语言建造家:自造语言的无穷魅力

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.
戴维•彼得森(David Peterson)在美国加州大学伯克利分校(University of California, Berkeley)学习语言学和英文时，花两个月时间发明了一种秘密语言，给它取名为“梅戴语”(Megdevi)——这是大卫和他当时的女友梅甘(Megan)名字的结合体。待新词和语法规则令他满意后，他将成果展示给女友。这是他送出的一份非常浪漫的爱情大礼：一种只在他俩之间使用的私密语言。

“We 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.”
不过15年后，33岁的彼得森承认：“我们没用过它。”梅甘虽然赞赏了他的努力，但并不想学习这门语言。“太费力了。”如今，已娶别人为妻的彼得森对“梅戴语”的技术缺陷更为心烦，称之“令人讨厌”。他叹道：“它想一次实现许多个目标，结果落得一无是处。”

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.
当时，他还以为自己是头一个为自己创造一门语言的人。“我以为自己会垄断市场，人们对新语言的发明会有需求。”后来，他在网上搜索后发现，世界上有许多像他这样的人，他们在聊天室里给语法规则挑毛病，欣赏用自己新发明的词汇写成的诗歌。

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.
新语言的发明史丰富多彩。一些语言带有政治目的，例如，发明于19世纪的世界语(Esperanto)是为了促进和平，发明于1982年的拉丹语(Láadan)带有女权主义色彩。还有一种道本语(Toki Pona)，这种语言使用积极词汇，以鼓励积极思维。

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，彼得森是职业的“语言设计师”(conlanger)——那些自造语言的人以此相称。他的爱好缘何变成职业？这是因为科幻和奇幻类影视剧制片商越来越追求在剧中营造一种真实感，包括创造完全虚构的自然主义语言。影迷剧迷们对这些语言的研究细致入微，还在Twitter和论坛上分享剧中语言的破绽。

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《权力的游戏》(Game of Thrones)。这部HBO的豪华大剧下月将开播第4季。