politics, performance, and authenticity in the Tibetan diaspora

作者叶蓓，一个嫁给流亡印度藏人的美籍台湾女人。
这里只贴了别人翻译的“语言政治”这一部分。
http://www.anti-cnn.com/forum/cn/thread-189456-1-1.html

语言政治 (The politics of language)

Language - dialect and words used, as well as intonations and accompanying gestures - is an embodied competence which in turn structures social relations. Bourdieu writes that:
语言——方言、用辞以及语调和相应手势——是一种能力的具体体现，这种能力转而又塑造了社会关系。布尔迪厄写道：

“every confrontation between agents ... brings together ... systems of dispositions, such as a linguistic competence and a cultural competence, and, through these habitus, all the objective structures of which they are a part, structures which are active only when embodied in a competence acquired in the course of a particular history (with the different types of bilingualism or pronunciation, for example, stemming from different modes of acquisition)” (emphasis in original).
“行动者相互间的遭遇将诸如语言能力和文化能力等习性体系串联起来；而透过这些惯习，又把所有的客观结构串联起来，有些结构仅当被包含在某一特定历史时期所需的某项能力之时才有效。比如，起源于不同类型需求的各种双语能力或发音方法”。

Not surprisingly, then, a key element in the distrust of 'new arrivals' in India, and, even more so, of Tibetans from Tibet in the USA, is the fact that they speak Chinese, which is understood as 'the language of the enemy'. Many Tibetans who escaped to India in the 1980s - particularly those who came of age during the Cultural Revolution - recounted to me their frustrations at arriving in Dharamsala unable to read or write Tibetan because they had not been taught in school.
一点也不奇怪的是，对印度的“新来者”——甚至是对那些从西藏来到美国的藏族人不信任的一个关键因素是他们讲汉语这样一个事实，而汉语被认为是“敌人的语言”。很多在20世纪80年代——尤其是在文化大革命的岁月里逃到印度的西藏人向我叙述了到达兰萨拉后无法读写藏语而遇到的挫折，因为此前学校并没有教他们藏语。

Linguistic tensions are considerably heightened by certain characteristics of the Tibetan language itself. Classical literary Tibetan has a remarkably conservative orthography, but the many spoken dialects have changed dramatically, such that they are consistent neither with the literary language nor with each other. Vernacular Tibetan is highly nonstandardized, with large regional variations that are mutually incomprehensible; dialects diverge significantly even within small geographical areas. In exile a version of Lhasa dialect is taught in schools and has become the common, standardized language of the diaspora. As a result, few younger Tibetans in the diaspora are able to speak or understand regional dialects. In Tibet, by contrast, regional dialects continue to be used, but much less has been done to promote a transregional standardized Tibetan - with Mandarin instead filling the role of a lingua franca. Linguistic differences thus inflect the different national contexts with which Tibetans are associated.
藏语本身的某些特点也在相当程度上加深了语言上的紧张关系。正统的书面藏语采用的是一种非常保守的拼字法，但许多藏语方言口语已经发生了巨大的变化，这些方言口语不但和书面语不同，而且相互之间也不一致。藏族土语非常不标准，区域间口语的差异大到了难以相互理解的地步。即便是在小范围的地理区域内，方言的差异也很显著。在流亡地区，学校教授的是拉萨方言的一种版本，这种方言已成为这一侨区共同的、标准化的语言。其结果是，侨区里几乎没有年轻的藏人能够讲或听懂其它地域的方言。反过来，在西藏，地区方言继续通行，但未能形成一种跨地区的标准化藏语，反而是普通话充当了通用语的角色。语言上的差别使维系着藏人的民族背景在其彼此之间发生了相异的变化。

