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 stamfar

Filmed:
944,446 views

Etter å ha snakket ved TED2007 om eleganse innen fysikk, så gir den utrolige Murray Gell-Mann et raskt overblikk om en annen lidenskap: å finne de moderne språkenes felles opphav.
- 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 involvedinvolvert in other things, besidesi tillegg physicsfysikk.
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Vel, jeg er involvert i andre ting enn fysikk.
00:17
In factfaktum, mostlyfor det meste now in other things.
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Nå er det faktisk mest andre ting.
00:19
One thing is distantfjern relationshipsforhold amongblant humanmenneskelig languagesspråk.
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En ting er fjerne forbindelser mellom menneskepråk.
00:24
And the professionalprofesjonell, historicalhistorisk linguistslingvister in the U.S.
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De profesjonelle språkforskerene i USA
00:28
and in WesternWestern EuropeEuropa mostlyfor det meste try to stayoppholde seg away
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og i Vest-Europa prøver å holde seg unna
00:31
from any long-distancelang avstand relationshipsforhold, bigstor groupingsgrupperinger,
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disse langdistanse forholdene; store samlinger,
00:35
groupingsgrupperinger that go back a long time,
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samlinger som går langt tilbake i tid,
00:38
longerlenger than the familiarfortrolig familiesfamilier.
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lenger enn kjente språkfamilier.
00:41
They don't like that. They think it's cranksveiv. I don't think it's cranksveiv.
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De tenker ikke slik; de tror det er for drøyt. Jeg tror ikke det er for drøyt.
00:45
And there are some brilliantstrålende linguistslingvister, mostlyfor det meste RussiansRussere,
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Og det er noen briljante språkforskere, mest russere,
00:48
who are workingarbeider on that, at SantaSanta FeFe InstituteInstitutt and in MoscowMoskva,
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som jobber på Santa Fe Instituttet og i Moskva,
00:52
and I would love to see where that leadsleads.
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og jeg vil gjerne se hva det leder til.
00:56
Does it really leadlede to a singleenkelt ancestorstamfar
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Kommer det til å lede til en enkelt stamfar
00:59
some 20, 25,000 yearsår agosiden?
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for sånn 20-25,000 år tilbake?
01:02
And what if we go back beyondbortenfor that singleenkelt ancestorstamfar,
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Og hva om det går tilbake før den stamfaren,
01:05
when there was presumablyantagelig a competitionkonkurranse amongblant manymange languagesspråk?
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der det sikkert var konkurranse mellom forskjellige språk?
01:09
How farlangt back does that go? How farlangt back does modernmoderne languageSpråk go?
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Hvor langt tilbake går det? Hvor langt tilbake går det moderne språk?
01:13
How manymange tenstitus of thousandstusener of yearsår does it go back?
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Hvor mange titusener av år tilbake?
01:16
ChrisChris AndersonAnderson: Do you have a hunchanelse or a hopehåp for what the answersvar to that is?
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Chris Anderson: Har du en tanke eller et håp om hva svaret kan være?
01:19
MurrayMurray Gell-MannGell-Mann: Well, I would guessGjett that modernmoderne languageSpråk must be oldereldre
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Murray Gell-Mann: Vel, jeg antar at det moderne språk er eldre
01:22
than the cavehulen paintingsmalerier and cavehulen engravingsgraveringer and cavehulen sculpturesskulpturer
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enn hulemalerier, graveringer, skulpturer,
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and dancedanse stepstrinn in the softmyk clayleire in the caveshuler in WesternWestern EuropeEuropa,
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og den myke leiren i Vest-Europeiske huler
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in the AurignacianAurignacian PeriodPeriode some 35,000 yearsår agosiden, or earlierTidligere.
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under den Aurignacianske perioden for 35,000 år siden, eller tidligere.
01:37
I can't believe they did all those things and didn't alsoogså have a modernmoderne languageSpråk.
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Jeg kan ikke tro at de gjorde alle de tingene og ikke hadde et moderne språk.
01:40
So, I would guessGjett that the actualfaktiske originopprinnelse goesgår back at leastminst that farlangt and maybe furtherlengre.
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Så jeg antar at det går tilbake, kanskje enda lengre.
01:45
But that doesn't mean that all, or manymange, or mostmest
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Men det betyr ikke at alle, eller mange, eller de fleste
01:48
of today'sdagens attestedattestert languagesspråk couldn'tkunne ikke descendstige perhapskanskje
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av dagens språk ikke kunne stamme
01:52
from one that's much youngeryngre than that, like say 20,000 yearsår,
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fra et yngre enn det for omtrent 20,000 år,
01:56
or something of that kindsnill. It's what we call a bottleneckflaskehals.
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eller noe slikt. Det er det vi kaller en flaskehals.
02:00
CACA: Well, PhilipPhilip AndersonAnderson maykan have been right.
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CA: Vell, Phillip Anderson kan ha hatt rett.
02:01
You maykan just know more about everything than anyonehvem som helst.
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Du kan kansje mer om alt enn noen andre.
02:04
So, it's been an honorære. Thank you MurrayMurray Gell-MannGell-Mann.
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Så det har vært en ære. Takk til Murray Gell-Mann.
02:06
(ApplauseApplaus)
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(Applaus)
Translated by Leif B. Hammer
Reviewed by Martin Hassel

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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