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How does language emerge? 語言是如何出現(xiàn)的? 上海譯銳翻譯 2019.12.5 11:10 a.m. How did the almost 6000 languages of the world come into being? Researchers from the Leipzig Research Centre for Early Childhood Development at Leipzig University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology have tried to simulate the process of developing a new communication system in an experiment -- with surprising results: even preschool children can spontaneously develop communication systems that exhibit core properties of natural language. 全球大約有6千種語言,這些語言都是如何形成的?萊比錫大學(xué)幼兒早期成長萊比錫研究中心(Leipzig Research Centre for Early Childhood Development)以及馬克斯-普朗克進(jìn)化人類研究所(Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)的研究者們嘗試在一個實驗中模擬一種新溝通體系的形成過程。這一實驗帶來了驚人的結(jié)果:即使是學(xué)齡前兒童也可以自發(fā)地發(fā)明一種溝通體系且該體系具有天然語言的核心特性。 How the languages of the world emerged is largely a mystery. Considering that it might have taken millennia, it is intriguing to see how deaf people can create novel sign languages spontaneously. Observations have shown that when deaf strangers are brought together in a community, they come up with their own sign language in a considerably short amount of time. The most famous example of this is Nicaraguan Sign Language, which emerged in the 1980s. Interestingly, children played an important role in the development of these novel languages. However, how exactly this happened has not been documented, as Manuel Bohn describes: "We know relatively little about how social interaction becomes language. This is where our new study comes in." 世界上各種語言的出現(xiàn)在很大程度上是一個謎。由于語言的形成可能需要花費上千年的時間,因此了解聾啞人是如何自發(fā)創(chuàng)造出新奇的手勢語言過程是一件非常有趣的事。通過觀察,我們可以發(fā)現(xiàn),當(dāng)一群互不相識的聾啞人被聚在一起時,他們會在非常短的時間內(nèi)想出自己的手勢語。關(guān)于這一現(xiàn)象的一個最著名的例子就是“尼加拉瓜手勢語”,其出現(xiàn)于20世紀(jì)80年代。有趣的是,兒童在這些新奇語言的形成過程中扮演著重要角色。然而,兒童具體發(fā)揮了哪些作用卻并未被記錄下來。正如Manuel Bohn所描述的那樣:“相對而言,我們對社交如何轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)檎Z言的過程一無所知。這也是我們新研究的切入點?!?/p> In a series of studies, researchers at the Leipzig Research Centre for Early Childhood Development and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology attempted to recreate exactly this process. The idea had been around for quite some time, says Gregor Kachel. But there was a problem: how to make children communicate with each other without them reverting to talking to each other? The solution came up in Skype conversations between the two researchers from Germany and their colleague Michael Tomasello in the US. In the study, children were invited to stay in two different rooms and a Skype connection was established between them. After a brief familiarization with the set-up, the researchers sneakily turned off the sound and watched as the children found new ways of communicating that go beyond spoken language. 萊比錫大學(xué)幼兒早期成長萊比錫研究中心以及馬克斯-普朗克進(jìn)化人類研究所的研究者們試圖在一系列研究中準(zhǔn)確重塑社交轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)檎Z言的過程。這一想法已經(jīng)形成相當(dāng)長一段時間了,Gregor Kachel表示。但是,這里有一個問題。如何讓孩子們在相互交流的同時避免重新采用談話來進(jìn)行溝通?這一解決辦法來自于德國研究者和其位于美國的同事Michael Tomasello利用Skype進(jìn)行交談時。在研究中,孩子們受邀呆在兩間不同的房間,然后孩子們用Skype保持聯(lián)系。當(dāng)孩子們對場景進(jìn)行簡短的熟悉后,研究人員會悄悄關(guān)掉聲音,然后觀察孩子如何尋找替代口頭語言的新辦法來進(jìn)行溝通。 