As a result, many new arrivals from the eastern regions of Kham and Amdo are perfectly fluent in their own Tibetan dialects, but have a great deal of difficulty with the Lhasa dialect that has become the diasporic standard. On the other hand, many of them can speak at least some Chinese. Indeed, several Tibetans from Gyalthang, in Yunnan, recalled that, when they first arrived in Lhasa on the way to India, they resorted to Chinese to communicate with other Tibetans, even though their own Mandarin was far from perfect. When they tried the same way of communicating in India, however, they were chastised for speaking Chinese. Another man from Chamdo remembers, "When I first arrived in India, I constantly had to explain [to other Tibetans] that just because I sometimes read a Chinese newspaper didn't mean that I didn't understand [Tibetan] politics. I always had to explain that one must consider the contents of a book or what someone is saying, not just what language it's in." These misunderstandings are exacerbated by the changing regional composition of the diasporic population. In 1991 only about 5% of Tibetans in South Asia were from Amdo, though Amdo accounted for 27% of the Tibetan population before 1959. The proportion of Tibetans from Amdo leaving Tibet has been increasing, however. The fact that Amdo dialects are the most divergent from the 'standard' Lhasa dialect means that these Tibetans are especially likely to encounter these linguistic difficulties, which are sometimes read as problems of authenticity and, by extension, of national loyalty.
因此，许多来自西藏东部的康巴及安多地区的新来者说起自己地区的藏语方言非常流利，但说起已成为侨区标准的拉萨方言来却有很大的困难。另外，他们中的许多人至少都会讲一点汉语。的确，几名从云南建塘来的藏民回忆说，当他们在去印度的路上第一次来到拉萨时，他们可以借助汉语来和其他藏人交流，尽管他们的普通话也不算好。但到了印度，当他们想如法炮制时，却因讲汉语而遭到了责骂。另一名从昌都来的男子记得：“当我刚刚到达印度时，我不断的（向其他藏人）解释说，我有时看下中文报纸并不能说明我就不懂（藏人的）政治。我老是不得不解释说，人们要看一本书或是一个人说的是什么内容，而不能只看它（他）用的是什么语言。”由于侨区的人口来源地成分不断变化，这类误解被加剧了。在1991年只有约5％的南亚藏人来自安多，但是1959年前安多藏人已占到当地藏族人口的27％。并且，来自安多的离藏人员比例一直在增加。事实上，安多方言和“标准”的拉萨方言差的最远，意味着安多藏人格外可能遇到语言上的麻烦，这有时候会被当作正统与否的问题，甚至上升到民族忠诚度的问题。

For example, one day in the winter of 2001 I walked down a busy street in Berkeley, California, with a young woman from Amdo whom I had worked with several years prior, in Qinghai province, and who had just arrived in the USA. We ran into an older man, a former headmaster of a Tibetan high school in India. I introduced the two, and was part of the following exchange:
例如，2001年冬季的一天，笔者和一位刚从安多来到美国的年轻女子（数年前曾和她在青海省共事）一起走过加州伯克利市的一条繁忙的街道。途中碰到了一个老人，他是印度一所藏人高中的前任校长。笔者介绍这两人认识，并参与了如下的对话：

Man [in Lhasa Tibetan]: "So you're from Amdo? Did you come to the US for school?"
Woman [not comprehending]: [no response]
Man [in Lhasa Tibetan]: "I said, did you come to the US to go to school?"
Woman [to me in Chinese]: "What did he say?"
Author [in Chinese]: "He asked whether you came to the US to study."
Woman [in Amdo dialect to man]: "No, I came to visit my boyfriend."
Man [in Lhasa Tibetan, not understanding her response]: "Such a shame. When I see Tibetans who can't speak Tibetan, I feel very sad."
Author [in Lhasa Tibetan, protesting]: "But she's speaking Tibetan!"
老人（拉萨方言）：“你从安多来的？你是来美国上学吗？”
女子（听不懂）：（没回答）
老人（拉萨方言）：“我是说，你是来美国上学吗？”
女子（汉语；对笔者）：“他在说什么？”
笔者（汉语）：“他问你是不是到美国来学习的。”
女子（安多方言；对老人）：“不，我是来看望男朋友的。”
老人（拉萨方言；听不懂她的答复）：“真让人感到羞耻。当我看到藏人不会说藏语时，我都感到非常难过。”
笔者（拉萨方言；抗议）：“但她说的（也）是藏语啊！”

The linguistic sensibilities of the long-time exiles include not only the view that using Chinese is unacceptable but also, particularly among the younger generation, a tendency to code switch with Hindi and English. Indeed, many younger Tibetans in South Asia speak Hindi and Nepali as well as, or better than, Tibetan; in the USA, virtually all Tibetans speak English better than Tibetan. However, whereas mixing Hindi and English words into Tibetan sentences is considered hip and stylish, the use of Chinese words is considered unacceptable. For them, a Tibetan who speaks Chinese cannot be truly Tibetan and cannot be trusted for his or her political viewpoints.
长期流亡者的语言情结不仅包括认为使用汉语是不可接受的，也包括——尤其是在年轻一代中——那种与印地语及英语进行语码转换的倾向。事实上，很多南亚的年轻藏人印地语和尼泊尔语说得和藏语一样好，甚至比藏语更好；在美国，几乎所有藏人英语都说得比藏语好。然而，虽然把印地语和英语单词混入藏语句子中被看做是新潮和时尚的，使用汉语词汇却被认为是不可接受的。对他们来说，一个讲汉语的藏人不是真正的藏人，其政治观点也是不能信任的。

