1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:03,965 Hello. 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,888 You know, just saying that one word is one of the most complex 3 00:00:06,923 --> 00:00:09,405 and extraordinary operations we know. 4 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:13,245 70 muscles and half a billion brain cells go into it. 5 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:16,800 What's more, pretty much anyone who can speak English over the age of two 6 00:00:16,835 --> 00:00:19,925 can do it without even having to think. 7 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:24,320 The story of language is surely one of the greatest stories we have. 8 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:30,765 In this series, I'm going to explore language 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,540 in all its amazing complexity, variety and ingenuity. 10 00:00:34,575 --> 00:00:38,280 Our species perhaps could live together without language 11 00:00:38,315 --> 00:00:40,977 but it wouldn't be what we call the human species. 12 00:00:41,012 --> 00:00:43,640 I'm going to try to understand how we learn it, 13 00:00:43,675 --> 00:00:45,525 how we write it... 14 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:47,280 Oh, my goodness. This is magical! 15 00:00:47,315 --> 00:00:49,000 ..how we sometimes lose it... 16 00:00:49,035 --> 00:00:52,565 Oh, my Lord! 17 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,000 ... how it defines us to the very core of our being... 18 00:00:56,035 --> 00:00:59,445 Ba, ba-ba-da-ba! Ra-ba-dum-bum-ba-dum. 19 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,960 ... why it can make us laugh and cry and tear our hair out 20 00:01:03,995 --> 00:01:06,177 or inspire us. 21 00:01:06,212 --> 00:01:08,325 To sleep...no more. 22 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:11,240 It's what I treasure above all else. 23 00:01:11,275 --> 00:01:13,560 It is what makes me ME. 24 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,365 In this programme, I'm going to take you on a journey 25 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,800 to find out why we are the only species to have developed 26 00:01:21,835 --> 00:01:25,165 this miraculous gift of language. 27 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:30,120 We'll see the individual miracle of how we acquire language at an early age... 28 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:36,955 ... and celebrate language as one of the most marvellous tools 29 00:01:36,990 --> 00:01:38,189 humanity has. 30 00:01:38,224 --> 00:01:42,480 A continual process of innovation and creation. 31 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,040 That really hurts, actually. 32 00:01:49,794 --> 00:01:51,794 Sync and corrections www.addic7ed.com. 33 00:01:52,294 --> 00:01:54,794 Fry's Planet Word. Episode 1 "Babel". 34 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:06,280 To begin my exploration of language, 35 00:02:06,315 --> 00:02:09,125 I've come here to north-east Africa, 36 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:11,880 close to where our species first evolved. 37 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:20,725 There are around 7,000 languages in use on our planet today, 38 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:25,200 some spoken by a mere handful of people, others by more than a billion. 39 00:02:25,235 --> 00:02:29,877 It's a surprisingly short time, only about 50,000 years 40 00:02:29,912 --> 00:02:34,520 since mankind graduated from uggs and grunts and growls 41 00:02:34,555 --> 00:02:36,280 into a linguistic flowering. 42 00:02:40,383 --> 00:02:43,883 ♪ 43 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:48,045 These are the Turkana, a pastoral nomad tribe 44 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:52,520 who are about as far away from me and my tribe as you could find. 45 00:02:52,845 --> 00:02:57,079 ♪ 46 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,240 But one thing that I do share with them is language. 47 00:03:01,275 --> 00:03:05,205 Turkana is as sophisticated and complicated a tongue 48 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:08,600 as ancient Greek, and although I can't understand a word, 49 00:03:08,635 --> 00:03:11,360 it actually works much the same as English does. 50 00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:18,080 There are nouns to name things, 51 00:03:18,115 --> 00:03:19,897 adjectives to describe them 52 00:03:19,932 --> 00:03:21,645 and verbs to explain 53 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:23,760 what you can do with them. 54 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:32,560 Every language provides an amazingly rich and adaptable set of tools 55 00:03:32,595 --> 00:03:35,805 that mankind shares the world over - 56 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:40,360 and which every Turkana child imbibes with their mother's milk. 57 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,280 And how old is a baby when they start to speak? 58 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:00,365 Two years? 59 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:01,880 Yeah, two years. 60 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,565 That means winter, summer. Winter, summer. 61 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:14,600 - I see, winter, summer. Two winters, two summers. - Yeah. 62 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:28,520 Those are the first words. "Father, mother." It's the same everywhere. 63 00:04:28,555 --> 00:04:30,885 What's really amazing is that these children, 64 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,080 even the smallest of them, within a very short space of time 65 00:04:34,115 --> 00:04:37,240 are able to grasp the full complexities and all the phonetics 66 00:04:37,275 --> 00:04:38,470 and all the metaphors 67 00:04:38,505 --> 00:04:42,486 and all the remarkable depths that the Turkana language is capable of. 68 00:04:42,521 --> 00:04:46,280 It's no more effort for them to acquire a full language 69 00:04:46,315 --> 00:04:47,880 than it is for them to grow hair. 70 00:04:47,915 --> 00:04:49,325 It just happens, 71 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,720 and yet it's the most complex piece of brain processing 72 00:04:52,755 --> 00:04:54,880 that we know of on the planet. 73 00:04:54,915 --> 00:04:56,440 It's a kind of miracle. 74 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,200 Miracle. You are a miracle. 75 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:04,285 All over the world, 76 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:08,045 from the cradle of man in East Africa to a hutong in China, 77 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,577 this same miraculous process 78 00:05:10,612 --> 00:05:13,886 takes place over the course of just a few years. 79 00:05:23,436 --> 00:05:26,840 This is Ruby, who lives in London. 80 00:05:26,875 --> 00:05:29,000 Ruby. 81 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,565 Ruby is 15 months old and over the next year, 82 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,501 we'll be tracking her development from umms and ahs 83 00:05:39,536 --> 00:05:41,387 to recognisable speech. 84 00:05:41,715 --> 00:05:43,040 Say "ta". 85 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:49,040 But how do we learn language? 86 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:58,220 And what exactly is the difference between language and communication? 87 00:05:58,255 --> 00:06:03,360 After all, the natural world is an absolute cacophony of communication. 88 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:09,165 Birds singing to greet the dawn, 89 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,720 meerkats whistling to each other to warn off predators. 90 00:06:13,755 --> 00:06:16,537 Elephants trumpeting to attract a mate, 91 00:06:16,572 --> 00:06:19,320 dolphins clicking to point out food. 92 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:27,000 The closer you get to us humans on the evolutionary tree, 93 00:06:27,035 --> 00:06:31,357 the more sophisticated their communication seems to become. 