The children's task was to describe an image with different motifs in a coordination game. With concrete things -- like a hammer or a fork -- children quickly found a solution by imitating the corresponding action (e.g. eating) in a gesture. But the researchers repeatedly challenged the children with new, more abstract pictures. For example, they introduced a white sheet of paper as a picture. The depicted "nothing" is difficult to imitate. Kachel describes how two children nevertheless mastered this task: "The sender first tried all sorts of different gestures, but her partner let her know that she did not know what was meant. Suddenly our sender pulled her T-shirt to the side and pointed to a white dot on her coloured T-shirt. The two had a real breakthrough: of course! White! Like the white paper! Later, when the roles were switched, the recipient didn't have a white spot on her T-shirt, but she nevertheless took the same approach: she pulled her T-shirt to the side and pointed to it. Immediately her partner knew what to do." Within a very short time, the two had established a sign for an abstract concept. In the course of the study, the images to be depicted became more and more complex, which was also reflected in the gestures that the children produced. In order to communicate, for example, an interaction between two animals, children invented separate gestures for actors and actions and began to combine them -- thus creating a kind of small local grammar. 孩子們的任務(wù)是在一個協(xié)調(diào)游戲中描述不同主題的圖像。當(dāng)圖像是某些具體的東西時,比如錘子或叉子,孩子們會迅速找到一個解決辦法,那就是通過手勢模仿相應(yīng)的動作(比如吃東西)來描述圖像。但是,研究者們會利用新的、更加抽象的圖像來不斷向孩子們提出挑戰(zhàn)。比如,他們會將一張白紙作為圖像。“空白”這樣含義則很難去模仿。Kachel描述了在含義如此抽象的情況下,孩子們是如何完成任務(wù)的:“負(fù)責(zé)解釋的孩子一開始采取各種手勢來進(jìn)行解釋,但是他的配合伙伴卻向他表示,他不明白這到底是什么意思。突然,負(fù)責(zé)解釋的孩子將他的T恤拉向一側(cè),然后用手指彩色T恤上面的白色圓點。這組孩子實現(xiàn)了真正的突破:沒錯!是白色!就像一張白紙!隨后,雙方角色互換。之前負(fù)責(zé)接收信息的孩子所穿的T恤上面沒有白點,但是他也采用了相同的方法:他把T恤拉到一側(cè),然后指著T恤。他的同伴立刻知道該怎么做了。”在很短的時間內(nèi),兩個孩子就建立了抽象概念的標(biāo)記。在研究過程中,需要描述的圖像變得越來越復(fù)雜,這種復(fù)雜性也體現(xiàn)在孩子們的手勢上。為了能夠溝通,比如,就像兩個動物之間進(jìn)行交流,孩子們?yōu)樽鍪謩莸娜撕退鍪謩莅l(fā)明了一套單獨的手勢并開始將二者結(jié)合在一起-這樣就在局部形成小型的語法規(guī)則。 How does a language emerge? Based on the present study, the following steps appear plausible: first, people create reference to actions and objects via signs that resemble things. The prerequisite for this is a common ground of experience between interaction partners. Partners also coordinate by imitating each other such that they use the same signs for the same things. The signs thus gain interpersonal and eventually conventional meaning. Over time, the relationships between the signs and things become more abstract and the meaning of the individual signs more specific. Grammatical structures are gradually introduced when there is a need to communicate more complex facts. However, the most remarkable aspect of the current studies is that these processes can be observed under controlled circumstances and within 30 minutes. 那么,語言是如何出現(xiàn)的?根據(jù)當(dāng)前的研究,以下的發(fā)展階段似乎是可信的:首先,他們會通過和某個事物相像的符號來模仿某個東西,然后在符號和所描述的動作和物體之間形成聯(lián)系。形成這一過程的必要前提是交流雙方要有相同的經(jīng)歷。合作者們也會通過相互模仿進(jìn)行協(xié)作,這楊他們就會對相同的事物采用相同的符號。這樣,符號就具備了人際交往的意義并最終形成慣用含義。隨著時間的推移,符號和事物之間的關(guān)系變得越來越抽象,單個符號的含義也變得越來越具體。隨著需要交流更加復(fù)雜的事實時,語法結(jié)構(gòu)被逐漸引入。然而,當(dāng)前研究最引人注目的就是這些過程可以在可控的條件下以及30分鐘內(nèi)觀察到。 The studies demonstrate that communication cannot be reduced to words alone. When there is no way to use conventional spoken language, people find other ways to get their message across. This phenomenon forms the basis for the development of new languages. The study by Manuel Bohn, Gregor Kachel and Michael Tomasello shows what the first steps in the development of a new language could look like. According to Bohn, however, numerous new questions arise at this point: "It would be very interesting to see how the newly invented communication systems change over time, for example when they are passed on to new 'generations' of users. There is evidence that language becomes more systematic when passed on." 研究表明,溝通不可能被還原為單獨的詞語。當(dāng)沒有辦法使用管用的口頭語言時,人們會尋找其他方式來傳達(dá)信息。這一現(xiàn)象就形成了新語言發(fā)展的基礎(chǔ)。Manuel Bohn,Gregor Kachel和Michael Tomasello的研究向我們展示了新語言發(fā)展最初階段的樣子。根據(jù)Bohn的介紹,大量新問題會在此時出現(xiàn):“觀察新發(fā)明的語言將如何隨著時間發(fā)生變化會是一件非常有趣的事。比如,新語言會傳給新一代的使用者。這也證明了隨著語言一代代傳遞,它也會變得越來越系統(tǒng)化。” 文章來源:科學(xué)日報 編輯:Susan