The evolution of English
英语的进化
Talking down
越说越通俗的英语
Jan 29th 2004
From The Economist print edition
IN 1896, William Jennings Bryan, a three-time candidate for the American presidency, gave a speech on a relatively dry financial topic, criticising the gold standard. But his rhetoric was for the ages: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labour this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!"
1896年，参选三次的美国总统候选人威廉•詹宁斯•布莱恩就某个相对枯燥的财政话题发表演讲，其间抨击了金本位货币制度。而他的浮夸之词是那个年代特有的："你们不该把带刺的王冠压在劳动人民的额头上，你们也不该将人类钉死在金本位的十字架上！"
Just over a hundred years later Sam Brownback, arguing for war against Iraq in a speech to the American Senate, said, "We go at Iraq and it says to countries that support terrorists, there remain six in the world that are as our definition state sponsors of terrorists, you say to those countries: 'We are serious about terrorism, we're serious about you not supporting terrorism on your own soil'."
仅仅一百多年之后，萨姆•布朗贝克在对美国参议院发表演说为伊拉克战争辩护时说："我们进军伊拉克，这件事告诉那些支持恐怖分子的国家一个道理，按照我们的定义，全球还有六个国家属于恐怖分子的援助国。我们告诉这些国家的道理就是："对于恐怖主义，我们是要动真格的；对你们不在自己的国土上为恐怖主义提供支持这件事，我们的态度是认真的。"
What happened over the 20th century? Americans (and, to a lesser extent, Britons) no longer expect public figures, whether in oratory or in writing, to command the English language with skill and flair. Nor do they aspire to such command themselves. John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counterculture as responsible for the decline of formal English.
20世纪发生了什么？美国人（包括英国人，只是程度稍轻）不再期待公众人物能娴熟地运用技巧和文采在演讲或写作中驾驭英语，而公众人物也不这么要求自己。约翰•麦克怀特是一位好辩论的语言学家，他的观点混杂着保守派和自由派的看法。他认为20世纪60年代的反传统文化是正式英语衰退的原因。
Blaming the permissive 1960s is nothing new, but this is not yet another screed against the decline in education. Mr McWhorter's academic speciality is language history and change, and he sees the gradual disappearance of "whom", for example, to be natural and no more lamentable than the loss of the case-endings of Beowulf-era English.
怪罪放纵的60年代并不新鲜，而这并不是另一本批评教育滑坡的长篇大论。麦克怀特先生的学术专长是语言史与语言变化，他认为像'whom'这样的词逐渐消失是正常的，这并不会比贝奥武甫时代英语中的词格尾缀消失更令人惋惜。
But the cult of the authentic and the personal, "doing our own thing", has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. While even the modestly educated sought an elevated tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then has sought to capture spoken English on the page. Equally, in poetry, the highly personal, performative genre is the only form that could claim real vibrancy. In both oral and written English, talking is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity over craft.
然而，"做我们自己的事"这一对事物真实性和个人化的狂热信仰，已经为正式的演讲、写作、诗歌和音乐画上了句号。在60年代以前，哪怕仅受过一般教育的人在下笔时都要寻求一种高雅的腔调。但在那之后，即使是最文雅的文章在落笔时也要口语化。同样，在诗歌领域，只有高度个人化和富有表现力的文学形式才是真正具有活力的。无论在口语还是书面语中，谈天说地胜过了正式演说，即兴发挥比精心准备更受欢迎。
Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr McWhorter documents is unmistakable. But it is less clear, to take the question of his subtitle, why we should, like, care. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including non-standard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive—there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas. He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper.
麦克怀特先生从上层和下层文化中分别列举了一系列有趣的例子。从中我们可以看出，他所记录的这种趋势是十分明确的。而至于其副标题所提的问题：为什么我们应该、喜欢或在意？答案还不够明确。作为一位语言学家，他承认所有人类语言，包括那些非标准的语言如黑人英语，都具有极强的表达能力：世上不存在无法传达复杂思想的语言或方言。与大多数人不同的是，麦克怀特先生并不认为说话方式不规范就会使我们不能正确地思考。
Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorised poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate oratory that would seem anachronistic to most English-speakers. Mr McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms—he is really bemoaning the loss of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English "on paper plates instead of china". A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one.
俄国人深爱自己的语言，他们脑中都存着大量诗歌；意大利政治家倾向于精心推敲自己的演讲，而这在多数说英语的人看来是落伍的行为。麦克怀特先生承认正式语言不是完全必需的，他也并没有提出激进的教育改革：他其实是在为那些美丽而不那么实用的东西的丧失而惋惜。我们正"用纸盘子而不是瓷盘子"享用我们的英语。这也许让人惭愧，但很可能已不可避免
英语的进化
Talking down
越说越通俗的英语
Jan 29th 2004
From The Economist print edition
IN 1896, William Jennings Bryan, a three-time candidate for the American presidency, gave a speech on a relatively dry financial topic, criticising the gold standard. But his rhetoric was for the ages: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labour this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!"