94 00:06:31,392 --> 00:06:35,680 Monkeys have a whole grammar of whoops, howls and calls 95 00:06:35,715 --> 00:06:40,045 that signal everything from fear to joy to love. 96 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:47,000 But it's still a long way from this to language as our species knows it. 97 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:51,960 It's not that we haven't looked for an amazing talking ape, 98 00:06:51,995 --> 00:06:55,240 it's just that so far we haven't found one. 99 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:01,485 It's so closely related and yet so completely different. 100 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:05,760 I think it is language that's the thing that's most different about us. 101 00:07:05,795 --> 00:07:09,117 If I trained hard, I probably could bounce from tree to tree, 102 00:07:09,152 --> 00:07:12,405 but you could train all your life and you could never say, 103 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:14,605 "Betty had a bit of bitter butter, put it in her batter 104 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,822 and made her batter bitter, then Betty took a bit of better butter 105 00:07:17,857 --> 00:07:21,123 and put it in her bitter batter and made her bitter batter better." 106 00:07:21,595 --> 00:07:23,760 If you could, you'd be the wonder of the age. 107 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:32,480 So how did we manage to develop language, 108 00:07:32,515 --> 00:07:34,280 when other primates have not? 109 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:40,560 I've come to the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Leipzig, 110 00:07:40,595 --> 00:07:43,440 where they study a number of large primates. 111 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:50,320 I'm here to meet one of the world's foremost evolutionary linguists, 112 00:07:50,355 --> 00:07:52,365 Michael Tomasello. 113 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:54,645 There's a general assumption that we all have 114 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:56,062 that language is one of the things 115 00:07:56,097 --> 00:07:58,734 that separates human beings from all other animals, 116 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:00,985 but that maybe animals like the great apes, 117 00:08:01,020 --> 00:08:03,771 our closest relatives, with whom we share so much DNA, 118 00:08:04,075 --> 00:08:07,800 are sort of on a continuum on the way to language. 119 00:08:07,835 --> 00:08:10,165 That maybe they can be taught language. 120 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:13,180 Does your research show that any of this is likely? 121 00:08:13,215 --> 00:08:16,125 Well, in evolution, everything is on a continuum 122 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:19,760 but they're a pretty far step away on that continuum, I would say. 123 00:08:19,795 --> 00:08:22,485 So their vocalisations are pretty hard wired 124 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,325 and before you can get to something like language, you obviously 125 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,120 have to be able to produce sounds when you want to and not when you don't. 126 00:08:29,155 --> 00:08:32,485 So, if food is coming, they make this noise 127 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:34,880 or if a predator is coming, they make that noise. 128 00:08:34,915 --> 00:08:37,297 They're very much tied to their emotions. 129 00:08:37,332 --> 00:08:39,680 The vocalisations go with emotional states. 130 00:08:39,715 --> 00:08:41,685 If they're frightened, they scream. 131 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:43,765 If they're excited about food, they hoot. 132 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:46,440 If they're grieving someone after a long time, 133 00:08:46,475 --> 00:08:49,045 they give a kind of submissive pant-grunt. 134 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:53,240 And so their vocalisations are fairly stereotypical, 135 00:08:53,275 --> 00:08:55,600 with only a little bit of flexibility. 136 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:02,925 Well, no-one can doubt that animals communicate. 137 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:06,280 You can see our closest cousins here, primates like us, 138 00:09:06,315 --> 00:09:08,877 communicating like Billy-o in all kinds of ways. 139 00:09:08,912 --> 00:09:11,405 But I don't think we can call that language. 140 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:14,445 One of the problems they face, even sophisticated primates, - 141 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:16,404 is that they simply don't have the mechanical apparatus 142 00:09:16,439 --> 00:09:18,200 necessary for speech. 143 00:09:18,355 --> 00:09:20,525 They don't have the control over breathing, 144 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:24,160 the complex facial muscles that allow such extraordinary sounds 145 00:09:24,195 --> 00:09:26,765 that we can make, and I'm making now, 146 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:29,480 though goodness knows, they can try and compensate. 147 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:34,760 Nor do they have the larynx or vocal cords in the right position for speech, 148 00:09:34,795 --> 00:09:37,485 but they can make signs. 149 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:40,276 Maybe sign language is possible amongst primates. 150 00:09:40,311 --> 00:09:42,349 That's worth thinking about, surely. Eh? 151 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,520 You can't JUST fart, surely. That's better! 152 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:56,320 Since the 1960s, there have been numerous attempts to do just that - 153 00:09:56,355 --> 00:10:00,480 trying to teach apes language using sign language. 154 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,165 Perhaps the most famous of these experiments 155 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:08,480 was conducted at Columbia University, where a chimpanzee, 156 00:10:08,515 --> 00:10:11,125 cheekily named Nim Chimpsky - 157 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:13,440 a pun on the great linguist Noam Chomsky - 158 00:10:13,475 --> 00:10:15,925 was brought up like a human child 159 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:20,480 in an attempt to mirror a human child's linguistic development. 160 00:10:20,515 --> 00:10:23,997 Nim became quite adept at signing, 161 00:10:24,032 --> 00:10:27,480 but never grasped how to use grammar. 162 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:37,080 Around the same time, a three-year-old chimp named Lana 163 00:10:37,115 --> 00:10:39,645 was the subject of an experiment in Atlanta. 164 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:44,360 "Lana lives in a transparent plastic cage with a computer". 165 00:10:44,395 --> 00:10:47,125 "She operates the machine through a language of symbols". 166 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,925 "The symbols have to be pressed in a specific order 167 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:51,749 for the desired result to be achieved". 168 00:10:52,675 --> 00:10:56,877 "Please, machine, give piece of apple, full stop." 169 00:10:58,332 --> 00:11:00,716 Although this communication seems sophisticated, 170 00:11:00,751 --> 00:11:04,520 it's not using language in the way that we do. 171 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:09,120 Chimps have the ability to construct very basic sentences, 172 00:11:09,155 --> 00:11:12,720 but they don't initiate conversations. 173 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:16,965 There is no linguistic creativity. 174 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:19,400 "Please, machine, give chocolate, full stop." 175 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:24,160 They're doing it only to request things. 176 00:11:24,195 --> 00:11:26,005 They're doing it imperatively, 177 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:28,645 or in response to some demand from them, 178 00:11:28,680 --> 00:11:31,485 and not with one another in their natural state. 