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ErinMcKean_2014Y-_尽管放手去创造新单字吧！_
I'm a lexicographer . 我是一个字典编纂师,
lexicographer:n.词典编纂者;
I make dictionaries. 而我编制字典,
And my job as a lexicographer is to try to put all the words possible into the dictionary. 身为字典编纂师我的工作是─ 尽可能试着把所有可行的字彙收进字典里,
My job is not to decide what a word is; that is your job. 我的工作不是决定什么才是一个字,那是你的工作;
Everybody who speaks English decides together what's a word and what's not a word. 所有会说英文的人一起来决定 什么是字而什么并不算是字,
Every language is just a group of people who agree to understand each other. 每一种语言不过就是一群同意彼此理解的人,
Now, sometimes when people are trying to decide whether a word is good or bad, they don't really have a good reason. 有时候大家想要断定一个字到底是好还是不好, 他们并非真的有一个好依据,
So they say something like, "Because grammar!" 所以他们就会说像「因为文法」的这种道理,
(Laughter) (笑声)
I don't actually really care about grammar too much -- don't tell anybody. 实际上我真的不是太在乎文法,请不要跟其他人讲喔。
But the word "grammar," actually, there are two kinds of grammar. 不过实际上「文法」这个字还分两种,
There's the kind of grammar that lives inside your brain, and if you're a native speaker of a language or a good speaker of a language, it's the unconscious rules that you follow when you speak that language. 有一种文法存在于你的大脑中, 假如你是一种语言的天生使用者, 或是一种语言的擅长使用者, 当你使用那个语言时你所遵从的是潜意识的规则,
native:adj.本国的;土著的;天然的;与生俱来的;天赋的;n.本地人;土产;当地居民; unconscious:adj.无意识的;失去知觉的;未发觉的;
And this is what you learn when you learn a language as a child. 而这是当你小时后在学习语言时学到的。
And here's an example: 这边有一个例子:
This is a wug, right? 这是一个 wug 对吧？(虚拟的单字)
It's a wug. 它是一个 wug
Now there is another one. 现在有另一张图,
There are two of these. 里面有2个这种东西,
There are two ... 那里有2个什么呢?
Audience: Wugs.
Erin McKean: Exactly! You know how to make the plural of wug. 艾琳?麦坎:完全正确！你知道该如何把 wug 变成复数。
Erin:n.爱尔兰; plural:n.复数形式;adj.复数的;复数形式的;多样的;多元的;
That rule lives in your brain. 这规则就存在你的脑海里,
You never had to be taught this rule, you just understand it. 你永远不需要被教过这个规则,你就是理解这条规则的,
This is an experiment that was invented by a professor at [Boston University] 这是一个在1958年(波士顿大学)
named Jean Berko Gleason back in 1958. 珍?伯寇?葛里森教授所研发的实验,
So we've been talking about this for a long time. 所以像我们这样子说话已经很长久了。
Now, these kinds of natural rules that exist in your brain, they're not like traffic laws, they're more like laws of nature. 如今存在你脑还里的这些自然规则, 它们不像是交通法规,而比较像是自然的法则,
And nobody has to remind you to obey a law of nature, right? 根本没有人提醒你遵守自然法则不是吗？
remind:v.提醒;使想起; obey:v.遵守;服从;顺从;
When you leave the house in the morning, your mom doesn't say, "Hey, honey, I think it's going to be cold, take a hoodie , don't forget to obey the law of gravity." 当你早上出门时你的母亲不会说: 「嘿,亲爱的,我想天气将要变冷了,带上你的带帽运动衫喔！ 别忘了要遵守地心引力的法则喔！」
hoodie:n.连帽衫带帽夹克穿着连帽衫的小混混;
Nobody says this. 没人会说这样子的话。
Now, there are other rules that are more about manners than they are about nature. 还有另一种规则与其说是自然法则反而是比较像礼仪规矩,
So you can think of a word as like a hat. 你可以想个单字像是「帽子」呀,
Once you know how hats work, nobody has to tell you, "Don't wear hats on your feet." 你一旦知道了帽子的功用, 根本不必有人告诉你:「别把帽子戴在脚底！」
What they have to tell you is, "Can you wear hats inside? 他们得要跟你说的是你是不是可以在里面戴帽子、
Who gets to wear a hat? 谁需要戴帽子、
What are the kinds of hats you get to wear?" 你得要戴什么样子的帽子？
Those are more of the second kind of grammar, which linguists often call usage , as opposed to grammar. 这些比较像是第二类的文法, 字典编撰师们相对于文法常叫它用法。
linguists:[语]语言学家(linguist的复数); usage:n.使用;利用;利用率;惯用法; opposed:adj.强烈反对; v.反对(计划、政策等); (oppose的过去分词和过去式)
