語言建造家:自造語言的無窮魅力：澳門威斯尼斯wns888

When he was a student in linguistics and English at the University of California, Berkeley, David Peterson worked on a secret language for two months. It was called “Megdevi”. This was an amalgam of both his own name and Megan, his girlfriend at the time. Once satisfied with his new words and grammar rules, he presented it to her. It was his grand romantic gesture: a private language they could use to communicate only with each other.戴維彼得森(David Peterson)在美國加州大學伯克利分校(University of California, Berkeley)自學語言學和英文時，花上兩個月時間發明者了一種秘密語言，給它取名為“梅戴語”(Megdevi)——這是大衛和他當時的女友梅甘(Megan)名字的結合體。待新詞和語法規則令其他失望后，他將成果展出給女友。

這是他送達的一份十分愛情的愛情大禮：一種只在他倆之間用于的偷窺語言?！癢e didn’t use it”, the 33-year-old admits today, 15 years later. While Megan appreciated the effort, she did not want to learn the language. “It was far too much work.” Now married to someone else, he is more agitated about the technical shortcomings of Megdevi, describing it as “an abomination”. He laments: “It tried to be a bunch of different things at once and ended up being nothing.”不過15年后，33歲的彼得森否認：“我們沒用過它?！泵犯孰m然贊許了他的希望，但并想自學這門語言。

“過于費力了?！比缃?，已嫁給別人為妻的彼得森對“梅戴語”的技術缺失更加煩躁，稱之為之“令人討厭”。他忘道：“它想要一次構建許多個目標，結果淪落一無是處。

”Back then he was under the illusion he was the first person to create a language just for himself. “I thought I’d cornered the market and there would be demand for invented languages.” Later, when he searched the internet, he saw there were legions of people just like him, picking holes in grammar rules and admiring the poetry of their new lexicons in chat rooms around the world.當時，他還以為自己是頭一個為自己建構一門語言的人?！拔乙詾樽约翰粫艛嗍袌?，人們對新的語言的發明者不會有市場需求?！焙髞?，他在網上搜尋后找到，世界上有許多像他這樣的人，他們在聊天室里給語法規則挑毛病，喜愛用自己新發明的詞匯寫的詩歌。

The invention of new languages has a rich history. Some have a political purpose such as Esperanto, created in the 19th century to foster peace, or the feminist Láadan, created in 1982. Another, Toki Pona, uses positive words to engender positive thinking.新的語言的發明者史豐富多彩。一些語言具有政治目的，例如，發明者于19世紀的世界語(Esperanto)是為了增進和平，發明者于1982年的拉丹語(Láadan)具有女權主義色彩。還有一種道本語(Toki Pona)，這種語言用于大力詞匯，以希望大力思維。

Today Mr Peterson is a professional “conlanger” – the name that those who construct languages give to themselves. What transformed his hobby into a trade was the growing desire by television and film producers to infuse science fiction and fantasy dramas with authenticity, including completely fabricated and naturalistic languages. Fans scrutinise the languages, sharing inconsistencies on Twitter and discussion forums.如今，彼得森是職業的“語言設計師”(conlanger)——那些獨創語言的人以此有別。他的嗜好緣何變為職業？這是因為科幻和奇幻類影視劇制片商更加執著在劇中營造一種真實感，還包括建構幾乎虛構的自然主義語言。影迷劇迷們對這些語言的研究細致入微，還在Twitter和論壇上共享劇中語言的破綻。

Mr Peterson’s big break was Game of Thrones, the lavish HBO drama, which next month starts its fourth season.彼得森的重大突破是《權力的游戲》(Game of Thrones)。這部HBO的奢華大劇下月將播出第4季。

In 2008, after completing a masters in linguistics and teaching English at a community college, Mr Peterson found himself unemployed. He entered a competition set by the Game of Thrones producers for members of the Language Creation Society, a group he had co-founded, to promote, discuss and deconstruct invented languages.2008年，在修完語言學碩士學位、并在一所社區學院教授了一段時間的英語之后，彼得森失業了。他參與了《權力的游戲》制片商面向“語言建構協會”(Language Creation Society)會員成立的一場競賽。彼得森是協會的牽頭創始人之一，協會宗旨是推展、辯論和解構人造語言。