179 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:33,453 So, pointing, for them, is not about 180 00:11:33,488 --> 00:11:36,573 sharing information as much as it is about getting what you want. 181 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:44,240 So, what is your best guess, based on your research, 182 00:11:44,275 --> 00:11:47,405 as to how human beings separated? 183 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:51,445 Why and when they acquired this difference, 184 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:54,960 this ability to project their personality on to their fellows, 185 00:11:54,995 --> 00:11:58,440 to co-operate and use language as a social, co-operative medium 186 00:11:58,475 --> 00:12:00,685 in a way quite different from others? 187 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,780 I think the initial step was that we ended up 188 00:12:03,815 --> 00:12:06,767 having to collaborate in order to produce food. 189 00:12:06,802 --> 00:12:09,685 Something in the ecology changed that meant 190 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:13,800 that we had to put our heads together to be able to acquire food. 191 00:12:13,835 --> 00:12:17,245 And working together towards a common goal 192 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,440 means we have to be co-operative in sharing the food at the end, 193 00:12:20,475 --> 00:12:23,000 we have to co-ordinate our movements when we do that 194 00:12:23,035 --> 00:12:25,685 and it puts pressure on for communication, 195 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:30,036 because I think the first major function of human, 196 00:12:30,071 --> 00:12:31,335 uniquely human communication, 197 00:12:31,370 --> 00:12:33,620 was to co-ordinate collaborative activities. 198 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:42,965 For simpler types of hunting, gestures and grunts may suffice, 199 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,265 but the pursuit of more elusive quarry 200 00:12:45,300 --> 00:12:48,918 demanded a more complex system of communication. 201 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:57,720 When the ancestors of these Wauja of the Xingu River in Brazil 202 00:12:57,755 --> 00:12:59,885 first decided to hunt some alligators, 203 00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:04,720 the whole village needed to work together to catch their prey. 204 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:09,885 So, somewhere along the line, 205 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:15,280 cries and grunts turned into words and sentences. 206 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,965 Clearer communication brought other benefits. 207 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:25,331 Increased efficiency created more free time 208 00:13:25,366 --> 00:13:27,078 to spend together as a community. 209 00:13:27,113 --> 00:13:32,320 As language blossomed, experiences could be shared and stories told. 210 00:13:32,772 --> 00:13:37,272 ♪ 211 00:13:37,772 --> 00:13:42,272 ♪ 212 00:13:43,272 --> 00:13:47,772 ♪ 213 00:13:48,272 --> 00:13:51,272 ♪ 214 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:56,868 So language gave us the power to hunt ever more efficiently 215 00:13:56,903 --> 00:13:58,381 and with greater co-operation, 216 00:13:58,416 --> 00:14:02,320 but it also granted us completely unseen new benefits. 217 00:14:02,355 --> 00:14:04,285 We were able to talk about the past 218 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:06,525 and to project our lives into the future. 219 00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:09,660 This transmission of knowledge across the generations 220 00:14:09,695 --> 00:14:12,760 is what gave us, ultimately, civilisation itself. 221 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:21,840 Language became the foundation of human society and culture 222 00:14:21,875 --> 00:14:25,937 and for me, thinking about it, using it, playing with it, 223 00:14:25,972 --> 00:14:29,965 has always been one of the greatest passions of my life. 224 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:32,471 To you, language is more than a means of communication? 225 00:14:32,506 --> 00:14:35,049 Of course it is, of course it is, of course it is, of course it is, 226 00:14:36,061 --> 00:14:37,880 Language is my mother, my father, my husband, my brother, 227 00:14:37,915 --> 00:14:40,685 my sister, my whore, my mistress, my checkout girl. 228 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:44,440 Language is a complimentary moist lemon-scented cleansing square, 229 00:14:44,475 --> 00:14:46,477 or handy freshen-up wipette. 230 00:14:46,512 --> 00:14:48,480 Language is the breath of God. 231 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:57,320 If our changing environment first forced us to learn language, 232 00:14:57,355 --> 00:15:00,640 what did that language then do to us? 233 00:15:00,675 --> 00:15:03,120 Did it change us physiologically? 234 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,125 Elsewhere in Leipzig's Max Planck Institute, 235 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,713 leading geneticist Dr Wolfgang Enard 236 00:15:11,748 --> 00:15:15,341 is unravelling the mysteries of the human genome. 237 00:15:15,650 --> 00:15:16,280 His work is providing some tantalising clues 238 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:23,040 as to how our brains became hard-wired for language. 239 00:15:24,541 --> 00:15:28,060 Wolfgang, one of the most important things that science can discover 240 00:15:28,095 --> 00:15:29,633 is where speech comes from. 241 00:15:29,668 --> 00:15:33,685 Where this extraordinary ability of human beings to have evolved 242 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:37,560 and to process language, the thing that marks us out perhaps more than 243 00:15:37,595 --> 00:15:40,525 anything else from other animals, where it comes from. 244 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:44,560 There are all kinds of theories, but a recent addition to those theories 245 00:15:44,595 --> 00:15:49,680 has been this mysterious two-letter gene difference 246 00:15:49,715 --> 00:15:52,405 that you and your colleagues have discovered. 247 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:57,020 - Can you tell me about it? It's called FOXPT - is that right? - FOXP2. 248 00:15:57,055 --> 00:16:01,600 Yes, that's how gene names are. They are strange letters and numbers. 249 00:16:01,635 --> 00:16:08,725 FOXP2 is currently the biggest foot we have in this door. 250 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:11,417 What the genetic make-up is and how we evolved language 251 00:16:11,452 --> 00:16:14,282 and how language or speech, at least, functions. 252 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:21,840 The FOXP2 gene is what's called a forkhead box protein, 253 00:16:21,875 --> 00:16:24,325 found on human chromosome 7. 254 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:26,325 All mammals have it and, in fact, 255 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:30,800 there are only two amino acids different between ours and the chimps' 256 00:16:30,835 --> 00:16:33,205 and just three between us and mice. 257 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:37,085 Its connection to language was realised when it was discovered 258 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:42,960 that humans with a mutation in the gene can have extreme speech disorders. 259 00:16:42,995 --> 00:16:46,925 We need to somehow study that and the clue to that - 260 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:51,520 or the only possibility we really have to study that - is to look in mice. 261 00:16:51,555 --> 00:16:55,360 If you can make mice that have the human version of the FOXP2 gene, 262 00:16:55,395 --> 00:16:59,720 and then see how they compare to a normal mouse. Litter mates. 263 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,165 - These are pups that have the gene in? - Yes, yes. 264 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:09,080 So they... They carry the human version of FOXP2. 