Now, sometimes people use this kind of rules-based grammar to discourage people from making up words. 有时候人们用第二种规则基础的文法, 让大家没信心创造字,
rules-based:规则导向; discourage:v.阻止;劝阻;阻拦;使灰心;
And I think that is, well, stupid. 而我认为这是非常蠢的事。
So, for example, people are always telling you, "Be creative , make new music, do art, invent things, science and technology ." 举例来说,大家总是跟你讲: 「要有创意的、制作新的音乐、玩艺术、发明东西、科学、技术的。」
creative:adj.创造性的; technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
But when it comes to words, they're like, "Don't! No. Creativity stops right here, whippersnappers . Give it a rest ." 但是讲到文字的时候,这些话会像是:「不要！不可以的！ 狂妄的小子！创新就到此为止啦,让一切平静下来吧！」
whippersnappers:n.傲慢的家伙; Give it a rest:算了,别干了,让它休息一下;
(Laughter) （笑声）
But that makes no sense to me. 但是那一套对我没用,
Words are great. We should have more of them. 文字是最棒的,我们应该有更多文字,
I want you to make as many new words as possible. 我希望你们尽其所能创造更多新字,
And I'm going to tell you six ways that you can use to make new words in English. 我将要告诉你们六种你们可以运用来创造英文新单字的方法:
The first way is the simplest way. 第一个是最简单的方法,
Basically , steal them from other languages. 基本上就从其他语言里盗用过来,
Basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
["Go rob other people"] (Laughter) 「去抢劫其他人吧！」(笑声)
Linguists call this borrowing, but we never give the words back , so I'm just going to be honest and call it stealing. 语言学家称这个叫借用, 但是我们绝不会再把这些字还回去,所以我就是打算要诚实而叫它盗用,
We usually take words for things that we like, like delicious food. 通常我们会从拿我们喜欢的东西来取字比如说美味的食物,
We took " kumquat " from Chinese, we took " caramel " from French. 我们从中文拿来了「金桔」、从法文拿来了「焦糖」,
kumquat:n.金橘;金柑;金钱桔树; caramel:n.焦糖;饴糖;焦糖糖果;
We also take words for cool things like " ninja ," right? 我们也为很酷的「忍者」借字过来对吧?
ninja:n.(受过偷窃技术专门训练被雇作间谍或刺客的)日本武士;n.忍者;
We took that from Japanese, which is kind of a cool trick because ninjas are hard to steal from. 我们从日文里拿过来, 这是非常好玩的恶作剧,因为你偷不到忍者！
ninjas:n.忍者(ninja的复数形式);
(Laughter) (笑声)
So another way that you can make words in English is by squishing two other English words together. 那么另一个你可以造出英文字的方法, 是把两个不同的英文字给凑在一块,
squishing:n.咯吱声;挤扁;vt.压扁;把...挤扁;vi.发出嘎吱声;
This is called compounding . 这个叫做「合併」,
compounding:v.组合;混合(compound的ing形式);
Words in English are like Lego : 英文像是「乐高」的字等,
Lego:n.乐高积木(商标名);
If you use enough force, you can put any two of them together. 如果你使用足够的力气,你可以把任何的两个字凑在一块儿,
(Laughter) (笑声)
We do this all the time in English: 在英文中我们一直这样做,
Words like " heartbroken ," " bookworm ," " sandcastle " all are compounds . 单字像是「心碎」、「书虫」、「沙堡」都是合併式单字,
heartbroken:adj.悲伤的,伤心的; bookworm:n.书呆子;蠹鱼,蛀书虫; sandcastle:n.沙塔; compounds:n.混合物,化合物;大院(compound的复数形式);
So go ahead and make words like "duckface," just don't make duckface. 所以去吧！造出像鸭脸的单字来,只是不要装鸭脸就好 (嘟嘴搞笑)。
(Laughter) (笑声)
Another way that you can make words in English is kind of like compounding, but instead you use so much force when you squish the words together that some parts fall off. 另一个方式你可以造出有点像是合併式的单字, 代替你用很大的力气把两个字挤在一起, 那把一些部分给拿掉了,
So these are blend words, like " brunch " is a blend of "breakfast" and "lunch." 所以这些是混合的字, 像是「brunch」是混合了breakfast以及lunch、
blend:v.混合;融合;加入;相称;n.混合;混合物;混合种;混合色; brunch:n.早午餐(早午两餐并作一餐);
'" Motel " is a blend of "motor" and "hotel." 「Motel」是混合了motor以及hotel,
Motel:n.汽车旅馆;
Who here knew that "motel" was a blend word? 在场有谁知道「汽车旅馆」是一个混合字呢?
Yeah, that word is so old in English that lots of people don't know that there are parts missing. 没错,这个字在英文里很久了, 很多人都不知道有些地方缺少了,
'" Edutainment " is a blend of "education" and "entertainment."
