Murray Gell-Mann: Do all languages have a common ancestor?

Translator: Déaglán Ó Loinsigh Reviewer: Róisín Healy

Well, I'm involved in other things, besides physics.

Bhuel, tá baint agam le rudaí eile seachas fisic

In fact, mostly now in other things.

I bhfirínne, in ábhair seachas fisic is mó faoi láthair.

One thing is distant relationships among human languages.

Tá rud amháin faoi leith i dteangacha an chine daonna.

And the professional, historical linguists in the U.S.

Déanann teangeolaithe gairmiúla, stairiúla sna SAM

and in Western Europe mostly try to stay away

agus in Iarthar na hEorpa iarracht chun

from any long-distance relationships, big groupings,

cianchaidrimh a sheachaint; grúpaí móra,

groupings that go back a long time,

grúpaí a théann i bhfad siar

longer than the familiar families.

níos faide siar ná na teaghlaigh teanga cailiúla.

They don't like that. They think it's crank. I don't think it's crank.

Cha dtaitníonn sé sin leo; síleann gur raiméis í. Ach, ní shílim gur amhlaidh atá.

And there are some brilliant linguists, mostly Russians,

Agus tá roinnt mhaith teangeolaithe iontacha, Rúisigh is mó,

who are working on that, at Santa Fe Institute and in Moscow,

atá ag déanamh staidéir air sin ag Institiúd Santa Fe agus i Moscó,

and I would love to see where that leads.

agus ba bhreá liom na torthaí a fheiceáil.

Does it really lead to a single ancestor

An dtéann sé i bhfad siar go sinsear amháin

some 20, 25,000 years ago?

20,000 nó 25,000 bliain ó shin?

And what if we go back beyond that single ancestor,

Agus cad é a tharlaíonn má théann muid níos faide siar roimh an tsinsir amháin sin,

when there was presumably a competition among many languages?

nuair is dócha go raibh iomaíocht idir roinnt mhaith teangacha?

How far back does that go? How far back does modern language go?

Cé chomh fada siar a théann sé sin? Cé chomh fada siar a théann teangacha an lae inniu?

How many tens of thousands of years does it go back?

Cá mhéad mílte bliain a théann sé siar?

Chris Anderson: Do you have a hunch or a hope for what the answer to that is?

Chris Anderson: An bhfuil cliú nó smaoineamh ar an fhreagra a bhfaighfear?

Murray Gell-Mann: Well, I would guess that modern language must be older

Murray Gell-Mann: Bhuel, mheasfainn go gcaithfidh teangacha an lae inniu a bheith níos sine

than the cave paintings and cave engravings and cave sculptures

ná na pictiúir agus an ghreanadóireacht agus na dealraimh a tchítear sna huaimheanna

and dance steps in the soft clay in the caves in Western Europe,

agus lorg coise ó rincí a fágadh i gcré bhog uaimheanna in Iarthar na hEorpa.

in the Aurignacian Period some 35,000 years ago, or earlier.

sa Tréimhse Aragnaisiúnach timpeall 35,000 bliain ó shin, nó níos túisce.

I can't believe they did all those things and didn't also have a modern language.

Cha dtig liom a chreidbheáil go ndearna siad na rudaí seo go léir agus nach raibh cumas acu i dteanga nua-aimseartha.

So, I would guess that the actual origin goes back at least that far and maybe further.

Mar sin mheasfainn ar a laghad go dtéann na fréamhacha comh fada siar sin, agus b'fhéidr níos faide arís.

But that doesn't mean that all, or many, or most

Ach, chan ionann é sin is a rá nach dtig leis na teangacha uilig,

of today's attested languages couldn't descend perhaps

nó cuid mhaith acu, nó an chuid is mó acu, a bheith tagtha ó

from one that's much younger than that, like say 20,000 years,

abraimis, 20,000 bliain ó shin,

or something of that kind. It's what we call a bottleneck.

nó rud éigin cosúil leis sin. Tugaimid caolas teanga air sin.

CA: Well, Philip Anderson may have been right.

CA: Bhuel, b'fhéidir go raibh an ceart ag Philip Anderson.

You may just know more about everything than anyone.

B'fhéidir go bhfuil níos mó eolais agatsa ar achan rud ná duine ar bith eile.

So, it's been an honor. Thank you Murray Gell-Mann.

Mar sin, ónóir a bhí ann domhsa. Go raibh maith agat a Mhurray Gell-Mann.

(Applause)

(Bualadh bos)