265 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,125 Mice can have litters every few months, 266 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:19,960 so the study effectively follows an evolutionary process on fast forward. 267 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:26,320 By closely monitoring these little creatures' squeals and squeaks, 268 00:17:26,355 --> 00:17:30,800 Enard is already spotting some small but significant changes. 269 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:37,280 They have some sudden features, especially in their brain, 270 00:17:37,315 --> 00:17:40,120 but also in their vocalisation. 271 00:17:40,155 --> 00:17:42,245 Really? 272 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:46,480 Slight differences and we hope these slight differences give us some clue 273 00:17:46,515 --> 00:17:51,805 to where and what actually changed in human FOXP2 evolution. 274 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:56,280 And you would hope, of course, to discover not just new sound waves 275 00:17:56,315 --> 00:17:59,237 or new frequencies at which they're communicating, 276 00:17:59,272 --> 00:18:02,125 but maybe even an effect in the communication, 277 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:07,085 which is to say quicker mating or passing of news of food, 278 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:11,040 or who knows? Or is that being far too optimistic about the possibilities? 279 00:18:11,075 --> 00:18:13,929 I think that would be asking too much. The mouse would not... 280 00:18:14,275 --> 00:18:15,062 start talking. 281 00:18:15,097 --> 00:18:16,977 - No, they're not going from squeaking to speaking. - I mean 282 00:18:17,012 --> 00:18:18,822 - they're still a mouse, right? - Exactly. 283 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:24,757 So sadly, despite the fact that Enard's test subjects 284 00:18:24,792 --> 00:18:29,129 have been dubbed "the singing mice," there doesn't seem to be any chance 285 00:18:29,164 --> 00:18:32,339 they will evolve into something like these old friends: 286 00:18:32,374 --> 00:18:34,497 ♪ We will wash it, we will splosh it ♪ 287 00:18:34,532 --> 00:18:36,726 ♪ Bring the bucket and mop, mop, mop ♪ 288 00:18:36,761 --> 00:18:39,240 ♪ We will dust it, we will brush it ♪ 289 00:18:39,275 --> 00:18:41,917 ♪ We will polish its top, top, top ♪ 290 00:18:41,952 --> 00:18:44,525 ♪ We will polish its top, top, top. ♪ 291 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:49,340 - Do you think FOXP2 has more secrets to give up for you? - Absolutely. 292 00:18:49,375 --> 00:18:54,120 I mean, er, we understand so little in terms of what it really does 293 00:18:54,155 --> 00:18:57,920 because, after all, the brain is a pretty complex organ. 294 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:04,640 How certain molecular changes relate to physiological changes 295 00:19:04,675 --> 00:19:08,181 in the brain, behavioural changes, it is a hard problem. 296 00:19:09,744 --> 00:19:13,280 Of course, scientifically appealing and revealing as it might be, 297 00:19:13,315 --> 00:19:16,070 to experiment with FOXP2 on primates 298 00:19:16,105 --> 00:19:18,826 would be ethically unthinkable. 299 00:19:18,861 --> 00:19:21,302 But that hasn't stopped us imagining what communicating 300 00:19:21,337 --> 00:19:24,186 with our closest cousins might be like. 301 00:19:24,315 --> 00:19:27,857 - Getting the hang of it. Mind the banisters, son. - I can't hold it, Dad. 302 00:19:27,892 --> 00:19:31,400 Don't worry, son. I've shifted more pianos than you've had hot dinners. 303 00:19:31,435 --> 00:19:35,040 Coo-ee. Coo-ee, Mr Shifter. Light refreshment? 304 00:19:35,075 --> 00:19:36,849 Thank you most kindly, madam. 305 00:19:37,549 --> 00:19:38,568 Oh, my! 306 00:19:38,603 --> 00:19:41,045 One way of shifting it. 307 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:45,440 - Dad, do you know the piano's on my foot? - You hum it, son, I'll play it. 308 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:48,560 Human. 309 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:52,080 Chimp. 310 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:55,960 Mm... Mouse. 311 00:19:57,520 --> 00:19:59,460 And... 312 00:19:59,495 --> 00:20:01,400 human. 313 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:04,605 If only it were that simple. 314 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:09,080 But we are, it seems, beginning to unlock some of the mystery. 315 00:20:09,115 --> 00:20:13,520 A few misplaced atoms on chromosome 7 was probably part of it, 316 00:20:13,555 --> 00:20:16,925 causing some improved communication during hunting, 317 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:21,360 which led to a better diet so that those who had the gene had more children. 318 00:20:21,395 --> 00:20:25,160 But exactly when and where humankind first started to speak, 319 00:20:25,195 --> 00:20:26,685 we'll never know. 320 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:29,920 But we certainly did learn to speak and, frankly, ever since then, 321 00:20:29,955 --> 00:20:31,320 we've never shut up. 322 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:36,400 As haven't you, I notice. Yes. 323 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,696 But absolutely none of that would have been possible 324 00:20:40,731 --> 00:20:46,331 without this exquisite thing, this glorious three pounds of mushy grey matter 325 00:20:46,572 --> 00:20:50,000 which differentiates us from all other animals. 326 00:20:50,035 --> 00:20:52,085 The human brain. 327 00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:55,497 With this cauliflower-walnut-like mass 328 00:20:55,532 --> 00:20:58,604 containing something like 100 billion neurons, 329 00:20:58,639 --> 00:21:01,617 we're able to think our thoughts, dream our dreams, 330 00:21:01,652 --> 00:21:04,760 dredge the memory banks, to translate them into words 331 00:21:04,795 --> 00:21:08,165 and then get our bodies actually to speak them. 332 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:09,617 The strange thing is, 333 00:21:09,652 --> 00:21:12,597 we know more about the origins and workings of the universe 334 00:21:12,632 --> 00:21:14,797 than we do about the human brain. 335 00:21:14,832 --> 00:21:17,320 It's mankind's final frontier. 336 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:20,854 So what do we actually know 337 00:21:20,889 --> 00:21:25,099 about this language-producing machine between our ears? 338 00:21:25,134 --> 00:21:28,640 I'm off to have a delve into my own brain. 339 00:21:30,120 --> 00:21:33,920 At the University College London Centre for Neuroimaging, 340 00:21:33,955 --> 00:21:37,125 psychologists, brain boxes and neurolinguists 341 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,720 have the very latest kit to look into the grey matter. 342 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:47,920 - Ah, this looks like a little office. - Control room. 343 00:21:47,955 --> 00:21:49,645 It's through there, right? Oh, yes. 344 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,565 Yes, I've seen these on House and things like that. 345 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:57,600 Dr Joe Devlin and Professor Cathy Price are clinical psycholinguists, 346 00:21:57,635 --> 00:22:02,080 whose work is focused on how language works in the brain, 347 00:22:02,115 --> 00:22:05,840 specialising in how strokes affect language ability. 348 00:22:05,875 --> 00:22:07,040 OK. 349 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,605 They're going to have my brain scanned by MRI, 350 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:15,565 the magnetic resonance imaging technique that allows scientists 351 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,177 to see which parts of the brain are working, 352 00:22:18,212 --> 00:22:20,755 lighting up areas which are being stimulated, 353 00:22:20,790 --> 00:22:22,480 in this case, while I'm speaking. 354 00:22:22,515 --> 00:22:25,165 Magnetic resonance imaging. 355 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:27,165 It's what I'm undergoing even as I speak. 