TikTok语言革命:揭秘年轻人如何重塑英语 | 经济学人文化

财富   2024-11-01 08:58   美国  

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写在前面

TikTok正在改变年轻人的语言使用方式。平台上出现了大量新词、旧词新用和俚语,每年至少产生100个新英语词汇或新含义。这种语言变化源于TikTok的用户群体(主要是18-34岁),以及平台的多媒体特性和社区文化。TikTok加速了语言的演变,使得词典编纂者难以跟上。这种快速变化的语言现象反映了年轻人创新语言的能力,也展示了社交媒体对语言发展的巨大影响力。

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Culture | Why do you Tok like that?

你为什么那样

英文部分选自经济学人20241026期文化板块

Culture | Why do you Tok like that?

你为什么那样

TikTok is changing how Gen Z speaks

TikTok正在改变Z世代的说话方式

On social media new words spread far and fast

社交媒体上新词泛滥
THE WORD “demure” is old—it describes the sort of modest lady Victorians esteemed—but it is freshly fashionable. There are some 800,000 posts on TikTok with the tag #demure. Youngsters today are using the word with lashings of irony, invoking it to describe everything from Saturn to sunset to New York City’s bin service.

端庄是个古老的词,用来描述维多利亚时代备受尊敬的端庄淑女。然而,最近这个词突然又流行起来了。TikTok上,带话题标签词端庄#demure)的帖子多达80万条。现在的年轻人用这个词时带着浓浓的讽刺意味,可以用它来形容土星、落日,甚至纽约的垃圾清运服务,几乎什么都可以被说成端庄

TikTok is changing how young people talk. Other fusty words, such as “coquette”, are fashionable again. Colloquialisms are on the rise: members of Gen Z say “yapping” instead of “talking” and trim “delusional” to “delulu”. New words have also become popular. Take “skibidi”, a term popularised by a meme of an animated head singing in a toilet; it means “cool”, “bad” or “very”, depending on the context.

TikTok正在改变年轻一代的说话方式。像“coquette”(卖弄风情的女人)这样的老派词汇,又变得流行起来。人们说话也越来越口语化:很多Z世代年轻人会说yapping(扯淡)而不是talking(说话),把delusional(错觉)缩读成delulu。一些新词也变得流行起来。比如skibidi,一个动态人头在马桶里激情唱歌的视频带火了这个词;根据不同的语境,它的意思可以是或者非常

On social media words spread far and fast. Each year at least 100 English words are produced or given new meaning on TikTok, reckons Tony Thorne, director of the Slang and New Language Archive at King’s College London. Some linguists think the platform is changing not just what youngsters are saying, but how they are saying it. A “TikTok accent”, which includes “uptalk”, an intonation that rises at the end of sentences, may be spreading.

社交媒体上新词泛滥。伦敦国王学院俚语和新语言档案馆馆长托尼·索恩 (Tony Thorne)推测,TikTok上每年至少出现100个英语词,或是新造或是旧词赋新意。一些语言学家认为,TikTok不仅在改变年轻人的说话内容,也在改变他们的说话方式。一种包含升调“TikTok口音似乎正在变得流行,每句话讲完时声调要上扬。

The platform’s versatility encourages experimentation. Users can combine audio, text and video in a single post. That means words that sound especially satisfying can go viral, as well as those that are memorable in written form. Linguistic code has emerged, dubbed “algospeak”, to dodge content-moderation algorithms. It includes euphemisms (sex workers are called “accountants”), and misspellings (“seggs” instead of sex).

TikTok平台的多元化激发了很多新尝试。用户可以把音频、文字和视频融进一个帖子。这让那些听起来特别上头,写下来让人印象深刻的话会爆红。为了绕过内容审核算法,语言代码算法黑话应运而生。算法黑话包括委婉语(如将性工作者称为会计)和故意误拼(用“seggs”代替“sex”)等。

The mutation of language on TikTok is also due, in large part, to the age of its users. Most are 18-34 years old. That matters because “Young people are language innovators,” says Christian Ilbury, a sociolinguist at the University of Edinburgh. For decades youngsters have created words to distinguish themselves from adults. On social media such neologisms find a big audience. Mr Ilbury describes this as “linguistic identity work”; parents have long called it attention-seeking.

TikTok上的语言变化很大程度上也与用户的年龄有关。大多数用户的年龄介于1834岁之间。这有很大关系,因为年轻人是语言创新者,爱丁堡大学社会语言学家克里斯迪安·伊尔伯里(Christian Ilbury)如是说。几十年来,年轻人一直通过创造新词来把自己和成年人区分开来。在社交媒体上,这些新词拥有大量受众。伊尔伯里先生将其描述为语言方面的身份认同努力,而家长们往往简单地把它归结为博眼球

The platform brings together fan groups and communities, from #kpopfans (people who like Korean pop music) to #booktokers (people who love reading). These groups create their own slang, says Adam Aleksic, a linguist and influencer. Some of it leaks into the mainstream. Other slang comes from specific groups: black people have innovated and spread hundreds of English words over the years, from “cool” to “tea” (gossip). Journalists and screenwriters popularise such words; now TikTokers do, too.

TikTok平台汇集了各种兴趣群体和粉丝社群,比如#kpopfans(韩国流行音乐粉丝)和#booktokers(热爱阅读的群体)。网红语言学家亚当·阿列克西奇(Adam Aleksic)认为,这些群体创造了他们的专属俚语,有些甚至进入了主流话语中。其他俚语则来自特定的人群:黑人近些年创造和传播了几百个英文单词,像“cool”“tea(八卦)。记者和编剧让这些词变得更普及,而现在TikTok用户也在做同样的事。

All this speeds up the evolution of language. That delights logophiles but befuddles dictionary-makers, who must keep a record of the ever-expanding lexicon. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Britain’s most illustrious chronicler of language, adds a word only after it has been used for about five years. That is too slow to keep up with modern parlance. The OED is just now adding words such as “binge-worthy”, which already feels tired; its own “word of the year” for 2023, “rizz” (charm), which originated and was popularised online, has not yet made the cut. TikTok has just the phrase to describe such a modest approach: very demure.

这一切加速了语言的演变。语言爱好者对此欣喜若狂,但词典编纂者却晕头转向,他们必须记录不断扩充的词汇表。英国最著名的语言词典《牛津英语词典》(OED)仅收录已经使用了五年的词,但这种节奏已经赶不上现代流行语的更新速度。像binge-worthy(值得刷剧的)这样的词,都已经说腻了,才刚被牛津英语词典收录。牛津词典评出的2023年度单词”“rizz(魅力),起初在网络上出现和流行起来,却到现在还没被收录。TikTok正好有个词来形容这种矜持的做法:太端庄了demure)。

翻译组:

zy,当下快乐就是意义

Jack Jan,实践出真知

Lee,爱骑行的妇女之友+Timberland


校对组:

Xiao,富春江小翻译

Lucian,灵魂在杰作中冒险

Mosy,绘本、演讲、戏剧英文教育践行者

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