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 parle de l'ancêtre du langage

Filmed:
944,446 views

Après une intervention à TED2007 sur l'élégance en physique, l'étonnant Murray Gell-Mann donne un aperçu rapide d'un autre intérêt passionnant : trouver l'ancêtre commun de nos langues modernes
- 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 involvedimpliqué in other things, besidesoutre physicsla physique.
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Et bien, je suis impliqué dans d’autres choses que la physique.
00:17
In factfait, mostlyla plupart now in other things.
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En fait, à présent, principalement dans d’autres choses.
00:19
One thing is distantloin relationshipsdes relations amongparmi humanHumain languageslangues.
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Une de ces choses est les parentés éloignées entre les langues humaines.
00:24
And the professionalprofessionnel, historicalhistorique linguistslinguistes in the U.S.
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Et les linguistes historiques professionnels aux Etats-Unis
00:28
and in WesternWestern EuropeL’Europe mostlyla plupart try to stayrester away
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et en Europe de l’Ouest essayent pour la plupart de se tenir à l’écart
00:31
from any long-distancelongue distance relationshipsdes relations, biggros groupingsgroupements,
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de toute relation longue distance; de grands regroupements,
00:35
groupingsgroupements that go back a long time,
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des regroupements qui remontent à il y a longtemps,
00:38
longerplus long than the familiarfamilier familiesdes familles.
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plus longtemps que les familles qui leur sont familières.
00:41
They don't like that. They think it's crankmanivelle. I don't think it's crankmanivelle.
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Ils n’aiment pas ça, ils pensent que c’est farfelu. Je ne crois pas que ce soit farfelu.
00:45
And there are some brilliantbrillant linguistslinguistes, mostlyla plupart RussiansRusses,
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Et il y a des linguistes brillants, pour la plupart des Russes,
00:48
who are workingtravail on that, at SantaSanta FeFe InstituteInstitut and in MoscowMoscou,
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qui travaillent là-dessus à l’Institut de Santa Fe et à Moscou,
00:52
and I would love to see where that leadspistes.
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et j’adorerais voir où cela conduit.
00:56
Does it really leadconduire to a singleunique ancestorancêtre
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Est-ce que cela amène à un ancêtre unique
00:59
some 20, 25,000 yearsannées agodepuis?
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il y a quelques 20 000 à 25 000 ans ?
01:02
And what if we go back beyondau-delà that singleunique ancestorancêtre,
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Et si on remonte au-delà de cet ancêtre unique,
01:05
when there was presumablyprobablement a competitioncompétition amongparmi manybeaucoup languageslangues?
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quand il y avait vraisemblablement une compétition entre de nombreux languages ?
01:09
How farloin back does that go? How farloin back does modernmoderne languagela langue go?
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Jusqu’où est-ce que ça remonte ? Jusqu’où est-ce que le language moderne remonte ?
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How manybeaucoup tensdizaines of thousandsmilliers of yearsannées does it go back?
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A combien de dizaines de milliers d’années est-ce que ça remonte ?
01:16
ChrisChris AndersonAnderson: Do you have a hunchintuition or a hopeespérer for what the answerrépondre to that is?
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Chris Anderson : Avez-vous une petite idée ou un espoir de ce que peut être la réponse à cette question ?
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MurrayMurray Gell-MannGell-Mann: Well, I would guessdeviner that modernmoderne languagela langue mustdoit be olderplus âgée
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Murray Guell-Mann : Et bien, je dirais que le language moderne doit être plus ancien
01:22
than the caveCave paintingspeintures and caveCave engravingsgravures and caveCave sculpturesdes sculptures
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que les peintures, les gravures et les sculptures rupestres,
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and danceDanse stepspas in the softdoux clayargile in the cavescavernes in WesternWestern EuropeL’Europe,
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et que les traces de pas de dance dans l’argile molle des grottes d’Europe de l’Ouest
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in the AurignacianAurignacien PeriodPériode some 35,000 yearsannées agodepuis, or earlierplus tôt.
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dans la période aurignacienne il y a quelques 35 000 années ou avant cela.
01:37
I can't believe they did all those things and didn't alsoaussi have a modernmoderne languagela langue.
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Je ne peux pas croire qu’ils aient fait tout ça et n’aient pas eu un language moderne.
01:40
So, I would guessdeviner that the actualréel originorigine goesva back at leastmoins that farloin and maybe furtherplus loin.
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Alors je dirais que la véritable origine remonte au moins aussi loin et peut-être plus loin encore.
01:45
But that doesn't mean that all, or manybeaucoup, or mostles plus
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Mais ça ne veut pas dire que tous, ou beaucoup, ou la plupart des langues
01:48
of today'saujourd'hui attestedattestée languageslangues couldn'tne pouvait pas descenddescendre perhapspeut être
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d'aujourdhui qui ont été testés ne puissent pas descendre peut-être
01:52
from one that's much youngerplus jeune than that, like say 20,000 yearsannées,
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d'une langue qui soit bien plus jeune que, disons, 20 000 ans
01:56
or something of that kindgentil. It's what we call a bottleneckgoulot.
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ou quelque chose comme ça. C'est ce que j'appelle un goulot.
02:00
CACA: Well, PhilipPhilippe AndersonAnderson maymai have been right.
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CA : :Et bien, Philip Anderson avait peut-être raison,
02:01
You maymai just know more about everything than anyonen'importe qui.
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Vous en savez peut-être plus que tout le monde sur tout,
02:04
So, it's been an honorhonneur. Thank you MurrayMurray Gell-MannGell-Mann.
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Et donc ce fut un honneur. Merci Murray Guell-Mann
02:06
(ApplauseApplaudissements)
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(Applaudissements)
Translated by Elisabeth Buffard
Reviewed by Thomas Marteau

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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