356 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:30,240 An extraordinary technology which allows one to view 357 00:22:30,275 --> 00:22:33,280 areas of the brain and the activity which they undergo 358 00:22:33,315 --> 00:22:35,165 when performing certain tasks, 359 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,840 such as this rather self-reflexive one of describing MRI. 360 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:46,885 Professor Price has now analysed my scan results. 361 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:49,943 This is your brain here and this is a model of the brain, 362 00:22:49,978 --> 00:22:52,966 where we've superimposed a summary of the activations 363 00:22:53,001 --> 00:22:54,506 during different conditions. 364 00:22:54,541 --> 00:22:56,989 It doesn't matter where the human being is brought up 365 00:22:57,024 --> 00:22:59,117 or how they have learned to communicate. 366 00:22:59,152 --> 00:23:01,480 The same set of regions are involved. 367 00:23:01,515 --> 00:23:04,765 It's like looking at bodies. 368 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,525 They're all made up of the same components. 369 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:11,320 Anyone who learns to play the piano will be taught to do it 370 00:23:11,355 --> 00:23:15,125 the same way, to use the same set of instruments. 371 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:17,289 When it comes to understanding 372 00:23:17,324 --> 00:23:20,621 exactly how our brains work in the language process, 373 00:23:20,715 --> 00:23:24,800 we are still in the neurological equivalent of the dark ages. 374 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:27,520 But looking at the images, 375 00:23:27,555 --> 00:23:31,462 I can't help but wonder at how much of my brain is involved in it. 376 00:23:31,675 --> 00:23:34,800 Is my grey matter saturated with language? 377 00:23:34,835 --> 00:23:36,925 Language uses most of our brain 378 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,100 because it is integrating all of our sensory sources, 379 00:23:40,135 --> 00:23:43,240 all the different types of memory that we can have 380 00:23:43,275 --> 00:23:45,765 and then co-ordinating how we respond to it. 381 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:50,525 And then everything we do is then monitored by language, 382 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:55,080 so language then becomes an integral part of our human nature. 383 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,005 I do feel that language is what I am, 384 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:02,300 so what happened to the writer Robert McCrum 385 00:24:02,335 --> 00:24:05,525 is just the sort of thing I would fear most. 386 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:10,260 15 years ago, a stroke left Robert unable to walk or talk. 387 00:24:10,295 --> 00:24:14,925 Language lived on inside him, but he could not express it. 388 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,772 I had what's called a right-side haemorrhagic infarct. 389 00:24:18,663 --> 00:24:19,364 Goodness me. 390 00:24:19,555 --> 00:24:21,765 Which is quite a bad one, 391 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:26,160 and I was paralysed all the way down my left side. 392 00:24:26,195 --> 00:24:28,685 The right goes to left in the brain, 393 00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:31,845 so I was paralysed and couldn't stand or do anything. 394 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:33,966 I was completely poleaxed. 395 00:24:34,001 --> 00:24:36,780 The stroke took place in what's called the basal ganglia. 396 00:24:36,815 --> 00:24:38,206 It's very deep in the brain. 397 00:24:38,241 --> 00:24:41,076 But I did have language, and never lost... 398 00:24:41,115 --> 00:24:44,285 I couldn't speak, cos my mouth was all... 399 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:45,286 So the language was in your head? 400 00:24:45,321 --> 00:24:49,692 The language was in my head but the face was frozen, or half-frozen. 401 00:24:49,727 --> 00:24:51,965 There was a nervous two or three months 402 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,680 - when I wasn't sure what I was going to get back. - Right. 403 00:24:57,120 --> 00:25:00,780 As Robert recuperated, his brain did an extraordinary thing. 404 00:25:00,815 --> 00:25:04,440 New parts of it took over to replace the burnt-out ones. 405 00:25:04,475 --> 00:25:06,445 It rewired itself. 406 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:08,965 And although it's not quite as easy as before, 407 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,980 Robert is now able once again physically to verbalise his thoughts. 408 00:25:13,015 --> 00:25:16,960 It's now believed that somewhere between 50 and 80% of the brain 409 00:25:16,995 --> 00:25:19,600 is involved in language processes. 410 00:25:19,635 --> 00:25:21,765 Gradually, it's got better. 411 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,720 Even now, when I'm speaking to you I still have to make an effort. 412 00:25:25,755 --> 00:25:29,197 - There's a greater amount of conscious production? - Absolutely. 413 00:25:29,232 --> 00:25:32,776 So it's like someone who has to walk by remembering how to use... 414 00:25:32,811 --> 00:25:36,305 Have to remember to articulate clearly and not to speak too quickly 415 00:25:36,340 --> 00:25:39,870 and I have a slight - you probably didn't get this or see this - 416 00:25:39,905 --> 00:25:43,400 but there's probably a slight stammer, particularly if I'm nervous. 417 00:25:43,435 --> 00:25:44,845 Tiny things. 418 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,280 So language is clearly integral to being human. 419 00:25:48,315 --> 00:25:51,680 It's hard-wired into us at a genetic level, 420 00:25:51,715 --> 00:25:53,725 utilising every part of the brain. 421 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:57,200 Indeed, the brain will rewire itself just to keep us speaking. 422 00:25:57,235 --> 00:26:00,125 But how intrinsic - how automatic - is language? 423 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:05,800 Is it like eating and sleeping or is it, to some extent, a learned skill? 424 00:26:05,835 --> 00:26:09,205 It's really a kind of nature-versus-nurture question. 425 00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:10,779 The kind of question that has 426 00:26:10,814 --> 00:26:14,867 beguiled and fascinated scientists and philosophers since time began. 427 00:26:15,195 --> 00:26:19,920 It's not often that nature affords us an opportunity to investigate. 428 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:31,045 In the midst of the craziness of the French Revolution, 429 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,927 a young boy was discovered in the forests 430 00:26:33,962 --> 00:26:36,775 of the south-eastern Massif Central, 431 00:26:36,810 --> 00:26:40,920 one of the wildest and least inhabited regions in Europe. 432 00:26:40,955 --> 00:26:44,080 It appeared that the boy had been living alone, 433 00:26:44,115 --> 00:26:47,240 and like an animal, for some years. 434 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:01,845 Feral children have fascinated philosophers for centuries, 435 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:08,480 offering a window into human nature untainted by society's strictures. 436 00:27:08,515 --> 00:27:13,000 And in doing so, revealing how language might be formed. 437 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:18,600 Finding a real-life feral child was nothing short of sensational. 438 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,205 He was captured and ended up in Paris 439 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:30,845 under the care of the innovative doctor Jean Marc Itard, 440 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:35,440 who was working at the recently established Institute for Deaf Mutes. 441 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:38,525 The boy, whom they named Victor, 442 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:43,400 having experienced almost nothing of society and no education, 443 00:27:43,435 --> 00:27:46,400 was considered something of a blank slate. 