韦氏词典2019年度词汇：they
周二，韦氏词典宣布人称代词they(他们/她们)为年度词汇，这标志着越来越多人使用这个古老的复数人称代词，来指代性别认同非二元的个人。
Merriam-webster on Tuesday named the personal pronoun “they” as its word of the year, marking the growing use of the ancient plural personal pronoun to refer to individuals whose gender identity is not binary.
该词典称，年度词汇是基于数据选出的：2019年，韦氏词典网站和应用程序中，they的词义搜索量比去年增加了313%。去年的年度词汇是justice(正义)，2017年则是feminism(女权主义)。
The dictionary says word of the year is chosen based on data: searches for “they” on merriam-webster’s website and app increased 313 percent in 2019 over the previous year. Last year’s word of the year was “justice”, while in 2017 it was “feminism”.
韦氏词典总编辑彼得·索科洛夫斯基(Peter Sokolowski)说，公众对词汇的兴趣通常是由重大新闻事件驱动的。今年其他一些获得了较高搜索量的词语包括quid pro quo(交换条件)和impeachment(弹劾)，这些都与政治头条新闻相关。
Peter Sokolowski, merriam-webster’s editor-in-chief, said public interest in words is often driven by big news events. Other terms that received high searches this year included quid pro quo and impeachment, all of which were linked to political headlines.
但像they这样的实用性词语获得搜索热潮并不常见。它可能反映出人们对越来越多使用非二元人群的代词产生的好奇和困惑。
But it’s not often that practical terms like they get a buzz. It may reflect curiosity and confusion about the increasing use of pronouns from non-binary groups.
许多美国人，尤其是年长的美国人在发现人们把they用作单数人称代词时，会感到有些困惑。“对于那些没有跟上形势的人，他们会这样抱怨，”韦氏词典在一篇博客文章中写道。 “将they用作不特指性别的代词是不合语法的，因为they是复数代词。”
Many americans, especially older ones, are somewhat puzzled to find that they are used as singular personal pronouns. “For those who don’t keep up, they complain,” merriam-webster wrote in a blog post. “Using they as gender-neutral pronouns is ungrammatical because they are plural pronouns.”
但是对于那些性别认同非二元的个人来说，被称为“他”或“她”是不准确的。皮尤研究中心(Pew Research)去年秋天进行的一项调查显示，超过三分之一的美国青少年和20出头的年轻人认识使用性别中立代词的人。这个数字是40岁左右的人的两倍，是50和60岁人的三倍。
But for individuals whose gender identity is not binary, being called “he” or “she” is not accurate. More than a third of American teenagers and 20-somethings know someone who USES gender-neutral pronouns, according to a Pew Research survey last fall. That’s twice as many as people in their 40s and three times as many as people in their 50s and 60s.
为其他性别认同正名的努力触发了社交媒体资料和电子邮件签名上出现的新代词。最近，一些州和市政府在身份文件中为非二元性别者添加了“X”选项，该选项以前只有“M”(男性)和“F”(女性)。此外，据《纽约时报》报道，今年至少有六个州的立法者在司法实践中努力促成单数they的使用。
Efforts to justify other gender identities have triggered new pronouns on social media profiles and email signatures. Recently, some states and municipalities have added an “X” option to their identity documents for people who are not of the binary gender, an option previously limited to “M” (male) and “F” (female). In addition, lawmakers in at least six states have pushed for the use of the singular in judicial practice this year, according to the New York times.
韦氏词典在其词条中为they添加了单数人称代词的定义，用来指拥有非二元性别的人，并指出在出版、编辑和社交媒体中，使用单数they来指非二元性别个人的现象越来越常见。
Merriam-webster added a definition of singular personal pronouns to its entry for “they”, which refers to people of a non-binary gender, and noted that the use of the singular “they” to refer to non-binary individuals is increasingly common in publishing, editing and social media.
为了详细说明这一点，韦氏词典引用了《纽约时报》最近的一篇文章：
To elaborate on this, merriam-webster cites a recent New York times article:
周二，韦氏词典援引2019年的几则新闻来解释促使人们搜索they一词的好奇心。在众议院司法委员会的一次听证会上，议员普拉米拉·贾亚帕(Pramila Jayapal)表示，they是她孩子的代词。歌手山姆·史密斯(Sam Smith)宣布其代词是they和them。美国心理学会(American Psychological Association)建议在学术写作中使用单数形式的they来指代性别未知者，或那些自己使用they的人。
On Tuesday, merriam-webster cited several news stories from 2019 to explain the curiosity that drives searches for the word they. At a hearing of the house judiciary committee, lawmaker Pramila Jayapal said they were her children’s pronouns. The singer Sam Smith announced that his pronouns were they and them. The American Psychological Association recommends using the singular form “they” in academic writing to refer to people of unknown gender or to those who use them themselves.
“作为一个语言爱好者，这个事情中有趣的是我们目睹了社会因素直接影响语言的转变，”索科洛夫斯基说。“这种影响我们大概凭直觉就能知道，但很少能像在这件事中看到的那么清晰。”
What’s interesting about this, as a language lover, is that we’re seeing social factors directly influence the transformation of language, sokolowski said. “The effect is something we know intuitively, but rarely as clearly as we see in this case.”
