評論
打印
Culture
文藝版塊
Language and the internet
語言與網絡
Why do you Tok like that?
你怎么這么講話？
TikTok is changing how Gen Z speaks.
TikTok正在改變Z世代的說話方式。
The word “demure” is old—it describes the sort of modest lady Victorians esteemed—but it is freshly fashionable.
“端莊”是一個很古老的詞——描述的是維多利亞時代的人所敬重的那種謙遜莊重的女士——但這個詞又重新流行起來了。
There are some 800,000 posts on TikTok with the tag #demure.
在TikTok上，約有80萬個帶#端莊標簽的帖子。
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.
如今的年輕人使用這個詞時帶有很強的諷刺意味，用它來描述從土星到日落，再到紐約垃圾清理服務的一切事物。
TikTok is changing how young people talk.
TikTok正在改變年輕人的說話方式。
Other fusty words, such as “coquette”, are fashionable again.
其他一些古老過時的詞，比如“賣弄風情的女子”，又流行起來了。
Colloquialisms are on the rise: members of Gen Z say “yapping” instead of “talking” and trim “delusional” to “delulu”.
口語化表達越來越流行：Z世代說“閑扯”而不是“聊天”，把“有錯覺的”簡化為“想多了”。
New words have also become popular.
新的詞匯也變得流行起來。
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.
以“馬桶人”為例，這個詞因一個動畫頭像在馬桶里唱歌的梗圖而流行開來，這個詞可以表示“酷”“不好”或“非常”，具體取決于語境。
On social media words spread far and fast.
在社交媒體上，詞語傳播得廣且快。
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.
倫敦國王學院俚語和新語言檔案中心主任托尼·索恩估計，每年至少有100個英語單詞在TikTok上被創造出來或被賦予新含義。
Some linguists think the platform is changing not just what youngsters are saying, but how they are saying it.
一些語言學家認為，TikTok不僅改變了年輕人說話的內容，還改變了他們說話的方式。
A “TikTok accent”, which includes “uptalk”, an intonation that rises at the end of sentences, may be spreading.
“TikTok口音”可能正在傳播，這種口音包括“升調”，即句子結尾處的語調上升。
The platform’s versatility encourages experimentation.
該平臺的多功能性鼓勵了實驗。
Users can combine audio, text and video in a single post.
用戶可以在單個帖子中把音頻、文本和視頻結合起來。
That means words that sound especially satisfying can go viral, as well as those that are memorable in written form.
這意味著不僅書寫形式令人難忘的詞，還有發音特別讓人喜歡的詞都可以迅速傳播開來。
Linguistic code has emerged, dubbed “algospeak”, to dodge content-moderation algorithms.
語言代碼已經出現，這種代碼被稱為“算法黑話”，以躲避算法進行的內容審核。
It includes euphemisms (sex workers are called “accountants”), and misspellings (“seggs” instead of sex).
其中包括委婉語（性工作者被稱為“會計”）和拼寫錯誤（seggs而不是sex）。
The mutation of language on TikTok is also due, in large part, to the age of its users.
TikTok上語言的變化在很大程度上也是由于其用戶年齡造成的。
Most are 18-34 years old.
大多數用戶是18至34歲。
That matters because “Young people are language innovators,” says Christian Ilbury, a sociolinguist at the University of Edinburgh.
這很重要，因為“年輕人是語言創新者”，引自愛丁堡大學社會語言學家克里斯蒂安·伊爾伯里。
For decades youngsters have created words to distinguish themselves from adults.
數十年來，年輕人創造新詞，將自己與成年人區分開來。
On social media such neologisms find a big audience.
在社交媒體上，這樣的新詞會找到大量的受眾。
Mr Ilbury describes this as “linguistic identity work”; parents have long called it attention-seeking.
伊爾伯里將此描述為“語言身份工作”，父母們則稱之為尋求關注。
The platform brings together fan groups and communities, from #kpopfans (people who like Korean pop music) to #booktokers (people who love reading).
TikTok匯集了各種粉絲群體和社群，從#kpopfans（喜歡韓國流行音樂的人）到#booktokers（熱愛閱讀的人）。
These groups create their own slang, says Adam Aleksic, a linguist and influencer.
語言學家兼網絡博主亞當·阿列克西奇說，這些群體創造了自己的俚語。
Some of it leaks into the mainstream.
其中一些會滲入主流。
Other slang comes from specific groups: black people have innovated and spread hundreds of English words over the years, from “cool” to “tea” (gossip).
其他俚語來自特定群體：多年來，黑人創造并傳播了數百個英語單詞，從“酷”到“茶（即八卦）”。
Journalists and screenwriters popularise such words; now TikTokers do, too.
記者和編劇們又使這樣的詞匯流行開來，現在TikTok用戶們也在這樣做。
All this speeds up the evolution of language.
所有這一切都加速了語言的演變。
That delights logophiles but befuddles dictionary-makers, who must keep a record of the ever-expanding lexicon.
這讓詞匯愛好者感到高興，但卻讓詞典編纂者感到困惑，他們必須記錄不斷擴大的詞匯表。
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.
《牛津英語詞典》（OED）是英國最負盛譽的語言編年者，只有當一個單詞被使用了大約五年后OED才會收錄這個詞。
That is too slow to keep up with modern parlance.
這太慢了，完全跟不上現代用語的節奏。
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.
OED最近才收錄了binge-worthy（值得一口氣看完的）之類的詞，這些詞已經很老套了，OED評選的2023“年度詞匯”rizz（即魅力）起源于網絡并在網上流行，但這個詞也還未收錄進詞典。
TikTok has just the phrase to describe such a modest approach: very demure.
TikTok剛好有一個詞可以用來形容這種謙遜的態度：非常端莊。
