ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Murray Gell-Mann - Physicist
Murray Gell-Mann brings visibility to a crucial aspect of our existence that we can't actually see: elemental particles. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics for introducing quarks, one of two fundamental ingredients for all matter in the universe.

Why you should listen

He's been called "the man with five brains" -- and Murray Gell-Mann has the resume to prove it. In addition to being a Nobel laureate, he is an accomplished physicist who's earned numerous awards, medals and honorary degrees for his work with subatomic particles, including the groundbreaking theory that the nucleus of an atom comprises 100 or so fundamental building blocks called quarks.

Gell-Mann's influence extends well beyond his field: He's a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He also serves on the board of the Wildlife Conservation Society and is a director of Encyclopedia Britannica. Gell-Mann, a professor emeritus of Caltech, now heads the evolution of human languages program at the Santa Fe Institute, which he cofounded in 1984.

A prolific writer -- he's penned scores of academic papers and several books, including The Quark and the Jaguar -- Gell-Mann is also the subject of the popular science biography Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics.

More profile about the speaker
Murray Gell-Mann | Speaker | TED.com
TED2007

Murray Gell-Mann: The ancestor of language

Murray Gell-Mann sulle origini del linguaggio umano

Filmed:
944,446 views

Dopo aver parlato dell'eleganza nella fisica al TED2007, il grande Murray Gell-Mann ci offre un riassunto veloce di un altro suo interesse: cercare un antenato comune delle nostre lingue moderne.
- Physicist
Murray Gell-Mann brings visibility to a crucial aspect of our existence that we can't actually see: elemental particles. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics for introducing quarks, one of two fundamental ingredients for all matter in the universe. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:13
Well, I'm involvedcoinvolti in other things, besidesinoltre physicsfisica.
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Per cominciare, sono coinvolto in altre cose oltre alla fisica
00:17
In factfatto, mostlysoprattutto now in other things.
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Infatti, adesso mi occupo per lo più di altre cose
00:19
One thing is distantlontano relationshipsrelazioni amongtra humanumano languagesle lingue.
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Una di queste e' il rapporto distante che esiste fra le varie lingue.
00:24
And the professionalprofessionale, historicalstorico linguistslinguisti in the U.S.
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I linguisti storici, i professionisti negli Stati Uniti
00:28
and in WesternWestern EuropeEuropa mostlysoprattutto try to stayrestare away
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e nell'Europa occidentale di solito cercano di stare lontano
00:31
from any long-distancelunga distanza relationshipsrelazioni, biggrande groupingsraggruppamenti,
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da qualsiasi rapporto di lunga distanza; grandi raggruppamenti,
00:35
groupingsraggruppamenti that go back a long time,
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gruppi che risalgono ad un tempo antico,
00:38
longerpiù a lungo than the familiarfamiliare familiesfamiglie.
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piu' antiche delle famiglie linguistiche che noi conosciamo.
00:41
They don't like that. They think it's crankmanovella. I don't think it's crankmanovella.
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A loro non piace; pensano che sia follia. Io non penso sia follia.
00:45
And there are some brilliantbrillante linguistslinguisti, mostlysoprattutto RussiansRussi,
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E poi ci sono dei linguisti brillanti, per la maggior parte Russi,
00:48
who are workinglavoro on that, at SantaSanta FeFe InstituteIstituto and in MoscowMosca,
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che stanno lavorando su questo all'instituto di Santa Fe e anche a Mosca,
00:52
and I would love to see where that leadsconduce.
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Mi piacerebbe vedere dove portera' questa ricerca.
00:56
Does it really leadcondurre to a singlesingolo ancestorantenato
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Ci conduce veramente ad un singolo antenato che esisteva
00:59
some 20, 25,000 yearsanni agofa?
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circa 20-25,000 anni fa?
01:02
And what if we go back beyondal di là that singlesingolo ancestorantenato,
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E se andassimo oltre questo singolo antenato,
01:05
when there was presumablypresumibilmente a competitionconcorrenza amongtra manymolti languagesle lingue?
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quando presumibilmente c'era competizione tra varie lingue?
