Full stop is “intimidating” to young people because they interpret it as sign of anger

李明敬

語言學家：年輕人發信息不愛用句號，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.

語言專家表示，在社交媒體交流中使用句號會讓年輕人感到恐慌，因為他們認為這表示憤怒。

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歲出頭的人被稱為Z世代，他們在智能手機的陪伴下長大，用智能手機發送短信，但不使用句號。

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

語言專家正在研究，為什么青少年會把正確地使用了標點的短信理解為憤怒的信號。

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.”

作家里安農·科斯萊特近日發布的推文中寫道：“年齡較大的人們，你們是否意識到，在郵件或短信聊天中使用句號對年輕人來說意味著生硬和不友善？純粹好奇。”這引發了有關年輕人對句號態度的再次討論。

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".”

犯罪小說家索菲·漢娜回復道：“我問過16歲的兒子，這顯然是真的。如果他收到的短信末尾有句號，他會認為發件人‘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.

專家認為，習慣用電子設備交流的年輕人會將他們的想法分開發送，而不是使用句號，因為句號只能表示他們很惱火或憤怒。

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

有些人說，發短信時用句號是多余的，因為短信發出那句話就結束了。

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.”

據英國《每日電訊報》報道，荷蘭萊頓大學的語言學家勞倫·方廷博士在推特上寫道：“發短信時不加句號，很明顯你也已經說完了。”

“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.”

“所以如果已經結束了，你還額外加上一個表示完成的符號，人們就會解讀出一些往往是消極或負面的情緒。”

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.”

劍橋大學的語言學家歐文·麥卡德爾告訴《每日郵報》：“電子郵件中的處理方式，我不太確定。要看郵件有多正式。”

“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.”

“但根據我的經驗，在（年輕人的）即時通訊中，句號的確是個例外，它并不常見，而且它有了一個新角色，就是表達突兀或憤怒的語調。”

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

關于句號的含義在網絡交流中可能發生的變化，語言學家已經爭論了很多年。

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“.

大衛·克里斯特爾教授是世界頂尖的語言專家之一，他認為句號的用法正在“從根本上發生改變”。

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《表達觀點》一書中寫道，句號已經變成了一種“情緒標記”，提醒收件人，發件人生氣或惱怒。

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.

他寫道：“看看互聯網或任何即時通訊交流，任何正在發生的快速對話。除非想要表明一個觀點，否則人們根本不會使用句號。”

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

“如今，句號在這些語境中被用來表達情緒。”

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，紐約賓漢姆頓大學的一項研究表明，用句號結束短信的人會被認為不真誠。

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名大學生參與了這項研究，研究人員發現，使用句號的短信會被認為不那么真誠，比如“大聲笑（Laugh Out Loud）。”或“我們去Nando“s烤雞店吧。”

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.

不同尋常的是，短信以感嘆號結尾被認為是真心誠意或更深刻的。比如，“笑死我了！”、 “真是個厚顏無恥的家伙！”、“那到底是什么身體部位？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.

研究負責人西莉亞·克林當時說：“在說話的時候，人們很容易通過凝視、面部表情、語調、停頓等方式傳遞社交和情感信息。”

“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.“

“人們在發短信時顯然不能使用這些方式。因此，我們的研究數據顯示，發短信的人依賴他們現有的表情符號、刻意用錯別字來模仿語音，以及使用標點符號來傳遞信息，這都是有道理的。”

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

句號源自希臘標點符號，由拜占庭的阿里斯多芬尼斯（古希臘早期喜劇代表作家、詩人）在公元前3世紀引入。