444 00:27:46,435 --> 00:27:47,600 Victor? 445 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:51,285 "Tu veux un peu de lait? Du lait?" 446 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:56,320 Most significantly, he was unable to speak, suggesting that language 447 00:27:56,355 --> 00:28:00,200 is not just genetic - it needs to be learned from others. 448 00:28:00,235 --> 00:28:03,800 "Doucement, doucement. Pas si vite, pas si vite". 449 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:09,320 For the next five years, Itard devoted himself to Victor. 450 00:28:09,355 --> 00:28:11,720 He taught him how to eat, how to use the toilet, 451 00:28:11,755 --> 00:28:14,165 how to restrain his animal urges, 452 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:18,160 in particular with the female inmates once he had reached puberty. 453 00:28:18,195 --> 00:28:20,960 And of course, how to speak French. 454 00:28:20,995 --> 00:28:23,205 Victor, Victor. 455 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:26,145 Va chercher la plume. Va chercher la plume. 456 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:35,920 Victor's vocal cords, like any muscle unused to exercise, needed training. 457 00:28:35,955 --> 00:28:37,725 Just as a baby learns to babble, 458 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:42,240 so Victor started to learn to articulate sounds. 459 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:44,885 Mar... 460 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:48,800 Mar-teau. Mar-teau. Mar-teau. 461 00:28:48,835 --> 00:28:50,245 ..teau. 462 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:52,680 Tres bien. Prends le pomme de terre. 463 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:56,405 Doucement, doucement. Pas si vite. 464 00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,925 Le retrouve. Fort, comme ca. Direct. Encore. 465 00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:04,760 Despite remaining in Itard's care until his death aged 42, 466 00:29:04,795 --> 00:29:08,165 Victor never learned to talk. 467 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,605 The reasons why were never established. 468 00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:15,000 Perhaps it was a congenital defect or psychological trauma, 469 00:29:15,035 --> 00:29:18,840 or perhaps Victor simply started to learn too late. 470 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:21,565 Oui. Tres bien, tres bien. 471 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,765 The trouble is, cases like Victor make for messy scientific study 472 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:29,640 because, by definition, with all feral children their backgrounds are unclear. 473 00:29:29,675 --> 00:29:33,200 What seems certain is that there is a window for language acquisition, 474 00:29:33,235 --> 00:29:35,845 which closes round about early puberty, say. 475 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,960 And after that it's much more difficult to acquire language. 476 00:29:38,995 --> 00:29:42,040 Of course we do, as we often learn foreign languages 477 00:29:42,075 --> 00:29:44,045 but, as most of us can testify, 478 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:48,080 it becomes a lot more difficult as the brain loses plasticity. 479 00:29:48,115 --> 00:29:51,117 One thing, though, is certain - by the age of five, 480 00:29:51,152 --> 00:29:54,120 most of us will have acquired the gift of language. 481 00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:59,521 To study this magical process, 482 00:29:59,556 --> 00:30:03,149 Dr Deb Roy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 483 00:30:03,184 --> 00:30:06,445 had cameras installed throughout his house. 484 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:11,520 For three years, Dr Roy filmed his son as he began to talk. 485 00:30:11,555 --> 00:30:14,920 OK, water. Water. 486 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,565 Dr Roy's son was right on schedule. 487 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:21,920 At first, he spoke in simple phonemes - 488 00:30:21,955 --> 00:30:24,485 the "wahs" and "gahs". 489 00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:28,080 By 18 months, he had progressed to words and phrases. 490 00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:36,000 After 24 months, like most other children, 491 00:30:36,035 --> 00:30:40,200 he was acquiring ten new words a day. 492 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,360 And how is Ruby, the little girl we met earlier in the film, 493 00:30:48,395 --> 00:30:50,680 how is she doing? 494 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:53,685 Hello. 495 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:55,240 Come in. 496 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:00,320 - Who's that? Who said that noise? - Poo. 497 00:31:04,997 --> 00:31:07,040 It's a mixture of melody... 498 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:15,849 I've a horrible feeling my first word might even have been "sorry". 499 00:31:15,884 --> 00:31:20,285 - Baby's chair. - Baby's chair. - Baby chair. 500 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:22,845 Baby chair. That's exactly right. 501 00:31:23,825 --> 00:31:27,640 There is the baby's chair and both the babies are on the chair now. 502 00:31:27,675 --> 00:31:32,400 Today is actually her second birthday, so quite literally she is two. 503 00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:36,365 And she's not your first child. 504 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:40,605 So you've had the opportunity to observe children learning, 505 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:45,205 acquiring, as I believe the technical phrase is, language before. 506 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:51,040 - Yes. - And I suppose you are probably more relaxed by the time it's the third one. 507 00:31:51,075 --> 00:31:53,325 Well, yes, and also it's more funny, 508 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,605 because you kind of make it more of a laugh rather than... 509 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:01,760 With your first, you're slightly watching what everyone else's kids are doing - 510 00:32:01,795 --> 00:32:06,320 to see when their language is coming, is mine advanced, is mine behind? 511 00:32:06,355 --> 00:32:08,897 Whereas with this one, it doesn't matter. 512 00:32:08,932 --> 00:32:11,726 You know it will come whenever she's ready. 513 00:32:11,761 --> 00:32:14,260 And she's got her siblings to help her. 514 00:32:14,295 --> 00:32:16,725 Well, yes, and to be quite annoying. 515 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,920 Because they are always trying to get her to say all the bad stuff. 516 00:32:19,955 --> 00:32:21,045 Of course they are. 517 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:22,730 Which is great, but it also means 518 00:32:22,765 --> 00:32:25,188 she's not necessarily learning the words you want her to learn. 519 00:32:26,355 --> 00:32:29,797 My apple, thank you. 520 00:32:29,832 --> 00:32:33,205 - Apple. - Apple. Exactly. 521 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:37,320 From here on in, Ruby's vocabulary grows day by day. 522 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:40,760 Bye-bye. 523 00:32:40,795 --> 00:32:42,577 Bye-bye. 524 00:32:42,612 --> 00:32:44,546 Hello. 525 00:32:44,581 --> 00:32:46,445 Hello. 526 00:32:48,115 --> 00:32:49,925 I... I... 527 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:52,360 ..am...am... 528 00:32:52,395 --> 00:32:54,725 ..a...a... 529 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,800 ..banana. ..bana-nana. 530 00:32:58,835 --> 00:33:00,760 What is your name? 531 00:33:00,795 --> 00:33:02,725 Mary. 532 00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:04,680 No, what is your name? 533 00:33:04,715 --> 00:33:06,365 Ruby. 534 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:07,845 Yes! Well done. 535 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:10,165 What is your name? Ruby. 536 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,365 It's wonderful watching Ruby starting to speak. 