1896年，参选三次的美国总统候选人威廉•詹宁斯•布莱恩就某个相对枯燥的财政话题发表演讲，其间抨击了金本位货币制度。而他的浮夸之词是那个年代特有的："你们不该把带刺的王冠压在劳动人民的额头上，你们也不该将人类钉死在金本位的十字架上！"
Just over a hundred years later Sam Brownback, arguing for war against Iraq in a speech to the American Senate, said, "We go at Iraq and it says to countries that support terrorists, there remain six in the world that are as our definition state sponsors of terrorists, you say to those countries: 'We are serious about terrorism, we're serious about you not supporting terrorism on your own soil'."
仅仅一百多年之后，萨姆•布朗贝克在对美国参议院发表演说为伊拉克战争辩护时说："我们进军伊拉克，这件事告诉那些支持恐怖分子的国家一个道理，按照我们的定义，全球还有六个国家属于恐怖分子的援助国。我们告诉这些国家的道理就是："对于恐怖主义，我们是要动真格的；对你们不在自己的国土上为恐怖主义提供支持这件事，我们的态度是认真的。"
What happened over the 20th century? Americans (and, to a lesser extent, Britons) no longer expect public figures, whether in oratory or in writing, to command the English language with skill and flair. Nor do they aspire to such command themselves. John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counterculture as responsible for the decline of formal English.
20世纪发生了什么？美国人（包括英国人，只是程度稍轻）不再期待公众人物能娴熟地运用技巧和文采在演讲或写作中驾驭英语，而公众人物也不这么要求自己。约翰•麦克怀特是一位好辩论的语言学家，他的观点混杂着保守派和自由派的看法。他认为20世纪60年代的反传统文化是正式英语衰退的原因。
Blaming the permissive 1960s is nothing new, but this is not yet another screed against the decline in education. Mr McWhorter's academic speciality is language history and change, and he sees the gradual disappearance of "whom", for example, to be natural and no more lamentable than the loss of the case-endings of Beowulf-era English.
怪罪放纵的60年代并不新鲜，而这并不是另一本批评教育滑坡的长篇大论。麦克怀特先生的学术专长是语言史与语言变化，他认为像'whom'这样的词逐渐消失是正常的，这并不会比贝奥武甫时代英语中的词格尾缀消失更令人惋惜。
But the cult of the authentic and the personal, "doing our own thing", has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. While even the modestly educated sought an elevated tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then has sought to capture spoken English on the page. Equally, in poetry, the highly personal, performative genre is the only form that could claim real vibrancy. In both oral and written English, talking is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity over craft.
然而，"做我们自己的事"这一对事物真实性和个人化的狂热信仰，已经为正式的演讲、写作、诗歌和音乐画上了句号。在60年代以前，哪怕仅受过一般教育的人在下笔时都要寻求一种高雅的腔调。但在那之后，即使是最文雅的文章在落笔时也要口语化。同样，在诗歌领域，只有高度个人化和富有表现力的文学形式才是真正具有活力的。无论在口语还是书面语中，谈天说地胜过了正式演说，即兴发挥比精心准备更受欢迎。
Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr McWhorter documents is unmistakable. But it is less clear, to take the question of his subtitle, why we should, like, care. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including non-standard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive—there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas. He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper.
麦克怀特先生从上层和下层文化中分别列举了一系列有趣的例子。从中我们可以看出，他所记录的这种趋势是十分明确的。而至于其副标题所提的问题：为什么我们应该、喜欢或在意？答案还不够明确。作为一位语言学家，他承认所有人类语言，包括那些非标准的语言如黑人英语，都具有极强的表达能力：世上不存在无法传达复杂思想的语言或方言。与大多数人不同的是，麦克怀特先生并不认为说话方式不规范就会使我们不能正确地思考。
Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorised poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate oratory that would seem anachronistic to most English-speakers. Mr McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms—he is really bemoaning the loss of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English "on paper plates instead of china". A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one.
俄国人深爱自己的语言，他们脑中都存着大量诗歌；意大利政治家倾向于精心推敲自己的演讲，而这在多数说英语的人看来是落伍的行为。麦克怀特先生承认正式语言不是完全必需的，他也并没有提出激进的教育改革：他其实是在为那些美丽而不那么实用的东西的丧失而惋惜。我们正"用纸盘子而不是瓷盘子"享用我们的英语。这也许让人惭愧，但很可能已不可避免
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