By contrast, those Tibetans who have experienced 'new arrival' status in India have had personal experience in Tibet and thus have had a closer engagement with Chinese culture. Though many of them left Tibet for political reasons, they do not assume that other Tibetans' use of the Chinese language has a necessary connection to political views. There is an even greater linguistic gap between long-time exiles and the Tibetans who come directly from Tibet, because many of the latter come having finished college in the PRC, and thus may find speaking Chinese just as convenient as speaking Tibetan (or, at least, Lhasa-dialect Tibetan). Even more than the new arrivals in India, they are likely to speak excellent Chinese, enjoy Chinese television and music, and have mannerisms, gestures, and taste in food and clothing that mark them as 'un-Tibetan' to the Tibetan exiles from South Asia.
反过来，那些在印度有过“新来者”境遇的藏人都有在西藏生活的亲身经历，从而与中华文化有过更近的接触。虽然当中的许多人是由于政治原因而离开西藏，但他们并不认为藏人使用汉语就与政治观点存在必然联系。在长期流亡的藏人和从西藏直接过来的藏人之间还有一个更大的语言差距，就是后者里边有许多人都是在中国完成大学学业的，因此，人们可能会发现他们讲汉语就像讲藏语（或至少像讲藏语拉萨方言）一样方便。比起印度那些新来者更甚的是，他们很可能会讲流利的汉语，欣赏汉语的电视和音乐；还有着不同的习惯、手势，以及食物和衣着品味——对于来自南亚的流亡藏人来说，这些都标志着他们是“非藏人”。

They also use Chinese loan words. Indeed, Tibetan intellectuals in exile as well as Western Tibet scholars have expressed dismay at the general inability of most Tibetans in Lhasa to speak Tibetan without extensive borrowing of Chinese. This includes not only relatively new words, such as 'television' and 'fax', for which Tibetan equivalents have been created but have failed to be widely adopted, but also familiar words such as numbers and days of the week. Tibetans in Tibet are well aware of, and worried about, the fact that Tibetan literacy rates are low, and that some youth, particularly those whose high marks allow them to study in schools in other parts of China, have a hard time speaking pure Tibetan. In Tibet today some Tibetans privately voice dismay that their own language is, in their words, 'so useless'. With both government affairs and business conducted in Mandarin there is little incentive for students to study Tibetan.
他们还使用外来的汉语词汇。事实上，对于大多数拉萨的藏人在说藏语时通常没法不大量借用汉语的状况，流亡藏人知识分子及西方的藏学学者都表示失望。这种借用不但包括“电视”和“传真”等相对较新的词语，这些词语有着相应的藏语词汇却未被广泛采用；而且还包括一些常用词语，如数字和星期几。西藏的藏人完全认识到并在担心着这样一个事实，藏语识字率很低，一些年轻人——尤其是那些得到高分可以在中国其它地区学校学习的藏人，不太会说纯正的藏语。如今，西藏的一些藏人私下里表达了对他们自己的语言是——用他们的话说——“那样无用”的失望之情。在政务和商务都是用普通话进行沟通的情况下，几乎没有什么动力能激励学生学习藏文。

At the same time, however, many 'homeland' Tibetans wonder about Tibetan intellectuals in exile who feel more comfortable speaking English. From their perspective it is the diasporic Tibetans who really have a choice about whether to use Tibetan, and, in this, they have done no better than those who live in Tibet. Thus, they point out the hypocrisy of diasporic critics who also have trouble speaking Tibetan without code switching - to English. In fact, except in some remote areas in Tibet, in monastic settings, and among the elderly, there are few spaces in the contemporary world in which Tibetans do not make extensive use of loan words and code switching to another language. A historian in Lhasa spoke caustically to me about the criticisms he had encountered at an international conference of Tibetan scholars:
然而，与此同时，许多“本土”藏人质疑流亡藏人知识分子更习惯于讲英语的现象。从他们的角度来看，藏族侨民是真正能够选择是否要使用藏语的，但侨民在这方面并没有做得比那些生活在西藏的藏人更好。因此，他们指出侨居批评家们的虚伪，这些人也没法说不经（英语）语码转换的藏语。事实上，除了在西藏某些偏远地区、寺院环境里和长者中间，当代世界中几乎没有空间留给未广泛使用外来语或未与其它语言进行语码转换的藏语。一位拉萨的历史学家谈到他在一次国际会议上遭遇藏人学者的批评时，尖刻地对笔者说道：

