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

Translator: Bruce Ding Reviewer: Ann Lee

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

其實，除咗物理之外 我都有涉獵其他領域

In fact, mostly now in other things.

最近我嘅大部分時間都喺度做其他事

One thing is distant relationships among human languages.

其中一件就係關於 人類語言之間嘅疏遠關係

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

美國同西歐嘅專業嘅歷史語言學家

and in Western Europe mostly try to stay away

都唔鍾意將語言之間嘅關係睇得好疏遠

from any long-distance relationships, big groupings,

又或者將佢哋歸類成語系

groupings that go back a long time,

而呢啲語系又耐過我哋熟識嘅語族

longer than the familiar families.

佢哋唔鍾意噉睇，佢哋覺得好怪

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

但我就唔認同嘞

一啲好叻嘅語言學家 其中大多數係俄羅斯人

And there are some brilliant linguists, mostly Russians,

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

就喺莫斯科聖塔菲研究院研究哩個課題

and I would love to see where that leads.

我一路都好想知哩個研究發展到邊

現代語言會唔會真係

Does it really lead to a single ancestor

由一個二萬或者二萬五千年前 共同原始語言開始？

some 20, 25,000 years ago?

And what if we go back beyond that single ancestor,

又或者，如果我們繼續追溯到 哩個原始語言之前

when there was presumably a competition among many languages?

又會唔會好多種語言喺度互相競爭？

如果真嘅話，會係幾耐之前呢？

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

近代語言又可以追溯到幾多萬年前？

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

Chris Anderson︰你有冇預感或者希望 這個問題嘅答案會係咩呢？

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

講者︰嗯，我估現代語言

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

會比山洞嘅壁畫、雕刻、雕塑 或者西歐山洞軟泥上嘅舞步更加古老

than the cave paintings and cave engravings and cave sculptures

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

大概係三萬五千年前嘅歐里納克時期 或者更早

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

我好難相信山洞嘅呢啲作品 可以喺冇現代語言嘅情況下出現

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

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

所以我會估現代語言嘅真實起源 至少可以追溯到嗰個時候，甚至更遠

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

但哩個並唔代表所有、好多 或者大部分今日確認嘅語言

of today's attested languages couldn't descend perhaps

唔係起源於更加後生嘅語族 譬如二萬年前左右

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

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

哩個就係我哋所謂嘅樽頸

Chris Anderson︰ 好啦，講者可能真係啱嘅

CA: Well, Philip Anderson may have been right.

You may just know more about everything than anyone.

你真係喺每一件事 都比任何人知道更加多

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

所以好榮幸可以請到你過嚟，多謝你

(Applause)

（掌聲）