经济学人494:伦敦方言来袭

 　　Linguistics²

　　语言学

　　Argot³ bargy

　　方言来袭

　　Why urban teenagers speak the way they do

　　城里的年轻人为什么那样说话

　　Nov 2nd 2013 |From the print edition

　　You think my accent’s bonkers. Your kids speak like me

　　你觉得我的口音弱爆了。但是你家孩子跟我一个德行。

　　IN HER novel “White Teeth”, published in 2000, Zadie Smith noted⁴ that in London, “all kids, whatever their nationality”, seem to express scorn with a Jamaican accent. Since then linguistic¹ researchers have gradually come to understand how and why so many teenagers sound like Dizzee Rascal⁵, a rapper from Bow in east London (pictured). They call this spreading, mutating argot Multicultural⁶ London English (MLE).

　　扎迪史密斯在2000年发表过一部小说，名字叫《白牙》，在书中，她提到在伦敦，所有的孩子，不管他们来自哪里，似乎用牙买加口音表达自己的鄙视。从那时起，语言学研究者逐渐明白了如何以及为何那么多青少年口音听起来像来自东伦敦区说唱歌手迪兹瑞克斯（如图）了。研究者称这种正在蔓延以及变异的语言为多文化伦敦英语（MLE）。

　　When MLE first emerged, linguists⁷ believed it was a ham version of the way West Indians speak English. In the early 1980s “West Indians who had spoken Cockney suddenly started to speak differently,” explains Paul Kerswill of York University. Young Afro-Caribbean men may have adopted a new style of speech as they sought to forge an identity in an often hostile society. Others were thought to have copied them.

　　MLE首次出现的时候，语言学家认为这是西印度群岛人群讲英语的一种蹩脚方式。约克大学的保罗克苏威尔解释道，在上世纪80年代初，讲伦敦口音的西印度群岛人群突然开始讲不一样的口音了。年轻的加勒比黑人可能已经接受了一种新的口音，因为他们试图在一个充满歧视的社会里获得一种认可。其他人则被认为是在模仿他们。

　　But far from being cod-Jamaican, MLE is now thought to be a hybrid⁸ dialect that emerged from the intermingling of West Indians, South Asians and speakers of Cockney and Estuary⁹ English. Though much of the slang is West Indian—from “bare” for “very” to “sick” meaning “good”—the pronunciation is often not. Its chief characteristic, an elongated¹⁰ “ah” sound in place of an “i” so that “like” is pronounced “lahke”, does not imitate a West Indian patois¹¹.

　　但这绝不是牙买加人专属，MLE现在被认为是由西印度群岛口音，南亚裔口音和伦敦以及河湾区口音混合的方言。尽管大部分是西印度群岛俚语，比如说‘bare’等同于‘very’，还有‘sick’等同于‘good’，发音往往也不一样。MLE的主要特点是‘i’的发音像‘ah’，因此，‘like’听起来像‘lahke’，这一特征就不是效仿西印度群岛口音。

　　Researchers have found that MLE alters from place to place. Variants¹² have emerged in other cities with many immigrants, such as Birmingham and Manchester. Children tend to pick up MLE at secondary school. It is more common—and more strongly accented—among boys than among girls. The grammar that tends to accompany MLE is increasingly uniform: for example the use of "we wasn't" in place of "we weren't".

　　研究者发现英国到处都有MLE的踪迹。其他城市的许多移民也出现了变种，比如伯明翰和曼城。孩子们一般是在初中开始接触MLE。这种口音在男孩之间更加普遍，口音也更明显。同时MLE的语法也正在变的规范起来，例如"we weren't"代替了"we wasn't"。

　　Linguists are most excited by what MLE is doing to the rhythm of speech. English is usually spoken with a stress-timed rhythm, in which syllables¹³ are stressed at regular intervals¹⁴. Speakers of MLE speak with a syllable-timed rhythm, in which all syllables are accorded roughly the same time and stress, as in French or Japanese. Syllable-timed speech is a characteristic of languages that have come into contact with other languages. Versions of it may have existed in multicultural places such as Hackney for centuries, thinks Mr Kerswill.

　　语言学家对MLE对语调带来的变化更感兴趣。英语一般是由重音引导的，就是音节按照时间规律重读。MLE的使用者则按照音节停顿，所有音节的语调基本一致，跟法语和日语大致相同。和其他语言相比，按音节停顿是其特点。这种语音特色可能已经在诸如哈克尼这种多元文化区存在数个世纪了。

　　Helped along by the exodus¹⁵ of old-fashioned Cockney speakers to London’s suburbs and commuter¹⁶ towns, MLE is replacing London’s traditional vernacular¹⁷. That worries some. Caroline Goyder, a former teacher who now coaches politicians and lawyers in the art of public speaking, says she sees increasing numbers of school leavers who fear they are incomprehensible in job interviews. For one young Cambridge graduate working in Paris, that rings true. His MLE accent is proving as much of a problem as his imperfect French. “I know it’s incongruous”, he says, “but it’s hard to lose, y’get me?”

　　随着操伦敦口音的居民搬到郊区以及周边通勤城镇，MLE正在取代当地的传统语言。这让一些人感到担忧。曾任教师的卡洛琳葛依德现在是一名政客律师演讲指导教练，她表示她看到很多毕业生害怕在工作面试中不能被理解。对一个在巴黎工作的剑桥毕业生来说，这是真的。他的MLE口音跟他磕磕绊绊的法语一样。他说，我知道这不对，但是很难改，你懂吗？

1 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。

2 linguistics   

n.语言学

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。

3 argot   

n.隐语，黑话

参考例句：

• He knows thieves' argot.他懂盗贼的黑话。
• The argot and proverb created by them enrich Chinese language.他们创造的隐语、谚语丰富了中国的语言。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 rascal   

n.流氓；不诚实的人

参考例句：

• If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做，我就认为他是个恶棍。
• The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。

6 multicultural   

adj.融合多种文化的，多种文化的

参考例句：

• Children growing up in a multicultural society.在多元文化社会中长大的孩子们。
• The school has been attempting to bring a multicultural perspective to its curriculum.这所学校已经在尝试将一种多元文化视角引入其课程。

7 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

8 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

9 estuary   

n.河口，江口

参考例句：

• We live near the Thames estuary.我们的住处靠近泰晤士河入海口。
• The ship has touched bottom.The estuary must be shallower than we thought.船搁浅了。这河口的水比我们想像的要浅。

10 elongated   

v.延长，加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Modigliani's women have strangely elongated faces. 莫迪里阿尼画中的妇女都长着奇长无比的脸。
• A piece of rubber can be elongated by streching. 一块橡皮可以拉长。 来自《用法词典》

11 patois   

n.方言；混合语

参考例句：

• In France patois was spoken in rural,less developed regions.在法国，欠发达的农村地区说方言。
• A substantial proportion of the population speak a French-based patois.人口中有一大部分说以法语为基础的混合语。

12 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

13 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

14 intervals   

n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息

参考例句：

• The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴，有阵雨。
• Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。

15 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

16 commuter   

n.(尤指市郊之间)乘公交车辆上下班者

参考例句：

• Police cordoned off the road and diverted commuter traffic. 警察封锁了道路并分流交通。
• She accidentally stepped on his foot on a crowded commuter train. 她在拥挤的通勤列车上不小心踩到了他的脚。

17 vernacular   

adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名

参考例句：

• The house is built in a vernacular style.这房子按当地的风格建筑。
• The traditional Chinese vernacular architecture is an epitome of Chinese traditional culture.中国传统民居建筑可谓中国传统文化的缩影。