双语 | 练一口标准的伦敦音真的有用吗？

在很多人的观念中，说一口流利标准的伦敦音或美音是身份与地位的象征，甚至顿时能让自己高大上起来。在历史中也不乏为了提升地位改变口音的例子，这在奥黛丽·赫本饰演的《窈窕淑女》中也得到了淋漓尽致的体现，她演绎了一名下层阶级的卖花女被中产阶层语言学教授改造成优雅贵妇的故事，广受观众好评。

那么，能够说一口流利的标准语真的就高大上了吗？下面这篇研究调查告诉你真相...

They say you should always dress for success, but should that extend to the way you speak?

人们常说人靠衣装，但对于口音，这个说法是否依然适用呢？

There are some famous names who have done it: Margaret Thatcher swapped her Lincolnshire accent for a posher one, adopting the standard “received pronunciation”  (or RP), which at the time was thought to be more in keeping with a position of political power.

许多名人的确改变过口音：玛格丽特·撒切尔曾将自己的林肯郡口音变成了更优雅的英语标准发音（RP），当时，人们认为手握政治大权的人更适合这种口音。

▲第49任英国首相玛格丽特·撒切尔

A standard dialect is simply one local variety of a language which has become most publicly accepted in social institutions such as the media, the law and government. In many Anglophone countries, the dialect spoken by most of the population is considered to be standard, such as Standard American or Standard Australian English. In the UK, however, the so-called standard—known as RP or the Queen’s English—is spoken natively by less than 3%. Yet, it’s unreasonable to suppose most Britons are speaking their own language incorrectly.

标准语不过是一种最为媒体、法庭和政府等社会机构所接受的地方语。在许多英语国家，使用人数最多的方言就被视为标准语，如标准美国英语、标准澳大利亚英语。然而在英国，只有不到3%的人生来就讲所谓的标准语（也叫RP或女王口音），但是，我们也不能认为大多数英国人的发音就是错误的。

Linguist and author Rosina Lippi-Green refers to this as “the standard language ideology”, where many people believe the dialect with the highest social prestige is also the only correct and valid form of the language. In fact, all dialects and accents are linguistically valid.

语言学家和作家罗塞娜·里皮-格林将此现象称为“标准语言意识形态”，人们认为，只有最具社会声望的方言才是正确的语言。事实上，在语言学中，所有方言和口音都是正确的。

How far is too far? 何为矫枉过正？

No doubt, we find some accents more entertaining or more amusing than others. But accents aren't just purely about how we speak—they are one of the most distinctive cues for where we come from. They immediately mark out who we are and they form a core part of our identity. Entire stereotypes have built up around different accents—New Yorkers are rude, British RP speakers are educated, Yorkshire speakers are trustworthy, Southern Americans are pleasant, and Birmingham speakers, depending on who you ask, either sound melodic or like criminals.

我们无疑会认为有些口音听起来比其他口音更有趣好玩。但口音不仅代表说话方式，也是最能够透露出我们来自何处的显著标志之一。人们会立刻对我们形成一种印象，成为对我们身份感官的核心组成部分。人们对各种口音有许多刻板印象——纽约口音粗鲁，英语标准发音代表有良好教养，约克郡口音代表诚实可靠，美国南方口音代表可爱友善，而对于伯明翰口音则褒贬不一，有人觉得悦耳动听，有人觉得听起来像土匪。

Studies have shown it can take just 30 milliseconds of speech—enough to say “hello”—for listeners to identify a person's ethnic or cultural background as being different from their own and make snap judgements about the kind of person they might be, whether positive or negative.

研究表明，开口30毫秒，也就是说声hello的时间，人们便能听出说话人是否与自己的民族或文化背景相同，于是立刻对说话人做出正面或负面的判断。

It’s thanks to these language attitudes that for some, an accent becomes a source of cultural pride, but for others, a secret source of shame. But these attitudes about the way we sound are so pervasive that even non-standard speakers may judge their own dialects and accents just as harshly as others do, perpetuating the erroneous belief that their native speech is “incorrect” and needs to change.

