词汇大师(Wordmaster)--'Do You Speak American?'

I'm Avi Arditti. Rosanne Skirble is away. This week on Wordmaster: "Do You Speak American?" That's the name of a new book by journalist Robert MacNeil. Mr. MacNeil -- who was born and raised in Canada -- explores how immigration, technology and other factors have changed the way Americans speak English.

The former television newscaster likes to use everyday experiences to illustrate¹ the changes taking place. For instance, he says that when he and his wife -- both in their mid-70s -- go to New York City restaurants, they're often greeted by a waiter as "you guys," as in: "What'll you guys have?" Yet to be spoken to so casually³ might offend some people.

Robert MacNeil spoke² with VOA's Keming Kuo about the challenges that English presents to its users worldwide.

ROBERT MacNEIL: "The English language, to anybody who is trying to learn it from the outside and not from birth, is a devil of a language, with all sorts of nuances. For instance, a hotel in Egypt which put up a sign saying: "Clients need have no anxiety about the water; it has all been passed by the management.' You see, to an American or a native English speaker, that is hilarious⁴ because it suggests that it's passed through the body of the manager. No native speaker of English would make that mistake. Otherwise, it was a perfectly⁵ grammatical sign."

Robert MacNeil says one reason American English became such a nuanced, and sometimes difficult, language is that it was shaped by the country's rapidly changing demographics.

ROBERT MacNEIL: "So much of the English vocabulary comes from immigration, first of all to Britain going back 1500 years, but then, in the last couple centuries, to the United States. And much of our American vocabulary comes from German or Yiddish or Italian or Dutch or Irish or Scandinavian -- all those sources of immigration. And certainly an awful lots of words from Spanish, because the Mexicans owned and lived in what is now a large part of Southwestern United States."

Mr. MacNeil points out that the United States is a restless, mobile society, with about one-seventh of its residents moving every year. He says those moves from rural to suburban⁶ and urban areas created peer pressure for many young people to adopt "inner city lingo⁷" as part of their speech.

ROBERT MacNEIL: "Partly it's explained by one sociolinguist in our book as a way for young, white males, teenage males, in the suburbs -- where they grow up feeling kind of safe and everything -- to borrow some of the overt⁸ masculinity of blacks living in the inner cities, where they at least appear to know how to look after themselves, they know how to deal with women, they're familiar with weapons and all that sort of thing. And that has a huge appeal to adolescent white Americans."

In his new book, "Do You Speak American?", Robert MacNeil addresses those who bemoan⁹ what they consider the decline of English in America.

ROBERT MacNEIL: "The desire of some people, going back to the 17th century in Britain, to police the language because they want to control it, and they think it's getting messy. People like Daniel Defoe, the author of 'Robinson Crusoe,' and Jonathan Swift, the author of 'Gulliver's Travels,' were among those who thought that the language had gotten out of hand during Shakespeare's time and needed to be guarded from too much innovation. Daniel Defoe, believe it or not, wanted it to be as serious a crime to coin your own new word as it would be to counterfeit¹⁰ money."

Mr. MacNeil says schools are criticized for abandoning strict grammatical discipline, and the media are criticized for using so much informal or non-standard speech.

ROBERT MacNEIL: "This is not as strict a country, as strict to observe certain standards, as it used to be. And the language reflects all that. It's also become a society which partly through the force of law -- laws against racism¹¹ and so on -- has become a good deal more tolerant of races, of other people, of different people. And more tolerant of people who are fat, who are tall, who are disabled in some way. And the language reflects that."

Twenty years ago, Robert MacNeil first explored changes in the English language in his book "The Story of English." Looking toward the next 20 years, he says there will be additional changes to English in America, with technology playing a major role.

And that's Wordmaster for this week. Our e-mail address is。。。。。。。。。。and our segments are all online at voanews.com/wordmaster. I'm Avi Arditti.

 

1 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

4 hilarious   

adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed

参考例句：

• The party got quite hilarious after they brought more wine.在他们又拿来更多的酒之后，派对变得更加热闹起来。
• We stop laughing because the show was so hilarious.我们笑个不停，因为那个节目太搞笑了。

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

6 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

7 lingo   

n.语言不知所云，外国话，隐语

参考例句：

• If you live abroad it helps to know the local lingo.住在国外，学一点当地的语言自有好处。
• Don't use all that technical lingo try and explain in plain English.别尽用那种专门术语，用普通的词语解释吧。

8 overt   

adj.公开的，明显的，公然的

参考例句：

• His opponent's intention is quite overt.他的对手的意图很明显。
• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。

9 bemoan   

v.悲叹，哀泣，痛哭；惋惜，不满于

参考例句：

• Purists bemoan the corruption of the language.主张语文纯正的人哀叹语言趋于不纯。
• Don't bemoan anything or anyone that you need to leave behind.不要再去抱怨那些你本该忘记的人或事。

10 counterfeit   

vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的

参考例句：

• It is a crime to counterfeit money.伪造货币是犯罪行为。
• The painting looked old but was a recent counterfeit.这幅画看上去年代久远，实际是最近的一幅赝品。

11 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。