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 keelte põlvnemisest

Filmed:
944,446 views

Auväärt Murray Gell-Mann, olles rääkinud TED2007 konverentsil füüsikapeensustest, annab kiire ülevaate veel ühest oma kirglikust huvist: meie nüüdisaja keelte ühise esivanema otsimisest.
- 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 involvedkaasatud in other things, besidesPealegi physicsFüüsika.
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Ma tegelen lisaks füüsikale ka muude asjadega.
00:17
In factfakt, mostlyenamasti now in other things.
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Õigupoolest, praegu, enamjaolt just teiste asjadega.
00:19
One thing is distantkaugel relationshipssuhted amongseas humaninimene languageskeeled.
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Üks neist asjadest on kaugeleulatuvad sugulussidemed inimkeelte vahel.
00:24
And the professionalprofessionaalne, historicalajalooline linguistskeeleteadlased in the U.S.
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Nimelt, professionaalsed ajaloolise keele uurijad Ameerika Ühendriikides
00:28
and in WesternWestern EuropeEuroopa mostlyenamasti try to stayjää away
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ja Lääne-Euroopas üritavad enamasti eemale hoida
00:31
from any long-distancepikamaa relationshipssuhted, bigsuur groupingsrühmitused,
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mistahes kaugeleulatuvatest sidemetest; suurtest grupeeringutest,
00:35
groupingsrühmitused that go back a long time,
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grupeeringutest, mis ulatuvad kaugele minevikku,
00:38
longerkauem than the familiartuttav familiesperekonnad.
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kaugemale kui meile teada-tuntud keelkonnad.
00:41
They don't like that. They think it's crankvänt. I don't think it's crankvänt.
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Neile see ei meeldi; nad peavad seda veidrike pärusmaaks. Ma küll ei arva, et see nii oleks.
00:45
And there are some brilliantsuurepärane linguistskeeleteadlased, mostlyenamasti RussiansVenelased,
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On mõned suurepärased keeleuurijad, enamasti venelased,
00:48
who are workingtöötav on that, at SantaSanta FeFE InstituteInstituut and in MoscowMoskva,
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kes parasjagu töötavad selle kallal Santa Fe Instsituudis ja Moskvas,
00:52
and I would love to see where that leadsjuhib.
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ja ma sooviks väga näha, kuhu see kõik viib.
00:56
Does it really leadjuhtima to a singleüksi ancestoresivanem
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Kas see tõesti viib üheainsa eelkäijani,
00:59
some 20, 25,000 yearsaastaid agotagasi?
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umbes 20-25 000 aastat tagasi?
01:02
And what if we go back beyondkaugemale that singleüksi ancestoresivanem,
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Ja mis siis, kui me läheme sellest ühisest eelkäijast veelgi kaugemale,
01:05
when there was presumablyarvatavasti a competitionkonkurentsi amongseas manypalju languageskeeled?
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mil eeldatavasti oli olelusvõitlus mitmete keelte vahel?
01:09
How farkaugel back does that go? How farkaugel back does modernkaasaegne languagekeel go?
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Kui ammu see oli? Kui vana on nüüdisaegne keel?
01:13
How manypalju tenskümneid of thousandstuhat of yearsaastaid does it go back?
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Mitu kümmend tuhat aastat võib ta vana olla?
01:16
ChrisChris AndersonAnderson: Do you have a huncheelaimus or a hopelootust for what the answervastus to that is?
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Chris Anderson: On teil mingit aimdust või lootust, mis vastus sellele küsimusele võiks olla?
01:19
MurrayMurray Gell-MannSai Gell-Mann: Well, I would guessarvan that modernkaasaegne languagekeel mustpeab be oldervanem
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Murray Gell-Mann: Noh, mina pakuksin, et nüüdisaegne keel peab olema vanem
01:22
than the cavekoobas paintingsmaalingud and cavekoobas engravingsgravüürid and cavekoobas sculpturesskulptuurid
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kui koopamaalingud ja koopauuristused ning kooparaided
01:26
and dancetantsu stepssammud in the softpehme claysavi in the caveskoopad in WesternWestern EuropeEuroopa,
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ja Lääne-Euroopa pehmesse savisse jäädvustunud jäljed tantsusammudest,
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in the AurignacianAurignaci PeriodPerioodi some 35,000 yearsaastaid agotagasi, or earliervarem.
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mis ulatuvad tagasi Aurignaatsia ajastusse, 35 000 või rohkem aastat tagasi.
01:37
I can't believe they did all those things and didn't alsoka have a modernkaasaegne languagekeel.
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Ma ei usu, et nad suutsid teha kõiki neid asju, ent mitte omada nüüdisaegset keelt.
01:40
So, I would guessarvan that the actualtegelik originpäritolu goesläheb back at leastvähemalt that farkaugel and maybe furtheredasi.
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Seega ma pakun, et tegelikult on keele algupära vähemalt nõnda vana või ehk vanemgi.
01:45
But that doesn't mean that all, or manypalju, or mostkõige rohkem
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Aga see ei tähenda, et kõik või paljud või enamus
01:48
of today'stäna on attestedon omandatud languageskeeled couldn'tei saanud descendläheb alla perhapsehk
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tänapäeval uuritud keeltest ei pruugiks pärineda hoopis
01:52
from one that's much youngernoorem than that, like say 20,000 yearsaastaid,
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palju varasemast ajaloost, ütleme näiteks 20 000 aastat tagasi
01:56
or something of that kindlaadi. It's what we call a bottleneckpudelikael.
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või midagi sinnakanti. Me kutsume seda "pudelikaelaks".
02:00
CACA: Well, PhilipPhilip AndersonAnderson mayvõib have been right.
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CA: Philip Anderson'il võis tõesti olla õigus, et
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You mayvõib just know more about everything than anyonekeegi.
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ehk tead just sina kõigest rohkem kui ei keegi teine.
02:04
So, it's been an honorau. Thank you MurrayMurray Gell-MannSai Gell-Mann.
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Ühesõnaga, on olnud meeldiv. Tänud teile, Murray Gell-Mann.
02:06
(ApplauseAplaus)
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(Aplaus)
Reviewed by Kristina Mois

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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