语言与文风2014groups.google.com编辑精选
《Uncleftish Beholding》：去掉非日耳曼词的英语（1998）
Uncleftish Beholding: English minus the non-Germanic words (1998)
导读
这篇文章介绍 1998 年 Poul Anderson 用纯日耳曼词根写科学文章的趣味实验《Uncleftish Beholding》（即“原子理论”），评论围绕英语中法语词源与日耳曼词源所承载的阶层和语体差异展开。对写作者而言，它提醒我们：选词不只是准确问题，还牵动语气、身份与历史。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
选词先看语体：法庭、公文里“observe the individual in the vicinity of the canine”显得正式疏离，日常叙事用“saw the man near the dog”更亲切，应按场合切换。
- 02
具体、日常的动作和事物多用本族词（cow、pig、see），抽象、正式概念常借外来词，混用时要心里有数。
- 03
词的来源自带阶层与历史意味，写作时留意用词是否在无意中抬高了语气或疏远了读者。
- 04
代词、介词、连词这类高频功能词是句子的黏合剂，别为了追求“纯正”而牺牲可读性。
HN 评论精选
词源决定语体：法语来源词显正式高贵，本族词显日常朴素。
看到科学文章里出现 stuff 这个词觉得好笑，是因为它绝非法语来源词。1066 年起说法语的诺曼人统治英格兰，很快法语来源的英语词被视为上流社会的标志，这种观念一旦确立便自我延续。所以今天警察在法庭上会说“I observed the individual in the vicinity of the canine”，而在家里更可能说“I saw the man near the dog”。前一句满是法语词，后一句是盎格鲁-撒克逊词。这也是我们吃 beef、pork 却养 cows、pigs 的原因：吃肉的是上层，用法语词；照料牲畜的是下层，用本族词。
raldi查看英文原文
The reason it seems funny to see the word "stuff" in a scientific essay is that it's very much not a French-derived word. French-speaking people ruled England for a while starting in the year 1066, and quite quickly in that region the use of French-derived English words became seen as a sign of high class. That sort of thing, once strongly established, becomes self-perpetuating. That's why, even today, a police officer might say in court, "I observed the individual in the vicinity of the canine" whereas among family the officer might be much more likely to say, "I saw the man near the dog." The first sentence is full of French. The second, Anglo-Saxon. It's the same reason we eat beef and pork, but raise cows and pigs. The people eating the meat were upper class and thus used the French-derived words; the people taking care of the animals used Anglo-Saxon.
高频功能词几乎全是日耳曼来源，是句子的黏合剂。
英语虽属日耳曼语系，但按使用频率 41% 的词来自法语，是英语词汇最大来源，德语约 35%。当然，去掉所有非法语词会更糟，因为英语的代词、介词、连词大多源自德语；维基百科称英语前 100 个高频词中 97% 源自德语，去掉德语词句子就几乎散架了。
gilgoomesh查看英文原文
While English is a Germanic language, 41% of English words (ranked by frequency) come from French, making French the largest source of words in English, not German (which comes in at about 35%). Of course, removing all non-French words would be worse since English pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions are mostly German derived. According to Wikipedia, 97% of the top 100 words in English are German derived. The loss of German would leave little to "glue" a sentence together. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#Word_origins
斯堪的纳维亚语比现代德语更接近古英语，诺曼征服深刻改变了英语面貌。
去年九月我花时间读《贝奥武夫》，挑出不再使用但仍在现代瑞典语中活跃的词，很快找到 100 个。我对德语了解不深，但在我看来斯堪的纳维亚语言如今比现代德语更接近古英语，这或许能让人想象没有诺曼征服（或诺曼人保留北欧语）时英语会是什么样。另外，托尔金的《贝奥武夫》译本将于 5 月 22 日出版，学者说可能只是他的工作译本和教学笔记，难与希尼的译本相比，但感兴趣的人都会想看。
luxpir查看英文原文
Last September I spent a little time going through Beowulf and pulling out words we no longer use but are still active in modern Swedish. I got to 100 very quickly. I can't speak so much for German, having only a basic grasp, but to me it looks like Scandinavian languages are closer to Old English now than Modern German. That might give a picture of how English would otherwise look without a Norman conquest (or if the Normans had retained their Norse language).[0] For info, if you hadn't heard yet, Tolkien's Beowulf translation is due out on the 22nd of May. Scholars say it is likely to just be his working translation and teaching notes, unlikely to rival Heaney's efforts. I think everyone interested will want to see it though. Myself included. [1] [0] http://lukespear.co.uk/2013/09/old-english-vs-modern-swedish-via-beowulf-and-heaney/ [1] http://www.tolkienbeowulf.com/
贵族与征服者的偏好会让语言中的基础词被外来词替换。
征服或贵族偏好塑造语言，这很惊人。作为流利的俄语使用者，我曾与一位不会俄语的塞尔维亚人直接交流。这段经历让我看到语言如何演变：两个语言同源，但俄语中连最基本的事物都被外来词“污染”（姑且这么说），比如“军队”一词现在来自 Army，而塞尔维亚语用 wojsko，非常接近我心目中的古俄语或原始斯拉夫语。
sologoub查看英文原文
It's pretty amazing how either conquests or preferences of the aristocracy shaped languages. Being a fluent Russian speaker, I had a chance to interact with a person from Serbia without a translator, who did not speak Russian. The experience was eye opening in how languages evolved. Though the two started from a common ancestor language, Russian had become extremely "polluted" (using the term loosely) with foreign words for the most basic things. For example the word for Army is now derived from Army, whereas Serbian is using the word "wojsko" (not sure of actual spelling, transliterating), which is very close to what I would consider old Russian or proto-Slavic.
同类还值得读
像说话一样写作
Write like you talk
这篇短文主张写作应像说话一样自然、清晰，避免装腔作势的书面腔。
语言与文风2015 · 647 分 · 272 评4 条写作要点编辑精选法律语言难懂源于写作不佳，而非专业概念
Poor writing, not specialized concepts, drives difficulty with legal language
这是一项认知科学研究：法律文本难懂，主要不是因为充斥专业术语，而是因为写作者把句子写得又长又绕、修饰语层层嵌套、回指距离过远。
语言与文风2022 · 559 分 · 322 评5 条写作要点编辑精选写得简单
Write Simply
保罗·格拉汉姆在这篇短文里主张：好文章应该写得简单——用日常词汇、短句、直白的结构，不为显得聪明而堆砌复杂表达。
语言与文风2021 · 484 分 · 330 评4 条写作要点编辑精选Tortured phrases：科学写作中出现的一种可疑文风
Tortured phrases: A dubious writing style emerging in science
《自然》新闻报道了一种在科学论文中蔓延的怪现象：原本标准的术语被同义替换软件改写成了古怪说法，比如把 "cloud computing" 写成 "haze figuring"。
语言与文风2021 · 329 分 · 256 评4 条写作要点编辑精选乔治·奥威尔 1940 年对《我的奋斗》的书评
George Orwell's review of Mein Kampf (1940)
这是奥威尔1940年对《我的奋斗》的书评。
语言与文风2014 · 305 分 · 240 评4 条写作要点编辑精选