Evolution’s great mystery - Michael Corballis

翻译人员: Wanting Zhong 校对人员: Yolanda Zhang

In the 1980s, a bonobo named Kanzi

在 1980 年代，一只名叫 坎兹（Kanzi）的倭黑猩猩

learned to communicate with humans to an unprecedented extent—

以前所未有的水平 学会了与人类交流——

not through speech or gestures,

并非通过言语或手势，

but using a keyboard of abstract symbols representing objects and actions.

而是通过抽象符号键盘上 代表物体和行动的符号字。

By pointing to several of these in order, he created sequences to make requests,

他能通过依序指向键盘符号 创造出序列，以提出请求、

answer verbal questions from human researchers,

回答人类研究者的口头提问，

and refer to objects that weren’t physically present.

并指代不在面前的物体。

Kanzi’s exploits ignited immediate controversy over one question:

坎兹惊人的成就 立刻引燃了对一个问题的争议：

had Kanzi learned language?

坎兹是否已经学会了语言？

What we call language is something more specific than communication.

我们称作 “语言” 的东西 是一种比交流更为具体的概念。

Language is about sharing what’s in our minds:

语言是关于 分享我们头脑中的东西：

stories, opinions, questions, the past or future,

故事、观点、问题、过去或未来、

imagined times or places, ideas.

想象的时间或地点、理念。

It is fundamentally open-ended,

它本质上是开放性的，

and can be used to say an unlimited number of things.

能用来表达数量无限的事物。

Many researchers are convinced that only humans have language,

很多研究者都确信 只有人类能使用语言，

that the calls and gestures other species use to communicate are not language.

而其它物种用来沟通的 呼叫声和手势并不是语言。

Each of these calls and gestures generally corresponds to a specific message,

每种呼叫声和手势 通常对应一条特定的信息，

for a limited total number of messages

信息的总数量有限，

that aren’t combined into more complex ideas.

并不能组合形成更加复杂的意义。

For example, a monkey species might have a specific warning call

例如，某种猴子可能 有一种特定的警告声

that corresponds to a particular predator, like a snake—

对应某种特定的天敌，比如蛇——

but with language, there are countless ways to say “watch out for the snake.”

但语言有无数种方式表达 “小心有蛇”。 [“别动！” “快跑！！” “蛇啊！”]

So far no animal communication seems to have the open-endedness

到目前为止， 似乎没有任何的动物交流形式

具有和人类语言一样的开放性。

of human language.

We don’t know for sure what’s going on in animals’ heads,

我们无法明确地知道 动物的头脑中在发生什么，

and it's possible this definition of language,

有可能语言的这种定义，

or our ways of measuring it, don’t apply to them.

或者我们衡量语言的方法 对它们并不适用。

But as far as we know, only humans have language.

但据我们目前所知， 只有人类具有语言。

And while humans speak around 7,000 distinct languages,

另外，人类有着 近七千门不同的语言，

any child can learn any language,

任何小孩都能学会任何语言，

indicating that the biological machinery underlying language

这意味着掌管语言的生物机能

is common to all of us.

是我们所有人共有的。

So what does language mean for humanity?

那么语言对人类意味着什么？

What does it allow us to do, and how did we come to have it?

它能让我们做什么， 我们又如何拥有了语言？

Exactly when we acquired this capacity is still an open question.

我们获得这种能力的确切时间 仍是一个有待回答的问题。

Chimps and bonobos are our closest living relatives,

黑猩猩和倭黑猩猩 是我们现存最近的亲戚，

but the lineage leading to humans split from the other great apes

但发展成人类的支系 早在 400 万年以前

more than four million years ago.

就与其他类人猿分开了。

In between, there were many species— all of them now extinct,

在这期间产生过很多物种—— 它们现在都已灭绝，

which makes it very difficult to know if they had language or anything like it.

也就难以得知它们是否有过语言 或者类似语言的系统。

Great apes give one potential clue to the origins of language, though:

不过类人猿为语言的起源 提供了一个可能的线索：

it may have started as gesture rather than speech.

它最初有可能是手势，而非言语。 [ 猩猩：“帮我顺毛。” ]

Great apes gesture to each other in the wild much more freely

比起发声，野外的类人猿 [ 猩猩：“把那个给我。” ]

than they vocalize.

更善于互相打手势。

Language may have begun to take shape during the Pleistocene,

语言有可能是在 两三百万年前的更新世

2 to 3 million years ago, with the emergence of the genus Homo

开始成型的，那时出现的人属

that eventually gave rise to our own species, homo sapiens.

最后演化成了 我们自身所属的物种，智人。

Brain size tripled, and bipedalism freed the hands for communication.

大脑容量扩增到原来的三倍， 直立行走解放了双手用于沟通。

There may have been a transition from gestural communication

那时有可能实现了从手势交流

to gestural language—

到手势语言的转变——

from pointing to objects and pantomiming actions—

从指向物体和模仿动作——

to more efficient, abstract signing.

变成了更加高效、抽象的手语。

The abstraction of gestural communication would have removed the need for visuals,

手势交流的抽象化 消除了对视觉的依赖，

setting the stage for a transition to spoken language.

从而为向言语的转变备好了舞台。

That transition would have likely come later, though.

然而这个转变有可能 在以后才会发生。

Articulate speech depends on a vocal tract of a particular shape.

清晰的言语需要 某种特定形状的声道。

Even our closest ancestors, the Neanderthals and Denisovans,

即使我们最近的祖先， 尼安德特人和丹尼索瓦人，

had vocal tracts that were not optimal,

他们的声道也都并不完善，

though they likely had some vocal capacity,

虽说他们很可能有一些发音能力，

and possibly even language.

甚至有可能使用语言。

Only in humans is the vocal tract optimal.

只有人类的声带是完善的。

Spoken words free the hands for activities such as tool use and transport.

口语解放了双手用于其他活动， 比如工具使用和运输。

So it may have been the emergence of speech,

因此有可能是口语的出现，

not of language itself, that led to the dominance of our species.

而非语言本身， 促成了人类物种的优势。

Language is so intimately tied to complex thought, perception, and motor functions

语言和复杂思维、感知 及运动功能的联系如此紧密，

that it’s difficult to untangle its biological origins.

以至于很难分离出它的生物起源。

Some of the biggest mysteries remain:

有些最大的谜团仍待解答：

to what extent did language as a capacity shape humanity,

语言作为能力 在何种程度上塑造了人类，

and to what extent did humanity shape language?

人类又在何种程度上塑造了语言？

What came first, the vast number of possible scenarios we can envisage,

我们所能想象的众多情景， 与我们分享它们的能力——

or our ability to share them?

究竟何者在先？