- 全世界现存超过 5000 种语言，语言学家已经能画出它们的家谱树，但"人类这个物种到底是怎么演化出说话能力的"，至今仍是一堆假设多过答案的谜。
- 文章分五节递进：先说语言学已知的部分，再问"语法是不是人类独有"（海豚可能也能识别语序规则），接着看嘴巴/喉咽的生理演化（约 10 万年前才具备发复杂音的能力）。
- 后半段聚焦大脑：是先有语言能力才让大脑变复杂，还是大脑先变复杂才催生了语言？文章明确说"没人知道"，把这个悬而未决的因果问题摆在读者面前。
- 结尾提到一个基因突变（发生在 10-20 万年前）可能跟语言能力有关，但作者反复强调"现在下结论还太早"。
重点内容
原文 / 段落
Section A
Thanks to the field of linguistics we know much about the development of the 5,000 plus languages in existence today. We can describe their grammar and pronunciation and see how their spoken and written forms have changed over time. For example, we understand the origins of the Indo-European group of languages, which includes Norwegian, Hindi and English, and can trace them back to tribes in eastern Europe in about 3000 BC.
So, we have mapped out a great deal of the history of language, but there are still areas we know little about. Experts are beginning to look to the field of evolutionary biology to find out how the human species developed to be able to use language. So far, there are far more questions and half-theories than answers.
Section B
We know that human language is far more complex than that of even our nearest and most intelligent relatives like chimpanzees. We can express complex thoughts, convey subtle emotions and communicate about abstract concepts such as past and future. And we do this following a set of structural rules, known as grammar. Do only humans use an innate system of rules to govern the order of words? Perhaps not, as some research may suggest dolphins share this capability because they are able to recognise when these rules are broken.
Section C
If we want to know where our capability for complex language came from, we need to look at how our brains are different from other animals. This relates to more than just brain size; it is important what other things our brains can do and when and why they evolved that way. And for this there are very few physical clues; artefacts left by our ancestors don't tell us what speech they were capable of making. One thing we can see in the remains of early humans, however, is the development of the mouth, throat and tongue. By about 100,000 years ago, humans had evolved the ability to create complex sounds. Before that, evolutionary biologists can only guess whether or not early humans communicated using more basic sounds.
Section D
Another question is, what is it about human brains that allowed language to evolve in a way that it did not in other primates? At some point, our brains became able to make our mouths produce vowel and consonant sounds, and we developed the capacity to invent words to name things around us. These were the basic ingredients for complex language. The next change would have been to put those words into sentences, similar to the 'protolanguage' children use when they first learn to speak. No one knows if the next step – adding grammar to signal past, present and future, for example, or plurals and relative clauses – required a further development in the human brain or was simply a response to our increasingly civilised way of living together.
Between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, though, we start to see the evidence of early human civilisation, through cave paintings for example; no one knows the connection between this and language. Brains didn't suddenly get bigger, yet humans did become more complex and more intelligent. Was it using language that caused their brains to develop? Or did their more complex brains start producing language?
Section E
More questions lie in looking at the influence of genetics on brain and language development. Are there genes that mutated and gave us language ability? Researchers have found a gene mutation that occurred between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago, which seems to have a connection with speaking and how our brains control our mouths and face. Monkeys have a similar gene, but it did not undergo this mutation. It's too early to say how much influence genes have on language, but one day the answers might be found in our DNA.
生词表
| 英文 | 中文 | 备注 |
|---|---|---|
| linguistics | 语言学 | |
| trace back to | 追溯到 | trace them back to tribes：追溯到部落 |
| innate | 天生的、内在的 | an innate system of rules |
| convey (emotions) | 传达（情感） | convey subtle emotions |
| primate | 灵长类动物 | 人类、猿、猴等的统称 |
| protolanguage | 原始语言 | 儿童学语初期使用的简化语言形式 |
| relative clause | 关系从句 | 语法术语 |
| evidence of civilisation | 文明的证据 | evidence of early human civilisation |
| gene mutation | 基因突变 | |
| capacity (to do sth) | （做某事的）能力 | the capacity to invent words |
| ingredient | 要素、成分 | basic ingredients for complex language |
| half-theories | 未成形的半成品理论 | 作者自造的表达，指还不完整的假设 |
理解要点
- 全文按 Section A–E 分节推进，每节开头一两句往往是这一节要回答的问题，先扫这些问题句能快速搭出全文骨架。
- 留意反复出现的"没人知道"（"No one knows"、"it's too early to say"）——这些句子标记的是作者刻意保留的不确定性，不是信息缺失，读的时候不要强行找一个"正确答案"。
- Section B 提到海豚可能懂语序规则，是用来质疑"语法是否人类独有"这个假设，读的时候要抓住这是一个反例/待验证的猜想，不是既定事实。
- Section D 结尾的"是语言让大脑变复杂，还是大脑变复杂才有语言"是全文的核心悬念，Section E 讲基因突变其实是在为这个悬念找线索，但同样没有给出确定答案。
Sources
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