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翻译 | Zoey
审核 |椰子
小编 | 毛毛
Similarities in language
语言中的相似之处
You say potato...
随你怎能说都行……
Distant languages sound more similar than you might expect
相距甚远的语言单词发音惊人地相似
Sep 17th 2016 | From the print edition
2016年9月17日 | 摘自印刷版
IN ENGLISH, the object on your face that smells things is called a “nose”, and, if you are generously endowed, you might describe it as “big”. The prevailing belief among linguists had been that the sounds used to form those words were arbitrary. But new work by a team led by Damian Blasi, a language scientist at the University of Zurich, and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that may not be true—and that the same sounds may be used in words for the same concepts across many different languages.
在英语中，脸上用来闻气味的部位被称为“nose”，并且假如老天待你不薄的话，那么你的“nose”就可以用“big”来形容。大多语言学家都认为，组成词汇的发音具有随意性。然而以苏黎世大学的语言科学家DamianBlasi为首的一个团队有了新的发现，并且将其发表在了美国国家科学院学报上。文章指出，上述所述也许是有误的，并指出相同发音也可以用来表示不同语言中的，表示同一概念的词汇。
linguists：语言学家
arbitrary：随意的
Dr Blasi was struck by the fact that, although the idea that sounds were arbitrary was firmly entrenched, there was strikingly little evidence for it. So along with his team, which combined skills in anthropology, linguistics, cognitive science, history and statistics, he decided to examine as many languages as possible to see if it was true. They analysed word lists derived from 4,298 of the world’s 6,000-odd languages, which accounted for about 85% of its historical linguistic diversity.
尽管“发音具有随意性”这一观点在语言学家的脑海中根深蒂固。可是能证明这一观点的证据却少得可怜。这一点让 Blasi 博士感到震惊又困惑。所以他决定和他的团队——汇聚了人类学、语言学、认知科学、历史学和统计学人才德队伍，一起研究尽可能多的语言来验证上述观点是否正确。他们分析研究了全球6000余种语言中的4298种语言的单词表，涵盖了有史以来85%的语言。
entrenched：根深蒂固的
They focused on words for 100 basic concepts, including the names of body parts, such as “bone” and “ear”, and natural phenomena, like “leaf” and “star”. Verbs, including “bite”, the pronouns “I”, “you” and “we”, and deive properties, such as “red”, were also studied. The words were transcribed using a sort of universal alphabet that reduced all sounds to 34 distinct consonants and 7 vowels. Then they ran the numbers.
他们主要研究了100个基本概念单词，包括身体各部位的名称，例如“bone”和“ear”；以及自然概念，例如“leaf”和“star”。包括“bite”在内的动词，名词“I”、“you”、“we”，以及例如“red”的这一类描述性属性词语。这些单词均是由一种通用的字母系统——包括34个不同的辅音和7个元音，所构成的。接下来他们逐一做了研究。
Dr Blasi knew that some words, such as “language”, “langue” and “lingua”, would be similar because they have a common history. Others, including “sugar”, “tea” and “coffee”, have similar-sounding names in different languages because they are traded goods. The people exchanging them were thus exposed to each other and had strong incentives to make themselves understood. But even when keeping all of that in mind and trying to control for it, the team found a lot more consistency across languages than they had expected.
Blasi博士知道像“language”,"langue"和"lingua"这样的单词发音很相似，是因为它们起源相同。而其他单词，比如"sugar","tea"和"coffee"，它们在不同的语言中的发音相似的原因是因为它们是交易商品。交换双方是见面的并且都有强烈地想让对方理解自己。然而即使他们把上述这些都记在了心里并试图去控制，他们还是发现跨语言间的一致性现象，远比自己预想的要多。
The words for “nose”, for instance, often involve either an “n” sound or an “oo” sound, no matter the language in question. The concept of “round” was noticeably likely to be conveyed using a word containing the “r” sound. Employing an “s” sound in the word for “sand” is similarly common. In fact, the researchers found that almost a third of their 100 concepts had more similarities in the sounds used by languages to express them than expected. That suggests there must be some deeper reason for the commonalities.
比如单词"nose",无论是哪种语言，都会有"n"音或者"oo"音。很明显跨语言间，round"这一概念是用一个包含"r"音的单词来表达的。类似的还有，"sand"中的"s"音的使用。事实上，研究员发现，跨语言的100个概念词中有大概三分之一的词汇的发音上都比他们想象中的更相似。这表明这些共性的背后还有隐藏着某些更深层次的原因。
There are several theories. One is that some objects have names whose sounds bring them to mind, a sort of “sound symbolism”. Employing a nasal “n” sound to name a nose would be one example. Another is that sensory associations play a role. Studies have found that people routinely associate darker colours with lower sounds and lighter colours with higher ones, for instance. Such shared synaesthesia might account for some of the similarities. Or the commonalities might be leftovers from some ancient, now-forgotten proto-language.（读者试译）
对此有许多观点。一种观点认为是有些单词的发音可以使人们联想到这个单词。这是一种“语音象征”。例如，使用鼻音“n”指代鼻子。另一种观点则是感官联系发挥作用。举例来讲，研究表明人们通常用用低音来表示深色，用高音来表示浅色。这样共用的联觉可能是导致相似性的原因之一。 （读者试译。）
synaesthesia：共同感觉
proto-language：母语，祖语，原语言
Dr Blasi and his colleagues are reluctant, at this stage, to endorse one theory over another. But there is a more prosaic possibility—expediency. “Huh” is a word that has been found to be remarkably similar across languages. “It’s cheap, short and understandable,” says Dr Blasi—convenient for something you might say hundreds of times a day. Ditto for a pronoun like “I”. Perhaps parsimony is what ultimately unites the world.
在现阶段Blasi博士和他的同事还不愿意去支持某种理论而否定另一种。然而还有一种更令人乏味的可能性——方便。研究发现，"huh"（. 哼！；哈！表示轻蔑、疑问或惊异等）这一单词在不同语言中都惊人地相似。Blasi博士说：“这很简单，短小又易懂——对于一个一天能说几百遍的单词来说这很方便”。代词"I"也是同上。或许就是这种简约性把世界联系到了一起。
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Or the commonalities might be leftovers from some ancient, now-forgotten proto-language.
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