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談原始語言

Filmed: 2007-03-03

Readability: 3.6

944,446 views

在TED2007大會上講咗物理學嘅優美之後，神人Murray Gell-Mann同我地陳述咗他的另一個興趣所在：尋找現代語言的共同祖先。

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涉及 in other things, besides除咗 physics物理.

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其實，除咗物理之外，我都參與咗一些其他嘅領域。

00:17

In fact事實, mostly主要 now in other things.

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事實上，最近我嘅大部分時間都係度做哩地“其他事”

00:19

One thing is distant遙遠 relationships關係 among之間 human人類 languages語言.

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其中一件就是關於人類語言的距離關係。

00:24

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

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美國以及西歐國家的職業歷史語言學者

00:28

and in Western西方 Europe歐洲 mostly主要 try to stay留 away

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都試圖逃避

00:31

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

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任何關於長距離聯繫（嘅研究）；大族群之間嘅、

00:35

groupings分組 that go back a long time,

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那些可以追溯到很久遠、

00:38

longer長 than the familiar熟悉 families家庭.

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比目前知道熟悉嘅族群都更古老的族群（嘅研究）。

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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距地唔中意研究哩地嘢，覺得哩地係好奇怪嘅嘢，但係我就唔係好認同。

00:45

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

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有些非常優秀嘅語言學家，其中大多係俄羅斯人，

00:48

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

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距地係莫斯科嘅聖塔菲研究院研究哩個課題

00:52

and I would love to see where that leads導致.

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我一路都好期待知道哩個研究可以發展到邊。

00:56

Does it really lead導致 to a single單 ancestor祖先

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現代語言會唔會真係指向一個2萬或者2萬5千年前

00:59

some 20, 25,000 years年 ago前?

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一個共同嘅原始語言？

01:02

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

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又或者，如果我們繼續追溯到哩個原始語言之前又會點樣呢？

01:05

when there was presumably大概 a competition競爭 among之間 many好多 languages語言?

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當時大概有多種語言在相互競爭吧。

01:09

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

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甘哩嘀係响幾耐之前呢？近代語言可以追溯到幾耐之前？

01:13

How many好多 tens成千上萬 of thousands數以千計 of years年 does it go back?

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係幾萬年前？

01:16

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

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Chris Anderson: 你有冇預感或者希望這個問題嘅答案會係咩呢？

01:19

Murray默里 Gell-MannGell-曼: Well, I would guess想 that modern現代 language語言 must必須 be older老

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Murray Gell-Mann: 嗯，我會估現代語言（的起源）大概會比我們（想像的）更加古老

01:22

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

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（距應該）比洞穴中嘅壁畫、雕刻、雕塑

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and dance舞蹈 steps步驟 in the soft軟 clay粘土 in the caves洞穴 in Western西方 Europe歐洲,

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或者西歐洞穴中軟泥上嘅舞步-係3萬5千年前嘅歐里納克時期-都要更早

01:31

in the AurignacianAurignacian Period時期 some 35,000 years年 ago前, or earlier較早時.

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或者西歐洞穴中軟泥上嘅舞步-係3萬5千年前嘅歐里納克時期-都要更早

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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我好難相信距地可以做到所有哩地事，但係卻冇現代語言。

01:40

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

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所以我會估現代語言嘅真實起源至少可以追溯到果個時候，甚至更遠。

01:45

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

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但哩個並唔代表所有、許多或者大多數

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of today's今日嘅 attested證明 languages語言 couldn't唔可以 descend下降 perhaps或者

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在今日確認嘅語言

01:52

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

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唔會起源於更加後生的淵源，比如20000年前左右

01:56

or something of that kind一種. It's what we call a bottleneck瓶頸.

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哩個就係我們（在研究哩個問題時）所謂嘅瓶頸。

02:00

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

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CA: 好啦，Philip Anderson可能真係啱嘅

02:01

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

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你真係在每件事上都比任何人知道更多。

02:04

So, it's been an honor榮譽. Thank you Murray默里 Gell-MannGell-曼.

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所以好榮幸（可以請到你過來）。多謝你

02:06

(Applause掌聲)

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（掌聲）

Translated by Bruce Ding
Reviewed by Ann Lee

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

Murray Gell-Mann談原始語言 | TED Talk | TED.com