介绍:
I'm a lexicographer. I make dictionaries. And my job as a lexicographer is to try to put all the words possible into the dictionary. My job is not to decide what a word is; that is your job.
我是一个词典编纂者 我的工作是编词典 而我作为一个词典编纂者，所要做的 就是尽可能的把所有的词语都加入到词典里边去 我不是来决定怎样的词算是一个词语 那些事是你们来决定的。
Everybody who speaks English decides together what's a word and what's not a word. Every language is just a group of people who agree to understand each other. Now, sometimes when people are trying to decide whether a word is good or bad, they don't really have a good reason. So they say something like, "Because grammar!" (Laughter) I don't actually really care about grammar too much -- don't tell anybody.
每个讲英语的人一起决定 怎样算一个词怎样不算一个词 在每一种语言里就这么一帮人 同意理解对方 有时候当人们决定一个词的褒贬的时候 他们并没有给出很好的理由 所以他们经常说： “因为这是语法规定的！” （笑） 我并不太在乎语法... 可别告诉人。
But the word "grammar," actually, there are two kinds of grammar. 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. And this is what you learn when you learn a language as a child. And here's an example: This is a wug, right? It's a wug. Now there is another one. There are two of these. There are two ... Audience: Wugs. Erin McKean: Exactly! You know how to make the plural of wug. That rule lives in your brain. You never had to be taught this rule, you just understand it. This is an experiment that was invented by a professor at [Boston University] named Jean Berko Gleason back in 1958. So we've been talking about this for a long time.
但是“语法”这个词，实际上有两种语法 一种是在你脑子固定形成的语法 如果你以某一语言为母语 或者你能流利地说某种语言 是你在说那种语言时 所遵循的潜规则 这是你还是小孩子的时候学到规则 这有一个例子 这是个 WUG，对吧？ 这是个 WUG 现在又有一个（wug） 那么这有两个这样的东西 有两个.... 观众：Wugs Erin Mckean: 没错！你们知道如何用wug的复数了 那是你们脑子里固定形成的规则 你从来没有被教过怎么用复数形式 你只是明白它的用法 这是在1958年一个叫 Jean Berko Gleason的 波士顿大学教授发明的一个实验 所以我们已经讨论了这事情很久了。
Now, these kinds of natural rules that exist in your brain, they're not like traffic laws, they're more like laws of nature. And nobody has to remind you to obey a law of nature, right? 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." Nobody says this. Now, there are other rules that are more about manners than they are about nature. So you can think of a word as like a hat. Once you know how hats work, nobody has to tell you, "Don't wear hats on your feet." What they have to tell you is, "Can you wear hats inside? Who gets to wear a hat? What are the kinds of hats you get to wear?" Those are more of the second kind of grammar, which linguists often call usage, as opposed to grammar.
那么，这些在你脑子里形成的自然规则 他们不像交通规则 他们更像是自然法则 你不需要任何人提醒你去遵守自然法则，对吧？ 你早上出门的时候 你妈妈不会说， “嘿，亲爱的 今天天冷穿件外套吧 别忘了遵循万有引力哦” 没人这么说 而另外的一些规则更注重使用方法而非词本身 你可以把一个词想象成一顶帽子 一旦你知道怎么戴帽子 没人会告诉你 “别往脚上穿啊” 他们要告诉你的是 “你能在室内戴帽子么？ 谁能戴帽子？ 能戴怎么样的帽子“ 这些更像第二类语法 语言学家常说的用法，与语法相反。
Now, sometimes people use this kind of rules-based grammar to discourage people from making up words. And I think that is, well, stupid. So, for example, people are always telling you, "Be creative, make new music, do art, invent things, science and technology." But when it comes to words, they're like, "Don't! No. Creativity stops right here, whippersnappers. Give it a rest." (Laughter) But that makes no sense to me. Words are great. We should have more of them. I want you to make as many new words as possible. And I'm going to tell you six ways that you can use to make new words in English.