Edutainment:n.寓教于乐的出版物;
And of course, " electrocute " is a blend of " electric " and " execute ." 当然了,「electrocute」就是混合了electric还有execute。
electrocute:vt.(美)以电椅处死;使触电致死; electric:n.供电;adj.电的;用电的;电动的;发电的; execute:vt.实行;执行;处死;
(Laughter) (笑声)
You can also make words by changing how they operate. 你也可以改变字的功用来造字,
This is called functional shift . 这就叫做功能性的转换,
functional:adj.功能的; shift:n.移动;变化;手段;轮班;v.移动;转变;转换;
You take a word that acts as one part of speech , and you change it into another part of speech. 你挑了作为某种词类的一个字, 而你把它改成另一种词类,
part of speech:n.词类;词性;
Okay, who here knew that "friend" hasn't always been a verb? 好的,这里有谁知道「朋友」并非一直以来就是当作动词的,
'"Friend" used to be noun and then we verbed it. 「朋友」以前是当名词后来我们把它动词化了,
noun:n.名词;
Almost any word in English can be verbed. 几乎任何英文里的字都能被当成动词,
You can also take adjectives and make them into nouns . 你也可以拿形容词把它们变成名词,
adjectives:n.[语]形容词(adjective的复数); nouns:名词(noun的复数)
'" Commercial " used to be an adjective and now it's a noun. 「commercial」以前是当形容词而现在它是个名词,
Commercial:adj.贸易的;商业的;赢利的;以获利为目的的;n.(电台或电视播放的)广告;
And of course, you can "green" things. 没错你还可以让东西「变环保些」。
Another way to make words in English is back-formation. 另一个方式是利用字尾调整造出新单字,
You can take a word and you can kind of squish it down a little bit. 你可以挑一个字然后你可以像挤压一样把它变短一些,
So for example, in English we had the word "editor" before we had the word " edit ." 举例来说在英语里我们有着editor是早在有edit之前,
edit:v.编辑;剪辑;编纂;编选;n.编辑[校订]工作;
'"Edit" was formed from "editor." edit是由editor而来的,
Sometimes these back-formations sound a little silly: 偶尔这些字尾变化听起来有点傻气,
Bulldozers bulldoze, butlers butle and burglers burgle . 就像推土机推平地、男管家作管家、闯空门的人闯空门。
Bulldozers:n.[机]推土机(bulldozer的复数形式); butlers:n.男管家;(butler的复数) burgle:vt.偷窃,破门盗窃;vi.偷窃,破门盗窃;
(Laughter) (笑声)
Another way to make words in English is to take the first letters of something and squish them together. 另一个造出英文字的方法 是拿走某些东西的第一个字母,然后把他们摆在一块儿,
So National Aeronautics and Space Administration becomes NASA. 所以「国家航空暨太空总署」就变成了NASA了,
Aeronautics:n.航空学;飞行术;
And of course you can do this with anything, OMG! 当然你可以对任何东西这样做,像是:我的天呀！(OMG)
So it doesn't matter how silly the words are. 因此这些字有多傻气都没有关系,
They can be really good words of English. 他们可以当英文里真正好的的字,
'" Absquatulate " is a perfectly good word of English. 「偷走」是一个超级好的英文字,
Absquatulate:vi.潜逃;拐逃;溜之大吉;开小差;
'"Mugwump" is a perfectly good word of English. 「变节者」是一个超级好的英文字,
So the words don't have have to sound normal, they can sound really silly. 因此字不需要得听起来很正常,它们可以听起来真的很傻气。
Why should you make words? 为什么你应该来造字呢?
You should make words because every word is a chance to express your idea and get your meaning across. 你应该造字是因为每一个字 都是一个机会来表达你的想法以及说清楚你的意思,
express:v.表达; adj.特快的; n.特快列车; v.使用快速服务;
And new words grab people's attention. 而且新的单字能吸引大家的注意,
grab:v.攫取;霸占;将…深深吸引;n.攫取;霸占;夺取之物;
They get people to focus on what you're saying and that gives you a better chance to get your meaning across. 它们让大家专注于你所讲的东西, 这样就给了你一个更好的机会来说清楚你的意思,
A lot of people on this stage today have said, "In the future, you can do this, you can help with this, you can help us explore , you can help us invent." 许多在今天这个讲台的人曾经说过, 「在未来你可以做这个、你可以对这个有幫助、 你可以幫我们做探索、你可以幫我们创新。」
explore:v.探索:探测:探险:
You can make a new word right now. 现在你就可以造出新的字来,
English has no age limit . 英文没有年龄限制,
age limit:n.年龄限制;
Go ahead, start making words today, send them to me, and I will put them in my online dictionary, Wordnik. 放手去做今天就开始造新字吧, 把它们寄来给我,我会把它们放上我的线上字典「Wordnik」
Thank you so much. 非常谢谢你们的！
(Applause) (掌声)