美华盛顿州花六年使法律“中性化”

In Washington state, dairymen, freshmen and even penmanship could soon be things of the past.

Over the past six years, state officials have engaged in the onerous task of changing the language used in the state's copious laws, including thousands of words and phrases, many written more than a century ago when the idea of women working on police forces or on fishing boats wasn't a consideration.

That process is slated to draw to a close this year. So while the state has already welcomed "firefighters," "clergy" and "police officers" into its lexicon, "ombuds" (in place of ombudsman) and "security guards" (previously "watchmen,") appear to be next, along with "dairy farmers," "first-year students" and "handwriting."

"Some people would say 'oh, it's not a big thing, do you really have to go through the process of changing the language,'" said Seattle Councilmember Sally Clark who was one of the catalysts for the change. "But language matters. It's how we signal a level of respect for each other."

About half of all US states have moved toward such gender-neutral language at varying levels, from drafting bills to changing state constitutions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Florida and Minnesota have already completely revised their laws as Washington state is doing.

The final installment of Washington state's bill already has sailed through the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee with unanimous approval. The nearly 500-page bill has one more committee stop scheduled before full Senate debate.

Crispin Thurlow, a sociolinguist and associate professor of language and communication at the University of Washington-Bothell, said the project was admirable.

He said that as language evolves, such efforts are more than symbolic.

"Changing words can change what we think about the world around us," he said. "These tiny moments accrue and become big movements."

As in past bills on the issue that have tackled sections of the state code, some revisions were as simple as adding "or her" after "his." Others required a little more scrutiny. Phrases like "man's past" changes to "humankind's past" and a "prudent man or woman" is simply a "prudent person." Kyle Thiessen, the state's code reviser who has been working on the project along with two attorneys since 2008, said that the work was not without obstacles.

Words like "manhole" and "manlock" aren't so easily replaced. Substitutes have been suggested — "utility hole" and "air lock serving as a decompression chamber for workers." But Thiessen said those references will be left alone to avoid confusion.

在华盛顿州，诸如“牛奶房工人”、“大学新生”甚至“书法”这类英文含有“man”有男性倾向的词很快都会成为过去。

在过去六年里，州政府官员一直忙于一项繁重的任务，即更换华盛顿州众多法律里的语言，包括成千上万的单词和短语。这些法律条文很多都是一个多世纪之前撰写的，当时根本没有考虑到女性在警局或渔业工作的可能性。

这道工序预定在今年结束。华盛顿州已经在其词库里更新了诸如“消防员”、“神职人员”、“警员”等词汇，之后“监察专员”、“保安”、“乳牛厂工人”、“大学新生”、“书法”等中性的词也会相继代替含有“man”的原有词汇。

西雅图市议员萨利•克拉克是此次语言变革的推动者之一，他表示：“有些人也许会说语言变革并不重要，没必要费这么多精力更换这些语言。但语言是尤为重要的，它代表了我们彼此尊重的程度。”

根据全美州议会会议，美国约一半的州在不同程度上采取了起草法案以及改变州宪法等多种措施进行中性语言改革。佛罗里达州和明尼苏达州已经和华盛顿州一样对法律用词进行了彻底修改。

华盛顿州议案的最后一部分已经获参议院商业和劳工委员会全体一致通过。这份近500页的议案经委员会最后一次审核即可送往参议院进行全面讨论。

社会语言学家兼华盛顿大学博塞尔校区语言与交流专业副教授克里斯平•瑟洛表示这个项目很棒。

他认为随着语言的不断发展演变，这种努力不仅具有象征意义，还具有实际意义。

他说道：“改变用词能够改变我们思考周围世界的方式，这些微小的时刻累积起来会带来巨大的改变。”

就像过去在处理州法律章节相关问题的议案那样，有些修订只是简单地在“他”后面加上“或她”。其他一些修订则需要更多的斟酌，比如把“（男）人的过去”改为“人类的过去”，把“谨慎的男人或女人”改为“谨慎的人”。州法规修订人凯尔•狄森从2008年以来就一直和两名律师一起从事这个项目，他表示工作过程中遇到不少障碍。

要替换像“检修孔”和“人孔闸”这些含有“man”的词就没那么容易。有人提议用“故障排查洞”和“给工人减压的气闸”来替换上述两个词，但狄森表示不会采纳这些参考意见以免引起人们的困惑。