The group was invited to devise a language – Dothraki – for the show. He won both rounds – the first, judged by his peers, the second by the television executives. It changed his working life.協會應邀為電視劇設計一門語言——多斯拉克語(Dothraki)。他在兩輪比賽中均告落敗——第一輪是會員評審，第二輪是電視制片方評審。

這轉變了他的職業道路。Unlike previous languages he had worked on, Dothraki had some basics already in place. George RR Martin, author of the five volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire, the fantasy saga on which the TV series is based, had created some words already. By analysing these, he fleshed it out to create a “naturalistic” language, reflecting the feudal pseudo-Mongolian society’s preoccupations. There are, for example, seven different words in Dothraki for striking with a sword. These include: “hlizikh”, a wild but powerful strike; and “kolverikh”, a straight sword thrust.與他之前設計的語言有所不同，多斯拉克語早已不具備了一些基本成分。

電視劇根據魔幻傳奇小說《冰與火之歌》(A Song of Ice and Fire)五部曲改篇，小說作者喬治馬丁(George RR Martin)早已建構了一些單詞。彼得森對單詞展開了分析，為它們添枝加葉，建構出有了一門“自然主義”語言，并體現出有那個虛構的蒙古封建社會更加注目哪些方面。例如，在多斯拉克語中，有7個單詞可以形容使劍的動作，比如，“hlizifikh”指背離目標但非常有力的一擊,“kolverikh”形容筆直的一螫。

While Mr Martin has insisted he did not pay attention to linguistic rules, Mr Peterson believes the author has a “natural language affinity”. Typically, he says, fantasy writers “do a terrible job”. Their languages are inconsistent and merely bastardised English.雖然馬丁否認自己未故意注目語言學規則，但彼得森指出他很有“建構語言的天賦”。彼得森回應，魔幻作家建構的語言一般來說“是一團糟”，不僅漏洞百出，而且往往只不過是換回了個樣子的英語。

By the start of the first season, Mr Peterson had created 1,700 words and now has added another 2,000. He has set a goal of 10,000, though he has become derailed by working on other science fiction and fantasy projects.到第一季開始播映時，彼得森早已發明者了1700個單詞，如今又新創了2000個單詞。他將目標設于1萬個，但眼下其他科幻和魔幻方面的項目開始集中他的精力。He records every line that he writes in Dothraki so that actors can learn how to pronounce the words. Actors do a pretty good job, he says, although when he sees the final product he often cringes (mistakes are made, he says, by editors and directors who do not have an ear for his language and might choose a clip best left on the cutting floor).他將自己寫的每一句多斯拉克語臺詞都記了下來，以便演員自學發音。

他說道，演員們習得不俗，但剪輯好的最后成品經常讓他深感十分不得已（他說道，錯誤都出有在剪輯師和編劇那里，他們不懂多斯拉克語，往往把本應當剪去的片段留給。）Originally Mr Peterson’s goal had been to become an English teacher in high school. While an undergraduate at Berkeley, Mr Peterson, who is half-Mexican and speaks Spanish, studied different languages for fun: basic Arabic, a term of Russian. At his mother’s suggestion he learnt linguistics, which sparked his interest in language creation.彼得森最初的目標是當一名高中英文教師。在伯克利讀本科時，有一半墨西哥血統、不會說道西班牙語的彼得森出于興趣自學過有所不同語言。

他習過一點阿拉伯文，還習了一學期的俄文。在母親的建議下，他開始自學語言學，這喚起了他對建構語言的興趣。

Once he started he realised there was no chance he would ever stop. “It’s addictive,” he says. He has always had tunnel vision when it comes to his personal passions. When he was very young it was drawing, then writing, until he became focused on languages.他發現自己的研究一發不可收拾。他回應：“這不會讓人成癮?！彼麑ψ约旱呐d趣向來十分投放。