01:09
How farlontano back does that go? How farlontano back does modernmoderno languageLingua go?
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Quanto dovremmo andare indietro? A quale periodo risale la lingua moderna?
01:13
How manymolti tensdecine of thousandsmigliaia of yearsanni does it go back?
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Quante decine di migliaia di anni dovremmo risalire?
01:16
ChrisChris AndersonAnderson: Do you have a hunchHunch or a hopesperanza for what the answerrisposta to that is?
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Chris Anderson: Ha un presentimento o un auspicio riguardo la risposta a questa domanda?
01:19
MurrayMurray Gell-MannGell-Mann: Well, I would guessindovina that modernmoderno languageLingua mustdovere be olderpiù vecchio
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Murray Gell-Mann: Dunque, io posso ipotizzare che la lingua moderna risalga ad un tempo
01:22
than the caveGrotta paintingsdipinti and caveGrotta engravingsincisioni and caveGrotta sculpturessculture
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piu' antico delle pitture, incisioni e sculture nelle caverne
01:26
and dancedanza stepspassaggi in the softmorbido clayargilla in the cavesgrotte in WesternWestern EuropeEuropa,
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e i passi di danza fatte sul terreno soffice nelle caverne dell'Europa occidentale
01:31
in the AurignacianAurignaziano PeriodPeriodo some 35,000 yearsanni agofa, or earlierprima.
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nel periodo Aurignaziano, circa 35,000 anni fa, o anche prima.
01:37
I can't believe they did all those things and didn't alsoanche have a modernmoderno languageLingua.
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Non posso credere che hanno fatto tutte quelle cose e non avessero anche una lingua moderna.
01:40
So, I would guessindovina that the actualeffettivo originorigine goesva back at leastmeno that farlontano and maybe furtherulteriore.
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Quindi posso supporre che l'origine vera risalga almeno a questa eta' e forse anche prima.
01:45
But that doesn't mean that all, or manymolti, or mostmaggior parte
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Questo non vuol dire che tutte, o tante, o la maggioranza
01:48
of today'sdi oggi attestedattestato languagesle lingue couldn'tnon poteva descendscendere perhapsForse
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delle lingue d'oggi non siano derivanti
01:52
from one that's much youngerminore than that, like say 20,000 yearsanni,
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da una lingua che sia piu' recente di quell'altra, forse 20,000 anni fa,
01:56
or something of that kindgenere. It's what we call a bottleneckcollo di bottiglia.
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Questo e' quello che noi chiamiamo effetto a collo di bottiglia.
02:00
CACA: Well, PhilipPhilip AndersonAnderson maypuò have been right.
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CA: Beh, Philip Anderson puo' aver avuto ragione
02:01
You maypuò just know more about everything than anyonechiunque.
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Lei e’ probabilmente la persona che sa piu’ cose su qualsiasi materia di qualsiasi altra persona.
02:04
So, it's been an honoronore. Thank you MurrayMurray Gell-MannGell-Mann.
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E' stato un onore. Grazie al sig. Murray Gell-Mann.
02:06
(ApplauseApplausi)
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(Applauso)
Translated by Dong Kim
Reviewed by Paolo Giusti

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Murray Gell-Mann - Physicist
Murray Gell-Mann brings visibility to a crucial aspect of our existence that we can't actually see: elemental particles. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics for introducing quarks, one of two fundamental ingredients for all matter in the universe.

Why you should listen

He's been called "the man with five brains" -- and Murray Gell-Mann has the resume to prove it. In addition to being a Nobel laureate, he is an accomplished physicist who's earned numerous awards, medals and honorary degrees for his work with subatomic particles, including the groundbreaking theory that the nucleus of an atom comprises 100 or so fundamental building blocks called quarks.

Gell-Mann's influence extends well beyond his field: He's a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He also serves on the board of the Wildlife Conservation Society and is a director of Encyclopedia Britannica. Gell-Mann, a professor emeritus of Caltech, now heads the evolution of human languages program at the Santa Fe Institute, which he cofounded in 1984.

A prolific writer -- he's penned scores of academic papers and several books, including The Quark and the Jaguar -- Gell-Mann is also the subject of the popular science biography Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics.

More profile about the speaker
Murray Gell-Mann | Speaker | TED.com