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拾趣 | 能用表情解决的聊天，还要发文字吗？

中国科学院大学语言服务 2021-03-17

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本文转载自“中国科学院大学外语系”公众号

（ID：ucas_wyx）

近日，腾讯QQ发布《2019年00后用户社交行为数据报告》，总结了00后用户的使用习惯。

其中一项是“00后最喜爱的表情”，分别是：亲亲、呲牙和发怒。

虽然你可能已经很久不用QQ了，但你可能忘了，00后在QQ上依然活跃着呢！

随着微信的兴起，QQ一度被看做是已经过时的一款社交软件。然而，财报数据显示，QQ上仍有超8亿的月活用户，且年轻用户比重还在不断增加。

但不管用QQ还是微信，都躲不开的习惯就是：发表情包。

从最初单调的小表情到复杂的表情包动图，表情符号已经风靡了很久，而大家也愈发习惯用表情代替文字。但表情包的功能不只是娱乐和方便那么简单，它也反映出当下年轻人的交流特点。

It is probably no exaggeration to say that, these days, anyone who uses the internet on their phone understands the formidable power of a cat GIF, a "crying with laughter" smiley, or an icon of a minuscule rose, watermelon, or cup of coffee. Today’s world is one in which the emoji reigns supreme.

毫不夸张地说，现在用手机上网的人都知道一个猫咪动图，一个“哭笑不得”的笑脸或者是一朵玫瑰、一个西瓜、一杯咖啡的图标内涵有多大。在当今世界，表情（emoji）至上。

"Emoji" is a Japanese word meaning "pictograph", composed of the Japanese characters "e", meaning "picture" and "moji", meaning "written character". In Japan, it originally referred to the ideograms and smileys used on mobile phones in the late 1990s. Since Apple added emojis to an iPhone update in 2011, they have taken the world by storm. One could say that, in the internet age, emojis are the world’s most widely understood language.

“emoji”是一个日文单词，意思是“象形图”。日文字符“e”意思是“图片”。“moji”意思是“文字”。在日本，它最初指的是20世纪90年代末在手机上使用的表意文字和笑脸。自从苹果2011年在iPhone更新中添加emoji以来，emoji迅速风靡世界。可以说，在互联网时代，表情符号是世界上最通用的语言。

However, on Chinese social media, just understanding how to use emojis is not enough. Young Chinese have become infatuated with an even more complex form of emoji called biaoqingbao, or sticker sets.

然而，在中国的社交媒体上，仅仅了解如何使用emoji远远不够。年轻人开始喜欢上一种更为复杂的emoji形式，叫做表情包（英文为biaoqingbao或sticker sets）。

Much like emojis, sticker sets are groups of graphics used to express emotions. However, emojis tend to come in uniform sets distributed by phone manufacturers as part of their products’ operating systems, making them centralized, standardized, and limited in quantity. In contrast, the power to create and distribute sticker sets doesn’t lie in the hands of corporations—anyone can create them. Sticker sets are therefore decentralized: They generally comprise images or animated GIFs of popular celebrities, viral quotes, anime scenes, or TV and film stills, frequently paired with a line of text. In essence, sticker sets are considerably more diverse and individualized than emojis.

像emoji一样，表情包是一组用来表达情感的图形。然而，emoji往往是一套图形，由手机制造商提供，作为其产品操作系统的一部分，因而具有集中性、标准化特点，且数量有限。相反，创建和传播表情包的权力并不在公司手中——任何人都可以创建表情包。因此，表情包具有分散性：通常包括明星的图片或动画动图、流行语或电视和电影剧照，通常会配有一行字。本质上，表情包比emoji更加多样化和个性化。

Sticker sets have come to dominate the social networks of young Chinese people, especially those born in the 1990s. For some of them, verbal and text-based conversations have given way to a barrage of stickers, furiously posted in a kind of competition to see who has the most or the funniest.