小時候他愛好者過繪畫，然后是文學創作，最后，他的興趣集中于到了語言學上。The work satisfies the mathematical side of his brain, he says, by trying to “solve the problem of communication”. But it is also artistic. “Filling out a lexicon means filling out the back story. It is not purely mechanical.”他回應，嘗試“解決問題交流的問題”，符合了他頭腦中的數學一面。但這一工作也具備藝術性。

“填上一個詞語，意味著填上一段歷史。這不是純粹機械的工作?！盩he transformational moment for conlangers was Klingon. Marc Okrand, a linguist, was hired to create a language for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Klingons had largely spoken English in the original Star Trek television series), which was released in 1984.語言設計師的轉折點是克林貢語(Klingon)。語言學家馬克奧克蘭德(Marc Okrand)聘為為1984年公映的《星際變形金剛3：石破天驚》(Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)建構一門新的語言（在《星際變形金剛》原版電視劇中，克林貢人主要說道英語）。

Later came James Cameron’s science fiction extravaganza, Avatar. For that the director hired Paul Frommer, a linguistics expert from the University of Southern California, to create the Na’vi language spoken by a 10-foot-tall alien tribe.之后是詹姆斯卡梅隆(James Cameron)的科幻巨制《阿凡達》(Avatar)?？仿∑赣昧嗣绹霞又荽髮W(University of Southern California)的語言學專家保羅弗羅默(Paul Frommer)，為片中10英尺高的外星人——納威人(Navi)——建構一門納威語。

Professor Frommer’s modus operandi includes determining the sound of the language (deciding which sounds are included and pronunciation rules); the morphology (word-building rules); and the syntax (rules for combining words into phrases and sentences). It was also important to plan how the Na’vi culture would be reflected in the language.弗羅默教授的工作方法還包括，確認該語言的發音（要求取哪些音素，以及確認發音規則）、詞形（構詞法）以及句法（如何將詞語人組為短語和句子）。在語言設計中將該語言對納威文化的體現考慮到轉入，這也是很最重要的一點。Good language creators, Prof Frommer says, have a deep understanding of linguistic principles; knowledge of a wide variety of languages; sensitivity to the interplay between language, culture and environment; imagination and a clear idea of purpose – how and why will the language be used. Without a goal, Mr Peterson says, a language is “a jumble, with choices made seemingly at random”.弗羅默回應，杰出的語言設計師熟諳語言學規則，通曉多門語言，留意語言、文化、環境的相互作用，想象力非常豐富，并且目標明晰，即對這門語言的用于方式以及目的心中有數。

彼得森回應，沒目的性的語言將“亂七八糟，樣子隨便重新組合一起的一樣”。Science fiction and fantasy films inspire fierce devotion. Some fans have tattoos using the writing system Mr Peterson created for the sci-fi TV series Defiance. “That blows my mind,” he says.科幻和魔幻電影引起了瘋狂的跟隨。

有的影迷在紋身時用于了彼得森為科幻電視劇《抗爭》(Defiance)建構的語言文字?！斑@讓我很興奮，”彼得森說道。

Video games should be a rich source of work yet developers care more about the artwork and gaming than linguistic consistency, he says. However, he makes an exception for one game in development, which he declines to name.彼得森回應，電子游戲本不應是語言設計師大顯身手的舞臺，但開發商更加注目藝術效果和游戲體驗，而不是語言的嚴密性。他回應有一款正在研發的游戲是個值得注意，不過他不愿透漏游戲名稱。Professional linguists can be rather sniffy about conlangers, although Prof Frommer insists conlangs “can serve as laboratories to test ideas about language”. Mr Peterson, who believes linguistic construction should be taught at school, sees television’s use of conlangs as educational. “People are coming to linguistics because they are interested in my work.”專業的語言學家可能會看不起語言設計師，但弗羅默教授堅決指出人造語言“可以作為測試語言理念的實驗室”。

彼得森指出學校應當教授建構語言的學問，在他顯然，電視節目對人造語言的用于起著了教育起到?！叭藗円驗閷ξ业墓ぷ鞲信d趣，開始認識語言學。

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