Full Stop Is ‘Intimidating’ to Young People Because They Interpret It as Sign of Anger, Linguists Say

语言学家：年轻人发信息不爱用句号，那是有原因的

 

Full stops intimidate young people when used in social media communication as they are interpreted as a sign of anger, according to linguistic experts.

 

语言专家表示，在社交媒体交流中使用句号会让年轻人感到恐慌，因为他们认为这表示愤怒。

 

Teenagers and those in their early twenties, classified as Generation Z, have grown up with smartphones which they use to send short messages without full stops.

 

青少年和那些20岁出头的人被称为Z世代，他们在智能手机的陪伴下长大，用智能手机发送短信，但不使用句号。

 

Linguistic experts are now investigating why teens interpret a correctly-punctuated text as a signal of irritation.

 

语言专家正在研究，为什么青少年会把正确地使用了标点的短信理解为愤怒的信号。

 

The debate was reignited after writer Rhiannon Cosslett tweeted: “Older people – do you realise that ending a sentence with a full stop comes across as sort of abrupt and unfriendly to younger people in an email/chat? Genuinely curious.”

 

作家里安农·科斯莱特近日发布的推文中写道：“年龄较大的人们，你们是否意识到，在邮件或短信聊天中使用句号对年轻人来说意味着生硬和不友善？纯粹好奇。”这引发了有关年轻人对句号态度的再次讨论。

 

That prompted crime novelist Sophie Hannah to reply: “Just asked 16-year-old son – apparently this is true. If he got a message with full stops at the end of sentences he’d think the sender was ‘weird, mean or too blunt’.”

 

犯罪小说家索菲·汉娜回复道：“我问过16岁的儿子，这显然是真的。如果他收到的短信末尾有句号，他会认为发件人‘古怪、刻薄或太生硬’。”

 

According to experts, youngsters used to communicating electronically break up their thoughts by sending each one as a separate message, rather than using a full stop, which they use only to signal they are annoyed or irritated.

 

专家认为，习惯用电子设备交流的年轻人会将他们的想法分开发送，而不是使用句号，因为句号只能表示他们很恼火或愤怒。

 

Some have said the full stop is redundant when used in texting because the message is ended just by sending it.

 

有些人说，发短信时用句号是多余的，因为短信发出那句话就结束了。

 

According to The Telegraph, Linguist Dr Lauren Fonteyn of Leiden University in Holland, tweeted: “If you send a text message without a full stop, it’s already obvious that you’ve concluded the message.”

 

据英国《每日电讯报》报道，荷兰莱顿大学的语言学家劳伦·方廷博士在推特上写道：“发短信时不加句号，很明显你也已经说完了。”

 

“So if you add that additional marker for completion, they will read something into it and it tends to be a falling intonation or negative tone.”

 

“所以如果已经结束了，你还额外加上一个表示完成的符号，人们就会解读出一些往往是消极或负面的情绪。”

 

A linguist from the University of Cambridge, Owen McArdle, told the newspaper: “I’m not sure I agree about emails. I guess it depends how formal they are.”

 

剑桥大学的语言学家欧文·麦卡德尔告诉《每日邮报》：“电子邮件中的处理方式，我不太确定。要看邮件有多正式。”

 

“But full stops are, in my experience, very much the exception and not the norm in [young people’s] instant messages, and have a new role in signifying an abrupt or angry tone of voice.”

 

“但根据我的经验，在（年轻人的）即时通讯中，句号的确是个例外，它并不常见，而且它有了一个新角色，就是表达突兀或愤怒的语调。”

 

And the potential change in meaning of the full stop, in relation to online communication, has been debated by linguists for years.

 

关于句号的含义在网络交流中可能发生的变化，语言学家已经争论了很多年。

 

Professor David Crystal, one of the world’s leading language experts, argues that the usage of full stops is being “revised in a really fundamental way”.

 

大卫·克里斯特尔教授是世界顶尖的语言专家之一，他认为句号的用法正在“从根本上发生改变”。

 

In his book, Making a Point, he says that the punctuation mark has become an “emotion marker” which alerts the recipient that the sender is angry or annoyed.

 

他在所著的《表达观点》一书中写道，句号已经变成了一种“情绪标记”，提醒收件人，发件人生气或恼怒。

 

He wrote: “You look at the internet or any instant messaging exchange – anything that is a fast dialogue taking place. People simply do not put full stops in, unless they want to make a point.”

 

他写道：“看看互联网或任何即时通讯交流，任何正在发生的快速对话。除非想要表明一个观点，否则人们根本不会使用句号。”

 

“The full stop is now being used in those circumstances as an emotion marker.”

 

“如今，句号在这些语境中被用来表达情绪。”

 

In 2015, a study from Binghamton University in New York suggested that people who finish messages with full stops are perceived as insincere.

 

2015年，纽约宾汉姆顿大学的一项研究表明，用句号结束短信的人会被认为不真诚。

 

The study involved 126 undergraduates and the researchers found that text messages ending in the most final of punctuation marks – eg “lol.”, “let’s go to Nando’s.” – were perceived as being less sincere.

 

共有126名大学生参与了这项研究，研究人员发现，使用句号的短信会被认为不那么真诚，比如“大声笑（Laugh Out Loud）。”或“我们去Nando’s烤鸡店吧。”。

 

Unusually, texts ending in an exclamation point – “lmao!”, “just a cheeky one!”, “what body part even is that? I hope it’s your arm!” – are deemed heartfelt or more profound.

 

不同寻常的是，短信以感叹号结尾被认为是真心诚意或更深刻的。比如，“笑死我了！”“真是个厚颜无耻的家伙!”“那到底是什么身体部位？我希望是你的胳膊！”。

 

Research leader Celia Klin said at the time: “When speaking, people easily convey social and emotional information with eye gaze, facial expressions, tone of voice, pauses and so on.”

 

研究负责人西莉亚·克林当时说：“在说话的时候，人们很容易通过凝视、面部表情、语调、停顿等方式传递社交和情感信息。”

 

“People obviously can’t use these mechanisms when they are texting. Thus, it makes sense that texters rely on what they have available to them – emoticons, deliberate misspellings that mimic speech sounds and, according to our data, punctuation.”

 

“人们在发短信时显然不能使用这些方式。因此，我们的研究数据显示，发短信的人依赖他们现有的表情符号、刻意用错别字来模仿语音，以及使用标点符号来传递信息，这都是有道理的。”

 

The full stop derives from Greek punctuation introduced by Aristophanes of Byzantium in the 3rd Century BC.

 

句号源自希腊标点符号，由拜占庭的阿里斯多芬尼斯（古希腊早期喜剧代表作家、诗人）在公元前3世纪引入。

英文、中文版本下载：http://www.yingyushijie.com/shop/source/detail/id/2446.html