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

Translator: Kristaps Kadiķis Reviewer: Edīte Husare

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

Sūpluok fizikai es asmu īsasaistejs ari cytur.

In fact, mostly now in other things.

Eisteneibā, itūšaļt vaira taišni cytuos lītuos.

One thing is distant relationships among human languages.

Vīna ir attuoluos attīceibys cylvāku volūdu vydā.

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

Profesionali viesturis volūdnīki ASV

and in Western Europe mostly try to stay away

i Vokoru Eiropā pa lelam rauga turētīs par gobolu

from any long-distance relationships, big groupings,

nu vyskaidom attuolom attīceibom; lelim grupiejumim,

groupings that go back a long time,

cīši vacim grupiejumim,

longer than the familiar families.

vacuokim kai zynomuos volūdu saimis.

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

Jim tys napateik; Jī dūmoj, ka tei ir kaprize. Es nadūmoju, ka tai ir kaprize.

And there are some brilliant linguists, mostly Russians,

Ir nazcik genialu volūdnīku, puorsvorā krīvu,

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

kurī pi tuo struodoj Santafe Iņstitutā i Moskovā.

and I would love to see where that leads.

Es cīši grybātu redzēt, iz kureini tys nūvess.

Does it really lead to a single ancestor

Voi tys eistyn nūvess pī vīna prīškguojieja

some 20, 25,000 years ago?

pyrma kaidu 20—25 tyukstūšu godu?

And what if we go back beyond that single ancestor,

I ka nu mes ītu vēļ tuoļuok pyrma ituo kūpeiguo prīškguojieja,

when there was presumably a competition among many languages?

kod, drūsai viņ, beja daudzu volūdu sovstarpeiga konkureņce?

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

Cik tuoli paguotnē tys īt? Cik tuoli paguotnē īt myuslaiku volūda?

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

Cik daudzus dasmytus tyukstūšys godu tuoļā paguotnē tei īt?

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

Kriss Aņdersons: Jums ir nūjauta voi nūceja par tū, kaids ir atsacejums?

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

Marijs Gells-Manns: Es pasaceitu miniejumu, kai myuslaiku volūdom juobyut vacuokom

than the cave paintings and cave engravings and cave sculptures

kai olu zeimiejumi, olu graviejumi i olu skuļpturom,

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

i daņču sūlim meikstajā muolā Vokoru Eiropys oluos

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

Oriņakys periodā pyrma kaidu 35 000 godu voi seņuok.

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

Es naspātu nūticēt, ka jī spieja tū vysu dareit, najādzūt myuslaiku volūdu.

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

Deļtuo es pīļaunu, kai patīsuo izceļsme ir vacuoka, mozuokais tikpoš vaca, kas zyn i vacuoka.

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

Nu tys nanūzeimoj, ka vysys, daudzys voi koč vairums

of today's attested languages couldn't descend perhaps

nu myuslaiku zynuomuos volūdys navarieja izaceļt, pīvadumam,

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

nū vīnys, kurei ir daudz jaunuoka, saceisim, 20 000 godu vaca

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

voi liedzeigai. Tū mes saucam par šaurū vītu.

CA: Well, Philip Anderson may have been right.

K.A.: Filipam Aņdersonam varieja byut taisneiba.

You may just know more about everything than anyone.

Var byut, jius par tū zynat vaira kai kurs cyts.

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

Deļtuo tys ir gūds. Paļdis jums, Marij Gell-Mann.

(Applause)

(Publika plaukšynoj)