537 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:19,120 I want to know more about how children manage this miraculous process, 538 00:33:19,155 --> 00:33:21,885 so I've come to see a bit of a hero of mine - 539 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:26,125 the renowned academic and author, Professor Steven Pinker. 540 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:27,846 I wondered if you could 541 00:33:27,881 --> 00:33:31,803 explain to me what current thinking might be about language acquisition. 542 00:33:31,838 --> 00:33:34,480 Presumably, it needs society, it needs encouraging. 543 00:33:34,515 --> 00:33:37,005 Language, at a bare minimum, needs words, 544 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:40,840 and the words have to be the same words that everyone else is using. 545 00:33:40,875 --> 00:33:42,885 If you had your own private language, 546 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:44,840 even if it were possible for language 547 00:33:44,875 --> 00:33:47,820 to spring up out of the brain, it would be useless. 548 00:33:47,855 --> 00:33:50,765 No-one would know or understand a word you're saying. 549 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,560 So the child has to be attuned to the words that are floating around 550 00:33:54,595 --> 00:33:56,765 in the linguistic environment. 551 00:33:56,800 --> 00:34:01,205 There also has to be some kind of talent in the child's brain 552 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:03,601 that allows them not just to parrot back 553 00:34:03,636 --> 00:34:05,962 the exact words and sentences they've heard, 554 00:34:05,997 --> 00:34:08,525 it would be upsetting if that's what your child did. 555 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:12,640 We expect children, right from the beginning, to compose their own sentences. 556 00:34:12,675 --> 00:34:17,097 To abstract the rules of combination, the rules of grammar, 557 00:34:17,132 --> 00:34:21,485 so that they can talk about new events and new thoughts 558 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:25,880 and take the familiar words but rearrange them in new sequences. 559 00:34:25,915 --> 00:34:30,120 What's really amazing is that with this gift of grammar, 560 00:34:30,155 --> 00:34:33,000 we can go beyond forming our own simple sentences 561 00:34:33,035 --> 00:34:35,565 and begin to be creative with language. 562 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:37,885 Even a young child can come up with a sentence 563 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:40,965 that has never been uttered in the history of their language? 564 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,479 Right from the beginning, from the time at which children 565 00:34:43,514 --> 00:34:45,380 first start putting words together, 566 00:34:45,675 --> 00:34:49,360 some of those combinations are clearly from their own creativity. 567 00:34:49,395 --> 00:34:53,400 An example - a child whose hands were covered with jam 568 00:34:53,435 --> 00:34:55,405 and wanted mother to wash them. 569 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,520 Mother washed off the jam and the child said, "All gone, sticky." 570 00:34:58,555 --> 00:35:03,245 That doesn't correspond to any adult English sentence, 571 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:08,120 but the child had those two words and had the formula that put them in that order 572 00:35:08,155 --> 00:35:11,040 to express the idea of the passing of a state. 573 00:35:11,075 --> 00:35:13,325 Imagine a piano keyboard. 574 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:18,640 88 keys, only 88, and yet hundreds of new melodies, new tunes, new harmonies 575 00:35:18,675 --> 00:35:22,560 are being composed on hundreds of keyboards every day in Dorset alone. 576 00:35:22,595 --> 00:35:25,325 Our language, tiger, 577 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:30,094 our language, hundreds of thousands of available words, 578 00:35:30,129 --> 00:35:32,582 frillions of legitimate new ideas, 579 00:35:32,752 --> 00:35:36,217 so that I can say the following sentence and be utterly sure that nobody 580 00:35:36,252 --> 00:35:39,049 has ever said it before in the history of human communication. 581 00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:43,660 Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, 582 00:35:43,695 --> 00:35:47,440 or friendly milk will countermand my trousers. 583 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:55,000 Perfectly ordinary words, but never before put in that precise order. 584 00:35:55,035 --> 00:35:58,040 A unique child delivered of a unique mother. 585 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:05,288 A path-breaking way of investigating how children 586 00:36:05,323 --> 00:36:08,982 instinctively use grammar was created in 1958 587 00:36:09,017 --> 00:36:12,960 by a pioneering psycholinguist, who I've come to meet today... 588 00:36:12,995 --> 00:36:15,317 Jean Berko Gleason. 589 00:36:15,352 --> 00:36:17,605 - Hello. - This is Twyla. 590 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:19,805 Twyla. One of my favourites names. 591 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:23,480 - Twyla is a famous woman. - How old are you, Twyla? - Four-and-a-half. 592 00:36:23,515 --> 00:36:29,920 - Four-and-a-half! A good age. - OK, Twyla, er, hi. - Hi. 593 00:36:29,955 --> 00:36:32,205 I'm going to show you some pictures, OK? 594 00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:35,982 It's called the Wug test and Jean still uses the original cards 595 00:36:36,017 --> 00:36:39,287 - she designed half a century ago. - This is a wag. 596 00:36:39,322 --> 00:36:43,120 They show that even with nonsense words they've never heard before, 597 00:36:43,155 --> 00:36:47,360 children can use grammatical rules that they've somehow absorbed. 598 00:36:47,395 --> 00:36:50,637 - What are they? You tell me. - Wugs. 599 00:36:50,672 --> 00:36:53,880 - Say that louder. - Wugs. - Wugs is great. 600 00:36:53,915 --> 00:36:55,640 Very good. 601 00:36:55,675 --> 00:36:57,285 OK. 602 00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:00,853 This is a man who knows how to bing. He is binging. 603 00:37:00,888 --> 00:37:02,310 He did the same thing yesterday. 604 00:37:02,345 --> 00:37:04,960 What did he do yesterday? Yesterday, he...? 605 00:37:04,995 --> 00:37:07,877 - Binged. - Binged. Very nice. 606 00:37:07,912 --> 00:37:12,560 - Yes. - Here is a man who knows how to zib. 607 00:37:12,595 --> 00:37:14,360 So what is he doing? He is...? 608 00:37:14,395 --> 00:37:16,365 Zib... 609 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:18,725 - Zibbing. - Zibbing! - Zibbing! Very good. 610 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:22,040 What would you call a man whose job is to zib? 611 00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:30,760 He has to do it every day, his job is to zib. So he is a...? 612 00:37:30,795 --> 00:37:33,605 - Zibber. - Mmm! 613 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:35,285 Very, very, very good. 614 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:40,062 Is there any evidence as to how many times a child who's right in the flush 615 00:37:40,097 --> 00:37:44,805 of language acquisition needs to hear someone... not correct them, exactly... 616 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,925 they say, "I think that..." "Oh, you thought it, did you?" 617 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:53,280 But the amount of speech that parents provide for their kids at home, 618 00:37:53,315 --> 00:37:56,725 before they get to school, is crucial, 619 00:37:56,760 --> 00:38:00,116 absolutely crucial. All the research has shown that... 620 00:38:01,377 --> 00:38:06,565 hearing a lot of language, and getting the opportunity to talk in different ways, 621 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:11,360 really is the kind of insurance you would want for your kids to be successful. 