表情包已经逐渐主导了中国年轻人的社交网络，在90后身上更为明显。对其中一些人而言，口头和文字对话已经被一大堆表情包取代，大家在表情包竞赛中相继发图，看谁的表情包最多或最好玩。

Online messaging frequently lacks the context clues and mood indicators that we take for granted in real life, such as facial expressions, tone of voice, and pauses in speech. In China, the solution is to employ cheerful, entertaining, and tongue-in-cheek sticker sets. A skilfully used sticker is capable of accurately expressing the speaker’s state of mind without risking the tension or awkwardness that comes with social misunderstanding. They serve the same purposes as mood indicators.

网络聊天通常缺乏暗示背景和情绪的线索，例如面部表情、语调、停顿等等，而这些在实际交流中很常见。在中国，补救策略就是用表示开心、娱乐、开玩笑的表情包。一个运用得当的表情包能准确传达出说话人的情绪，避免因误解而带来的紧张和尴尬。表情包跟情绪“晴雨表”的功能差不多。

Chinese people born in the 1990s grew up in a fundamentally different environment from their elders. Today, connected to a veritable ocean of online information and surrounded by the clamor of differing opinions, new youth subcultures have emerged, challenging the previously hegemonic power of central ideology and opening up space for greater individualism and creativity.

中国90后成长的环境与上一辈迥乎不同。如今，身处网络信息的汪洋大海，被各种观念的喧嚣包围，新的青年亚文化随之而生，开始挑战之前核心意识形态称霸的局面，为个人自由和创造性开拓空间。

Young people have used this technology to construct their own system of expression and communication, complete with unique aesthetic and value systems. The internet has, in many ways, given them a means of constructing new cultural identities. It is precisely for this reason that sticker sets have won their affection. Socializing in China traditionally places a great emphasis on established etiquette that governs everything from what you wear, to how you sit, to how you treat your elders. Unsurprisingly, young people tend to dislike such overelaborate formalities.

年轻人利用这一技术形成了自己的表达和交流方式，以及独特的审美和价值体系。互联网以多种途径为年轻人提供了构建全新文化身份的方法。正因为如此，表情包受到了他们的喜爱。在中国，从穿什么到怎么坐，再到如何对待长辈，传统的社交活动非常强调礼节。而年轻人往往不喜欢这种麻烦的礼节，这可以理解。

If Chinese youths are so passionate about sticker sets, it’s also because they allow for the expression of a greater range of opinions than text or conventional emojis alone. Public discourse sometimes can be fraught with challenges. One of the reasons why expressing one’s opinions online is so popular, and why there are so many forms of online emoticons, is that virtually many other outlets for people to freely express themselves have always been blocked—the one that remains is the internet.

中国的年轻人如此痴迷表情包，也是因为相比于单一的文字或者传统的emoji，表情包让年轻人能够表达更多想法。公众话语有时会面临挑战。为什么在网上表达观点如此流行？为什么网络上这么多各种各样的表情包？原因之一可能是其他能够自由表达言论的渠道常常受阻，唯一开放的就是互联网了。

Sticker sets are the new language of China’s youth. Some of the country’s scholars are concerned that young people’s literacy skills will decline as stickers continue to dominate social media. While these concerns are not completely unfounded, they are somewhat excessive. What China’s youths need now is more channels of self-expression. We must allow them to speak more freely and independently, so that their unique subcultures may challenge mainstream culture and make mainstream values more relaxed, diverse, and tolerant.

表情包是中国年轻人的新型语言，有些学者担心随着表情包风靡，年轻人的文化素养会下降。这些担忧不无道理，但也有点杞人忧天。中国的年轻人现在需要的是更多表达自我的渠道。我们必须让他们更自由、独立地发声，让独特的亚文化挑战主流文化，从而让主流文化更轻松、多样化且更有包容性。

Source: Sixth Tone

指导：杜一朋

编辑：乔世平

审校：陈怡宇

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