正是由于这种语言态度，对一部分人而言，口音会带来文化自豪感，而对其他人而言，口音则会带来难以启齿的耻辱。但是，人们对口音的这种态度极为普遍，以致于一些口音不标准的人甚至和其他人一样，对自己的方言和发音持有十分严苛的态度，进而固化了方言是“不正确的”、需要纠正的错误观念。

This ingrained linguistic prejudice has led to studies showing that people consistently rate those with standard accents or “prestige” accents as being more competent, intelligent, effective communicators and better suited to high status professional jobs. Those with non-standard accents are often rated as better employed in lower status, less desirable jobs.

这种语言偏见根深蒂固，研究表明，人们常常认为说标准口音或“贵族”口音的人更有才干、更聪明、更善于与人沟通、更能胜任高级别的专业工作，而口音不标准的人，则更适合从事地位较低的工作。

These findings can have a major impact on our working lives and careers, especially if you speak with a non-standard accent. The more people change their accents to fit in with prevailing attitudes and stereotypes, the more those views are reinforced.

这些发现能对我们的工作和职业发展产生重大影响，如果你的口音并不标准，那么情况更是如此。人们越是改变自己的口音，去迎合大多数人的这种态度和刻板印象，这种看法就越会得到强化。

Easier said than done 说起来容易，做起来难

Before you call that speech and dialect coach, consider that even if you do successfully change your accent, it may not matter. Experiments have shown that listeners can still have problems cognitively processing information from a speaker when their accents don’t seem to match up with their perceived background.

在你联系口才和语音指导老师之前，试想一下，即使你能成功改变口音，可能也仍然无济于事。实验表明，若说话者的口音不符合听众对他的背景认识，那么听众从认知上处理说话人的信息时，可能依然会面临困难。

In one test, subjects were shown two different pictures, one of a Caucasian person and one of an Asian person. The same audio of a native speaker talking in standard American English was played as participants looked at each image.

在一个测试中，研究人员向实验对象展示了两张图，一张是白种人，一张是亚洲人。实验对象一边看着图，一边听同样的录音，录音内容是一位英语母语者用标准美国英语进行的讲话。

Subjects had significantly more trouble understanding the speech when looking at the Asian “speaker”. Some even went so far as to identify a non-existent foreign accent, showing how social biases bleed into our cognitive interpretations of language. So, it’s clear there are other social factors that play into how job candidates and employees are judged, even if you end up sounding posher than the Queen.

在看着亚裔“讲话人”的图像时，实验对象明显更难听懂录音，有些人甚至还指出录音中有外国口音，而这纯属幻想。这一实验表明，社会偏见已经渗入我们对语言的认知理解。因此，即使最终你的口音比女王还要高贵，其他社会因素也会影响人们对求职者和员工的评判。

But practically speaking, if you look the part and find it necessary and productive to lose a stigmatised accent, it’s possible to do successfully on an individual level. Many people have, but at what cost? Rather than advising people to change a core part of their identity, it’s important that all of us become more aware of our hidden linguistic prejudices. On a wider community level, for many, changing an accent isn’t a viable solution to dealing with discrimination in the workplace. In the long run, tweaking how we sound to improve our career prospects? It just doesn’t work.

但就实际情况而言，如果你想做做样子，认为有必要改变备受歧视的口音，而且这样会带来好处，那么就个人层面而言，效果也许会不错。许多人都这样做了，但代价是什么呢？与其建议人们改变自己身份的核心部分，不如提高大家对隐形语言偏见的意识。在更广的群体层面，对许多人而言改变口音并非应对职场歧视的良方。从长远来看，想靠粉饰口音以求得职业生涯畅通无阻？这根本无济于事。

英文来源：BBC

编译：Lyla

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