有时候人们以规则型的语法 来阻止人们造新词 我觉得，这个挺愚蠢的 比方说，人们总是告诉你 “要有创造力，编新的音乐 创作艺术，发明新的科技 但是在对待词语的时候 ”停！你的创意到此为止 你们这些自以为是的年轻人，一边凉快去“ （笑） 但是在我看来这说不通 词语棒极了 我们应该有更多的词语 我要你们尽可能的创造出更多的新词 而且我将告诉你们六种造新词的方法。
The first way is the simplest way. Basically, steal them from other languages. ["Go rob other people"] (Laughter) Linguists call this borrowing, but we never give the words back , so I'm just going to be honest and call it stealing. We usually take words for things that we like, like delicious food. We took "kumquat" from Chinese, we took "caramel" from French. We also take words for cool things like "ninja," right? We took that from Japanese, which is kind of a cool trick because ninjas are hard to steal from. (Laughter)
第一种最简单 其实就是从另一种语言里偷过来 [”抢别人的去“] （笑） 语言学家称之为外来词（借词） 但是我们从来不把外来词还回去 所以我要老实和你们讲 称它为偷来的词 我们通常把我们喜欢的东西的那些词”偷“来 比如好吃的食物 我们从中文那拿了”Kumquat“（金橘） 从法语那拿了”caramel“（焦糖） 我们也把很酷的东西的词借来 比如说”忍者“，对吧 我们把它从日语那借了过来 这招挺酷的因为忍者很难偷 （笑）
So another way that you can make words in English is by squishing two other English words together. This is called compounding. Words in English are like Lego: If you use enough force, you can put any two of them together. (Laughter) We do this all the time in English: Words like "heartbroken," "bookworm," "sandcastle" all are compounds. So go ahead and make words like "duckface," just don't make duckface. (Laughter)
那么另一种在英语中造词的方法 就是把两个英语单词合成一个词 称之为复合法 英语单词就像乐高 如果我们使足劲 就能把任意两个词合成一个 （笑） 我们经常这么做 比如 “心碎”，“书虫”，“沙城”都是复合词 所以去造些像“duckface”的词 只要不在自拍的时候做鸭脸就好 （笑）
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. So these are blend words, like "brunch" is a blend of "breakfast" and "lunch." "Motel" is a blend of "motor" and "hotel." Who here knew that "motel" was a blend word? Yeah, that word is so old in English that lots of people don't know that there are parts missing. "Edutainment" is a blend of "education" and "entertainment." And of course, "electrocute" is a blend of "electric" and "execute." (Laughter)
另一种方法有点像复合法 不过不同的是你把两个词“挤”成一个词时太用劲 词的一部分掉了下来 这些就是并缀词 比如 “早午餐”是早餐和午餐的并缀 “汽车旅馆”是“汽车”和“旅馆”的并缀 谁在这知道“汽车旅馆”是个并缀词？ 对吧，这个词在英语里太久了 很多人都不知道这个词的一部分消失了 ”娱教“是”教育“和”娱乐“的并缀 当然还有，“触电”是“电”和“处决”的并缀 （笑）
You can also make words by changing how they operate. This is called functional shift. You take a word that acts as one part of speech, and you change it into another part of speech. Okay, who here knew that "friend" hasn't always been a verb? "Friend" used to be noun and then we verbed it. Almost any word in English can be verbed. You can also take adjectives and make them into nouns. "Commercial" used to be an adjective and now it's a noun. And of course, you can "green" things.
你也可以改变一个词的词性来造新词 这称为功能转换 你把一个词在这句话里的词性 在另一句话里换成另一种词性 那好，有谁知道“朋友”这个词并不一直是个动词 “朋友” 曾是个名词然后我们把它变动词了 几乎所有的英语单词都能够变为动词 你也可以把形容词变为名词 “commercial”（商业的）曾是个形容词 想在成了个名词（广告） 当然了，你还可以把它“绿化”了。
Another way to make words in English is back-formation. You can take a word and you can kind of squish it down a little bit. So for example, in English we had the word "editor" before we had the word "edit." "Edit" was formed from "editor." Sometimes these back-formations sound a little silly: Bulldozers bulldoze, butlers butle and burglers burgle. (Laughter)
另一种方法是“逆成法” 你可以把一个词缩短 比如说，英语里“edit”（编辑）一词出现前 我们只有“editor”（编者） “edit”是从“editor”变过来的 有时候“逆成法”听上去挺可笑 推土机推土，管家看家，窃贼行窃 （笑）
Another way to make words in English is to take the first letters of something and squish them together. So National Aeronautics and Space Administration becomes NASA. And of course you can do this with anything, OMG！So it doesn't matter how silly the words are. They can be really good words of English. "Absquatulate" is a perfectly good word of English. "Mugwump" is a perfectly good word of English. So the words don't have have to sound normal, they can sound really silly.
另一种造词法 就是把某样东西的首字母拼在一起 所以美国国家航空航天局变成NASA 当然了什么词你都可以这么用，我的天！所以这些词语多么可笑都无所谓 (臭虫赛车障碍) 他们能成为很棒的英语单词 “Absquatulate"是个好词 “Mugwump”是一个很正常的英语词 所以这些词不用听上去正确 它们可以听上去很可笑。
Why should you make words? You should make words because every word is a chance to express your idea and get your meaning across. And new words grab people's attention. They get people to focus on what you're saying and that gives you a better chance to get your meaning across. 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." You can make a new word right now. English has no age limit. Go ahead, start making words today, send them to me, and I will put them in my online dictionary, Wordnik. Thank you so much. (Applause)
为什么你要编词呢？ 你应该编词因为每个新编的词 是给你表达并传递你的意思的一个机会 而且新词更受人关注 它让人们更专注于你在说什么 这给你一个更好的机会表达你的意思 很多人在在这阶段说过 未来，你可以做这 你可以帮助我们，帮助我们研究和发明 你可以马上创造新词 英语没有年龄限制 从今天起创造新单词 把它们寄给我 然后我会把它们放进我的网上词典里边，谢谢！
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