有争议的问题。

As soon as you cross over from England, syntax and pronunciation change sharply. While the dialects of northern England have much in common with each other, the break at the border is stark⁵. Because of that, some observers think Scots is not a dialect of English but a distinct (if related) language. The proindependence Scottish National Party a?rms as much in its manifestos.

一旦你从英格兰过来，语法和发音就会有很大的变化。虽然英格兰北部的方言彼此之间有很多共同之处，但在边界上的分歧是明显的。正因为如此，一些观察家认为苏格兰语不是英语的一种方言，而是一种独特的(如果相关的话)语言。主张独立的苏格兰民族党在其竞选宣言中也做出了同样的声明。

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 loomed   

v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• A dark shape loomed up ahead of us. 一个黑糊糊的影子隐隐出现在我们的前面。
• The prospect of war loomed large in everyone's mind. 战事将起的庞大阴影占据每个人的心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 diverges   

分开( diverge的第三人称单数 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳

参考例句：

• The beam of flashlight diverges, but it can be refocused with lenses. 一个发散的闪光灯束可以用透镜重新聚焦。
• At the end of the wood, the path diverges to the left. 在树林的尽头，小路向左拐去。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。