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

Marijs Gells-Manns: Valodas priekštecis

Filmed:
944,446 views

Pēc runas TED2007 par fizikas eleganci apbrīnojamais Marijs Gells-Manns dod ātru pārskatu par citu savu kaislīgu interesi: visu mūsdienu valodu kopēja priekšteča meklēšanu.
- 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 involvediesaistīts in other things, besidesTurklāt physicsfizika.
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Nu, papildus fizikai esmu iesaistīts arī citviet.
00:17
In factfakts, mostlygalvenokārt now in other things.
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Īstenībā, šobrīd vairāk tieši citās lietās.
00:19
One thing is distanttālu relationshipsattiecības amongstarp tiem humancilvēks languagesvalodas.
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Viena lieta ir attālās attiecības starp cilvēku valodām.
00:24
And the professionalprofesionāls, historicalvēsturiska linguistsvalodnieki in the U.S.
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Profesionālie, vēsturiskie valodnieki ASV
00:28
and in WesternWestern EuropeEiropa mostlygalvenokārt try to staypaliec away
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un Rietumeiropā lielākoties cenšas turēties pa gabalu
00:31
from any long-distancegara distance relationshipsattiecības, bigliels groupingsgrupējumu,
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no jebkādām attālām attiecībām; lieliem grupējumiem,
00:35
groupingsgrupējumu that go back a long time,
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grupējumiem, kuri ir ļoti seni,
00:38
longerilgāk than the familiarpazīstams familiesģimenes.
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senāki, nekā pazīstamās saimes.
00:41
They don't like that. They think it's crankšarnīrs. I don't think it's crankšarnīrs.
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Viņiem tas nepatīk; viņi domā, ka tā ir kaprīze.
Es nedomāju, ka tā ir kaprīze.
00:45
And there are some brilliantizcili linguistsvalodnieki, mostlygalvenokārt RussiansKrievi,
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Ir vairāki ģeniāli valodnieki, pārsvarā krievi,
00:48
who are workingstrādā on that, at SantaSanta FeFe InstituteInstitūts and in MoscowMaskava,
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kuri strādā tajā Santafe Institūtā un Maskavā.
00:52
and I would love to see where that leadsrezultātā.
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Man ļoti gribētos redzēt, kurp tas aizvedīs.
00:56
Does it really leadvadīt to a singleviens ancestorsencis
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Vai tas patiešām novedīs pie vienas priekšteča
00:59
some 20, 25,000 yearsgadiem agopirms?
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pirms kādiem 20—25 tūkstošiem gadu?
01:02
And what if we go back beyondtālāk that singleviens ancestorsencis,
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Un ja nu mēs dotos vēl tālāk pirms šī kopējā priekšteča,
01:05
when there was presumablydomājams a competitionkonkurence amongstarp tiem manydaudzi languagesvalodas?
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kad, droši vien, pastāvēja daudzu valodu savstarpēja konkurence?
01:09
How fartālu back does that go? How fartālu back does modernmoderna languagevaloda go?
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Cik tālu pagātnē tas sniedzas?
Cik tālu pagātnē sniedzas mūsdienu valoda?
01:13
How manydaudzi tensdesmitiem of thousandstūkstošiem of yearsgadiem does it go back?
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Cik daudzus desmitus tūkstošu gadu pagātnē tā sniedzas?
01:16
ChrisChris AndersonAndersons: Do you have a hunchkupris or a hopeceru for what the answeratbilde to that is?
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Kriss Andersons: Vai jums ir nojauta vai cerība par to,
kāda ir atbilde?
01:19
MurrayMurray Gell-MannGells-Manns: Well, I would guessuzminēt that modernmoderna languagevaloda mustjābūt be oldervecāki
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Marijs Gells-Manns: Es izteiktu minējumu,
ka mūsdienu valodām jābūt vecākām,
01:22
than the caveala paintingsgleznas and caveala engravingsgravīras and caveala sculpturesskulptūras
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nekā alu zīmējumiem, alu gravējumiem un alu skulptūrām,
01:26
and dancedejot stepssoļi in the softmīksts claymāls in the cavesalas in WesternWestern EuropeEiropa,
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un dejas soļiem mīkstā mālā Rietumeiropas alās
01:31
in the AurignacianOriņakas PeriodPeriods some 35,000 yearsgadiem agopirms, or earlieragrāk.
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Oriņakas periodā pirms kādiem 35 000 gadu, vai senāk.
01:37
I can't believe they did all those things and didn't alsoarī have a modernmoderna languagevaloda.
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Es nespētu noticēt, ka viņi spēja visu to darīt,
neprazdami mūsdienu valodu.
01:40
So, I would guessuzminēt that the actualfaktiskais originizcelsme goesiet back at leastvismazāk that fartālu and maybe furthertālāk.
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Tāpēc es minētu, ka patiesā izcelsme ir senāka,
vismaz tikpat sena un varbūt senāka.
01:45
But that doesn't mean that all, or manydaudzi, or mostlielākā daļa
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Bet tas nenozīmē, ka visas, daudzas vai vismaz vairākums
01:48
of today'sšodienas attestedapliecina languagesvalodas couldn'tnevarēja descendnolaisties perhapsvarbūt
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no mūsdienās zināmajām valodām nevarēja izcelties, piemēram,
01:52
from one that's much youngerjaunāks than that, like say 20,000 yearsgadiem,
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no vienas, kura ir daudz jaunāka, teiksim, 20 000 gadus,
01:56
or something of that kindlaipns. It's what we call a bottlenecksašaurinājums.
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vai tamlīdzīgi. To mēs saucam par šauro vietu.
02:00
CACA: Well, PhilipFilips AndersonAndersons mayvar have been right.
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K.A.: Filipam Andersonam varēja būt taisnība.
02:01
You mayvar just know more about everything than anyonekāds.
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Iespējams, jūs par to visu zināt vairāk nekā jebkurš cits.
02:04
So, it's been an honorgods. Thank you MurrayMurray Gell-MannGells-Manns.
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Tāpēc tas ir gods. Paldies jums, Marij Gells-Mann.
02:06
(ApplauseAplausi)
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(Aplausi)
Translated by Laura Sudraba
Reviewed by Dace A

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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