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 om språkets ursprung

Filmed:
944,446 views

Efter sitt TED2007-tal om fysikens elegans ger den fantastiske Murray Gell-Mann här en snabb översikt om en annan passion: att finna ett gemensamt ursprung till våra moderna språk.
- 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 involvedinvolverade in other things, besidesFörutom physicsfysik.
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Jag sysslar med annat än bara fysik.
00:17
In factfaktum, mostlyför det mesta now in other things.
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Mest andra saker faktiskt, nuförtiden.
00:19
One thing is distantavlägsen relationshipsrelationer amongbland humanmänsklig languagesspråk.
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En är avlägsna relationer mellan mänskliga språk.
00:24
And the professionalprofessionell, historicalhistorisk linguistslingvister in the U.S.
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De professionella språkforskarna i USA
00:28
and in WesternWestern EuropeEuropa mostlyför det mesta try to staystanna kvar away
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och i Västeuropa försöker hålla sig undan
00:31
from any long-distancelång distans relationshipsrelationer, bigstor groupingsgrupperingar,
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från alla långdistansrelationer; stora grupperingar,
00:35
groupingsgrupperingar that go back a long time,
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grupperingar som sträcker sig långt bakåt i tiden,
00:38
longerlängre than the familiarbekant familiesfamiljer.
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längre tillbaka än kända språkfamiljer.
00:41
They don't like that. They think it's crankvev. I don't think it's crankvev.
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Dom gillar det inte, dom tycker det är strunt. Jag tycker inte det är strunt.
00:45
And there are some brilliantlysande linguistslingvister, mostlyför det mesta RussiansRyssarna,
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Det finns några brillianta språkforskare, mest ryssar,
00:48
who are workingarbetssätt on that, at SantaSanta FeFE InstituteInstitutet and in MoscowMoskva,
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som arbetar med det här på institutet i Santa Fee och i Moskva,
00:52
and I would love to see where that leadsleads.
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och jag längtar efter att se vart deras arbete tar oss.
00:56
Does it really leadleda to a singleenda ancestorförfader
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Leder det verkligen till ett gemensamt ursprung
00:59
some 20, 25,000 yearsår agosedan?
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cirka 20, 25.000 år bakåt i tiden?
01:02
And what if we go back beyondbortom that singleenda ancestorförfader,
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Och om vi fortsätter bortom detta,
01:05
when there was presumablyförmodligen a competitionkonkurrens amongbland manymånga languagesspråk?
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var det då en tävling mellan många olika språk?
01:09
How farlångt back does that go? How farlångt back does modernmodern languagespråk go?
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Hur långt tillbaka är det? Hur långt tillbaka kan vi härleda moderna språk?
01:13
How manymånga tenstiotals of thousandstusentals of yearsår does it go back?
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Hur många 10.000-tals år tillbaka?
01:16
ChrisChris AndersonAnderson: Do you have a hunchpuckel or a hopehoppas for what the answersvar to that is?
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Chris Anderson: Har du en aning vad svaret kan vara?
01:19
MurrayMurray Gell-MannGell-Mann: Well, I would guessgissa that modernmodern languagespråk mustmåste be olderäldre
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Murray Gell-Mann: Jag gissar att det moderna språket måste vara äldre
01:22
than the caveCave paintingsmålningar and caveCave engravingsgravyrer and caveCave sculpturesskulpturer
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än grottmålningarna och grottristningarna och grottskulpturerna
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and dancedansa stepssteg in the softmjuk claylera in the cavesgrottor in WesternWestern EuropeEuropa,
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och dansstegen i mjuk lera i Västeuropas grottor
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in the AurignacianAurignacienperioden PeriodPerioden some 35,000 yearsår agosedan, or earliertidigare.
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från Aurignacienkulturen för ungefär 35.000 år sedan, eller tidigare.
01:37
I can't believe they did all those things and didn't alsoockså have a modernmodern languagespråk.
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Jag tror inte att de kunde göra allt det utan ett modernt språk.
01:40
So, I would guessgissa that the actualfaktisk originursprung goesgår back at leastminst that farlångt and maybe furtherytterligare.
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Så jag antar att det faktiska ursprunget sträcker sig minst dit.
01:45
But that doesn't mean that all, or manymånga, or mostmest
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Men det betyder inte att alla, eller många, eller de flesta
01:48
of today'sdagens attestedbestyrkas languagesspråk couldn'tkunde inte descendstiga ned perhapskanske
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av dagens erkända språk inte har sitt ursprung
01:52
from one that's much youngeryngre than that, like say 20,000 yearsår,
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från ett som är mycket yngre än så, kanske 20.000 år,
01:56
or something of that kindsnäll. It's what we call a bottleneckflaskhals.
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eller åt det hållet. Det är vad vi kallar för en flaskhals.
02:00
CACA: Well, PhilipPhilip AndersonAnderson mayMaj have been right.
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CA: Kanske hade Philip Anderson rätt.
02:01
You mayMaj just know more about everything than anyonenågon.
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Du kanske vet mer om det mesta än de flesta.
02:04
So, it's been an honorära. Thank you MurrayMurray Gell-MannGell-Mann.
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Det har varit en ära. Tack Murray Gell-Mann.
02:06
(ApplauseApplåder)
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(Applåder)
Translated by Per Klemming
Reviewed by Dick Lundgren

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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