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Culture
文艺版块
Language and the internet
语言与网络
Why do you Tok like that?
你怎么这么讲话？
TikTok is changing how Gen Z speaks.
TikTok正在改变Z世代的说话方式。
The word “demure” is old—it describes the sort of modest lady Victorians esteemed—but it is freshly fashionable.
“端庄”是一个很古老的词——描述的是维多利亚时代的人所敬重的那种谦逊庄重的女士——但这个词又重新流行起来了。
There are some 800,000 posts on TikTok with the tag #demure.
在TikTok上，约有80万个带#端庄标签的帖子。
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.
如今的年轻人使用这个词时带有很强的讽刺意味，用它来描述从土星到日落，再到纽约垃圾清理服务的一切事物。
TikTok is changing how young people talk.
TikTok正在改变年轻人的说话方式。
Other fusty words, such as “coquette”, are fashionable again.
其他一些古老过时的词，比如“卖弄风情的女子”，又流行起来了。
Colloquialisms are on the rise: members of Gen Z say “yapping” instead of “talking” and trim “delusional” to “delulu”.
口语化表达越来越流行：Z世代说“闲扯”而不是“聊天”，把“有错觉的”简化为“想多了”。
New words have also become popular.
新的词汇也变得流行起来。
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“马桶人”为例，这个词因一个动画头像在马桶里唱歌的梗图而流行开来，这个词可以表示“酷”“不好”或“非常”，具体取决于语境。
On social media words spread far and fast.
在社交媒体上，词语传播得广且快。
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.
伦敦国王学院俚语和新语言档案中心主任托尼·索恩估计，每年至少有100个英语单词在TikTok上被创造出来或被赋予新含义。
Some linguists think the platform is changing not just what youngsters are saying, but how they are saying it.
一些语言学家认为，TikTok不仅改变了年轻人说话的内容，还改变了他们说话的方式。
A “TikTok accent”, which includes “uptalk”, an intonation that rises at the end of sentences, may be spreading.
“TikTok口音”可能正在传播，这种口音包括“升调”，即句子结尾处的语调上升。
The platform’s versatility encourages experimentation.
该平台的多功能性鼓励了实验。
Users can combine audio, text and video in a single post.
用户可以在单个帖子中把音频、文本和视频结合起来。
That means words that sound especially satisfying can go viral, as well as those that are memorable in written form.
这意味着不仅书写形式令人难忘的词，还有发音特别让人喜欢的词都可以迅速传播开来。
Linguistic code has emerged, dubbed “algospeak”, to dodge content-moderation algorithms.
语言代码已经出现，这种代码被称为“算法黑话”，以躲避算法进行的内容审核。
It includes euphemisms (sex workers are called “accountants”), and misspellings (“seggs” instead of sex).
其中包括委婉语（性工作者被称为“会计”）和拼写错误（seggs而不是sex）。
The mutation of language on TikTok is also due, in large part, to the age of its users.
TikTok上语言的变化在很大程度上也是由于其用户年龄造成的。
Most are 18-34 years old.
大多数用户是18至34岁。
That matters because “Young people are language innovators,” says Christian Ilbury, a sociolinguist at the University of Edinburgh.
这很重要，因为“年轻人是语言创新者”，引自爱丁堡大学社会语言学家克里斯蒂安·伊尔伯里。
For decades youngsters have created words to distinguish themselves from adults.
数十年来，年轻人创造新词，将自己与成年人区分开来。
On social media such neologisms find a big audience.
在社交媒体上，这样的新词会找到大量的受众。
Mr Ilbury describes this as “linguistic identity work”; parents have long called it attention-seeking.
伊尔伯里将此描述为“语言身份工作”，父母们则称之为寻求关注。
The platform brings together fan groups and communities, from #kpopfans (people who like Korean pop music) to #booktokers (people who love reading).
TikTok汇集了各种粉丝群体和社群，从#kpopfans（喜欢韩国流行音乐的人）到#booktokers（热爱阅读的人）。
These groups create their own slang, says Adam Aleksic, a linguist and influencer.
语言学家兼网络博主亚当·阿列克西奇说，这些群体创造了自己的俚语。
Some of it leaks into the mainstream.
其中一些会渗入主流。
Other slang comes from specific groups: black people have innovated and spread hundreds of English words over the years, from “cool” to “tea” (gossip).
其他俚语来自特定群体：多年来，黑人创造并传播了数百个英语单词，从“酷”到“茶（即八卦）”。
Journalists and screenwriters popularise such words; now TikTokers do, too.
记者和编剧们又使这样的词汇流行开来，现在TikTok用户们也在这样做。
All this speeds up the evolution of language.
所有这一切都加速了语言的演变。
That delights logophiles but befuddles dictionary-makers, who must keep a record of the ever-expanding lexicon.
这让词汇爱好者感到高兴，但却让词典编纂者感到困惑，他们必须记录不断扩大的词汇表。
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.
《牛津英语词典》（OED）是英国最负盛誉的语言编年者，只有当一个单词被使用了大约五年后OED才会收录这个词。
That is too slow to keep up with modern parlance.
这太慢了，完全跟不上现代用语的节奏。
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最近才收录了binge-worthy（值得一口气看完的）之类的词，这些词已经很老套了，OED评选的2023“年度词汇”rizz（即魅力）起源于网络并在网上流行，但这个词也还未收录进词典。
TikTok has just the phrase to describe such a modest approach: very demure.
TikTok刚好有一个词可以用来形容这种谦逊的态度：非常端庄。