"The Tibetans outside [Tibet] call us ra-ma-lug [literally 'neither goat nor sheep', ie hybrid or mixture, implying that they are not 'real' Tibetans]. Well, I'd like to challenge them to a contest. I'd like to see who can speak more Tibetan without mixing in another language! We'd [Tibetans in Tibet] win that competition for sure. Then we could find out for sure - who is more ra-ma-lug?! "
“（西藏）外边的藏人说我们是ra-ma-lug（字面意思是“既不是山羊也不是绵羊”，即杂种或混合物，暗示他们不是“真正的”藏人）。那么，我愿意和他们来场比赛一试高下——我倒要比比看谁能说更多没有混入其他语言的藏语！我们（本土藏人）肯定能赢下这场比赛。然后我们就可以清楚地知道：究竟是谁更ra-ma-lug了？！”

Unlike this scholar, whose own mastery of literary Tibetan makes him resentful of exile charges of linguistic incompetence, a Tibetan woman from Amdo, who spent a number of years in Beijing before immigrating to the USA, calls her own inability to read and write Tibetan "a victory for the Chinese government". She explained to me that she wants independence for Tibet and is a Tibetan Buddhist (nangpa, literally an 'insider'). However, she also believes that Tibetans outside should not hold anything against the Chinese language, people, or culture per se. Even more importantly, she would like more sympathetic understanding from other Tibetans in the USA that she cannot just erase seventeen years of Chinese education, and, at the same time, that this does not make her sems (mind) any less Tibetan.
这位学者对藏文的精通使他不满流亡者对于语言上的无能的指责，与他不同的是，一个来自安多的藏人妇女移民到美国前在北京待过多年，她认为自己无法读写藏文是“中国政府的胜利”。她向笔者阐明，她希望西藏独立，自己是藏传佛教教徒（nangpa，字面意思是“会员”）。然而，她也认为海外藏人不应该不顾一切地反对中文、中国人或中华文化本身。更重要的是，她希望得到其他在美国的藏人更多地同情和理解，她没法抹去在中国所受的十七年教育，但这一点都改变不了她的西藏心。

'Homeland' Tibetans also bring their own linguistic sensibilities, shaped in the reality of contemporary Tibet, with them to the USA, leading to considerable friction. In addition to language choice, regional dialect, and the actual vocabulary used, divergent linguistic sensibilities also include the more subtle issue of how words are spoken. Even when the same Lhasa dialect is being spoken, there are subtle differences in intonation and insertion of marker words. As Bourdieu writes, "Body hexis speaks directly to the motor function, in the form of postures that is both individual and systematic ... a way of walking, a tilt of the head, facial expressions, ways of sitting and using implements, always associated with a tone of voice, a style of speech, and ... a certain subjective experience." Class habitus, and the distinction between aristocratic and nonaristocratic ways of speaking, remains strong even today in the diasporic community. At the same time, speech patterns and movements, such as a subtle tilting of the head to indicate agreement or dissent, or gestures that indicate embarrassment, can distinguish PRC Tibetans from their South Asia counterparts. Thus, even Tibetan that is relatively 'pure' in vocabulary and authentic to some, can sound or feel 'Chinese' to others.
在当代西藏的现实生活中，“本土”藏人也形成了自己的语言情结，并把这些情结随他们一起带到了美国，从而引发了大量的摩擦。除了语言选择、地区方言和实际词汇的使用外，形形色色的语言情结里还包括述辞方式这样更微妙的问题。即使都在说同一种拉萨方言，在语调的变化和标记词的插入上也会有细微的差异。正如布尔迪厄所写的那样，“身体素性直接向运动官能阐明了既是个人的、也是社会的各种举止形式……走姿、坐姿、摆头、面部表情和器物使用等，总是与语气、讲话风格以及……某种特定的主观经验有关。”阶级惯习以及贵族和非贵族之间讲话方式的区别，时至今日仍在侨居社区里强烈地存在着。于是，讲话方式和一些动作——如轻摆头部表示同意或反对，或者用手势表示尴尬——可以用来区分中国境内的藏人和南亚的藏人。因此，对于一部分人而言是用辞相对“纯正”和正统的藏人，对于另一部分人而言却仍能听出或是感觉出其中的“中国味”。