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

莫瑞‧蓋曼（Murray Gell-Mann）談語言的共祖。

Filmed: 2007-03-03

Readability: 3.6

944,446 views

在TED2007談完物理學的優美後，令人吃驚的莫瑞‧蓋曼很快就帶過另外一個他饒富熱情的興趣：找出我們現代語言的共祖。

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. Full bio

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

00:13

Well, I'm involved參與 in other things, besides除了 physics物理.

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唔，除了物理以外我還關心其他事物

00:17

In fact事實, mostly大多 now in other things.

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事實上，現在我一般都專注在其他事物上。

00:19

One thing is distant遙遠 relationships關係 among其中 human人的 languages語言.

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其中一樣是人類語言間的遠親關係

00:24

And the professional專業的, historical歷史的 linguists語言學家 in the U.S.

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專業學者，在美國與西歐的歷史語言學家

00:28

and in Western西 Europe歐洲 mostly大多 try to stay留 away

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大多都不想碰這個學科,

00:31

from any long-distance遠距離 relationships關係, big大 groupings分組,

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那些關於任何遠親關係的學科；

00:35

groupings分組 that go back a long time,

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可以追溯到久遠之前、比目前已知的族系都來得久遠的語言分類

00:38

longer長 than the familiar熟 families家庭.

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可以追溯到久遠之前、比目前已知的族系都來得久遠的語言分類

00:41

They don't like that. They think it's crank曲柄. I don't think it's crank曲柄.

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他們不喜歡這樣，覺得那是個怪念頭，但我就不太認同

00:45

And there are some brilliant輝煌 linguists語言學家, mostly大多 Russians俄羅斯,

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在那些很聰明的語言學家之中，大多是俄羅斯人

00:48

who are working加工 on that, at Santa聖誕老人 Fe鐵 Institute研究所 and in Moscow莫斯科,

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他們在莫斯科（Moscow）的聖塔菲（Santa Fe）學院研究這個課題

00:52

and I would love to see where that leads引線.

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我想看看結果會是如何

00:56

Does it really lead鉛 to a single單 ancestor祖先

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我們口中的語言真的會被導回兩萬、或兩萬五千年前

00:59

some 20, 25,000 years年份 ago前?

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的同一個始祖嗎？

01:02

And what if we go back beyond外 that single單 ancestor祖先,

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那如果我們再往那個共祖往前推又會怎樣？

01:05

when there was presumably想必 a competition競爭 among其中 many許多 languages語言?

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那時大概會是許多語言之間的競爭吧！

01:09

How far遠 back does that go? How far遠 back does modern現代 language語言 go?

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那是在多久之前呢？近代的語言可追溯到多久以前？

01:13

How many許多 tens十 of thousands數千 of years年份 does it go back?

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是在幾萬年前？

01:16

Chris克里斯 Anderson安德森: Do you have a hunch直覺 or a hope希望 for what the answer回答 to that is?

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克里斯‧安德森：你的直覺能帶給你找出這個問題的答案嗎？

01:19

Murray穆雷 Gell-Mann蓋爾曼: Well, I would guess猜測 that modern現代 language語言 must必須 be older舊的

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莫瑞：唔，我猜比起洞穴中的圖畫、銘刻、雕塑

01:22

than the cave洞穴 paintings繪畫 and cave洞穴 engravings版畫 and cave洞穴 sculptures雕塑

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或是西歐洞穴中軟泥上的舞步, 那是在歐里納克（譯按：舊石器時代晚期〕時期，約莫三萬五千年前，或甚至更早

01:26

and dance舞蹈 steps腳步 in the soft柔軟的 clay粘土 in the caves洞穴 in Western西 Europe歐洲,

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或是西歐洞穴中軟泥上的舞步, 那是在歐里納克（譯按：舊石器時代晚期〕時期，約莫三萬五千年前，甚至更早

01:31

in the Aurignacian奧瑞納 Period期 some 35,000 years年份 ago前, or earlier前.

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近代的語言一定比它們都更為古老

01:37

I can't believe they did all those things and didn't also也 have a modern現代 language語言.

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我不相信他們會在沒有近代語言之下建立出這一切

01:40

So, I would guess猜測 that the actual實際 origin起源 goes去 back at least最小 that far遠 and maybe further進一步.

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所以我會猜，真正的起源必定至少有那麼早，甚至是更早

01:45

But that doesn't mean that all, or many許多, or most最

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但這並不表示所有、許多、或者大部分在今日通過測試的語言

01:48

of today's今天的 attested證明 languages語言 couldn't不能 descend降落 perhaps也許

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但這並不表示所有、許多、或者大部分在今日通過測試的語言

01:52

from one that's much younger更年輕 than that, like say 20,000 years年份,

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是源於較為初期的語言，像是兩萬年前，或接近那個時期的

01:56

or something of that kind類. It's what we call a bottleneck瓶頸.

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這是我們所謂的瓶頸。

02:00

CACA: Well, Philip菲利普 Anderson安德森 may可能 have been right.

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克里斯：嗯，菲利浦‧安德森可能是對的

02:01

You may可能 just know more about everything than anyone任何人.

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對於萬物，你比任何人都有更深的認識

02:04

So, it's been an honor榮譽. Thank you Murray穆雷 Gell-Mann蓋爾曼.

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所以這是我們的榮幸，謝謝您

02:06

(Applause掌聲)

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（掌聲）

Translated by Haishuo Lee
Reviewed by Feiman Luk

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

THE ORIGINAL VIDEO ON TED.COM

莫瑞‧蓋曼（Murray Gell-Mann）談語言的共祖。 | TED Talk | TED.com