622 00:38:11,395 --> 00:38:14,080 So actually trying to coach them, or correct them, 623 00:38:14,115 --> 00:38:16,925 - is irrelevant in your estimation? - I think so. 624 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:20,920 I think coaching... But, reading the books and talking to them 625 00:38:20,955 --> 00:38:23,605 and listening to what they say, and giving them 626 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:28,088 the opportunity to engage in different kinds of linguistic experiences, 627 00:38:28,123 --> 00:38:32,280 in other words, having them tell you what they did, narrative, 628 00:38:32,315 --> 00:38:34,245 but having them describe something. 629 00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:38,720 A lot of different genres that kids might be able to engage in, 630 00:38:38,755 --> 00:38:41,040 that is a wonderful thing for young kids. 631 00:38:48,432 --> 00:38:51,605 Wherever people congregate, they talk, they use language 632 00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:56,100 to affirm, to reaffirm, to confirm, to reassure, to amuse, to beguile, 633 00:38:56,135 --> 00:39:00,560 to delight, because language itself seems to fascinate and delight us. 634 00:39:00,595 --> 00:39:05,125 So much so that perhaps over 400 conlangs, constructed languages, 635 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:07,904 have been made up, usually out of idealism, 636 00:39:07,939 --> 00:39:10,613 like Esperanto, I suppose is the most famous. 637 00:39:10,648 --> 00:39:14,360 Sometimes, languages are made up for more amusing reasons. 638 00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:32,640 One of the newest languages on the planet is Klingon, 639 00:39:32,675 --> 00:39:36,600 named after the eponymous Star Trek species. 640 00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:42,240 My guest appearance in the Klingon version of Shakespeare's Hamlet 641 00:39:42,275 --> 00:39:45,160 is not one of my proudest theatrical moments. 642 00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:50,240 That really hurts, actually. 643 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:04,685 Backstage, before the performance, 644 00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:09,405 I chatted to a level 4 Klingon speaker, the highest you can be. 645 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:14,360 D'Armond Speers is a computational linguist who took the unusual step 646 00:40:14,395 --> 00:40:18,280 of teaching his son Klingon as his first language. 647 00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:22,525 We had a lot of fun. We would play language games, 648 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:25,880 so I would say things to him like... 649 00:40:27,240 --> 00:40:29,440 He would point to my cheek - where's my cheek? 650 00:40:29,475 --> 00:40:31,605 I would say... 651 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:33,405 ..and he would point to his nose. Wow. 652 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:36,600 One day, we were playing on the carpet in the living room 653 00:40:36,635 --> 00:40:39,525 and I had his bottle that he would drink from. 654 00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:41,965 We didn't have a word for bottle, we didn't have a word for diaper, 655 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,634 we didn't have a word for, you know, high chair. 656 00:40:44,669 --> 00:40:47,706 Domestic things. They're not domestic people, the Klingons. 657 00:40:47,741 --> 00:40:50,189 I had words for shuttlecraft, and phaser 658 00:40:50,224 --> 00:40:54,598 and transporter ionisation unit - I didn't have "bottle", right? 659 00:40:54,633 --> 00:40:59,537 So we were using the word for bottle that is a drinking vessel. 660 00:40:59,572 --> 00:41:04,480 And I said to him one day... We had this game, "This or that". 661 00:41:04,515 --> 00:41:07,765 And so I said to him... 662 00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:10,840 So I used the word for bottle, I used it with a suffix, 663 00:41:10,875 --> 00:41:12,245 I used it in a sentence. 664 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:15,760 I didn't point at it, look at it, I didn't do anything like that. 665 00:41:15,795 --> 00:41:18,565 And this two-year old kid, baby, toddler, 666 00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:21,685 started crawling over to the bottle and grabbed the bottle. 667 00:41:21,720 --> 00:41:24,147 At that moment, I knew this was working. 668 00:41:24,182 --> 00:41:26,860 He was learning this language. It was very exciting. 669 00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:47,720 One of the other things we did was we had a lullaby that we would sing every night. 670 00:41:47,755 --> 00:41:51,325 The Klingon imperial anthem. 671 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:54,960 "May The Empire Endure. 672 00:41:54,995 --> 00:41:56,645 And we sang it as a lullaby. 673 00:41:56,680 --> 00:42:00,280 I'm so picturing this baby in a Pooh Bear onesie, 674 00:42:00,315 --> 00:42:03,845 singing the Klingon Empire song. Absolutely right. 675 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:06,143 There were things like that and he was learning to count 676 00:42:06,143 --> 00:42:08,914 and he was learning colours, and he was learning words. 677 00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:14,760 But as he went from two-and-a-half to three years old, he stopped. 678 00:42:14,795 --> 00:42:16,725 He stopped being interested, 679 00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:19,165 he stopped enjoying doing it with me as much. 680 00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:22,840 I would say something in Klingon and he would say it back in English, 681 00:42:22,875 --> 00:42:26,445 - and I would try to encourage him. - Ooh... - He started to resist it. 682 00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:29,935 And it was fun and interesting. 683 00:42:29,935 --> 00:42:32,635 and when it stopped being fun and interesting, I stopped doing it. 684 00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:40,580 Klingon was little use to D'Armond's son in communicating with the outside world 685 00:42:40,615 --> 00:42:46,000 and that is the key factor in whether a language survives and flourishes, or dies. 686 00:42:51,240 --> 00:42:55,440 One of the most enduringly practical forms of communication 687 00:42:55,475 --> 00:42:57,600 is sign language for the deaf. 688 00:42:57,635 --> 00:42:59,579 Surprise. 689 00:43:00,644 --> 00:43:01,663 Shock. 690 00:43:02,040 --> 00:43:06,280 Since the first form of it was codified in Paris in 1760, 691 00:43:06,315 --> 00:43:09,877 over 200 different versions have evolved. 692 00:43:10,597 --> 00:43:14,334 But can we really call this a language? 693 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:19,120 Hello. My name is Claudia. And I am from Germany. 694 00:43:20,240 --> 00:43:25,000 Hello. I'm Ian. And I'm from New Hampshire. 695 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:30,240 Hello. I'm Janice and I'm from Oklahoma. 696 00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:34,280 And we're the Little Theatre Of The Deaf. 697 00:43:40,240 --> 00:43:47,040 So, Janice, perhaps you can ask Ian and Claudia to explain to me, 698 00:43:47,075 --> 00:43:48,765 in all my ignorance, 699 00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:51,878 why sign language is more than just gestures, 700 00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:54,322 and why it is a complete language. 701 00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:04,280 Sign language really is part of language because... 702 00:44:04,315 --> 00:44:07,040 we can't hear, but we can communicate. 703 00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:10,240 It's a visual language. 704 00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:16,200 Instead of hearing it and depending on our ears, 705 00:44:16,235 --> 00:44:18,725 we sign it and we depend on our eyes. 706 00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:21,963 We don't just make up signs, there are actual words that have 707 00:44:21,963 --> 00:44:23,987 pictures and meaning and structure, 708 00:44:23,987 --> 00:44:26,520 sentence structure and concepts. 709 00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:32,160 Everything is involved so that it's clear and understandable communication. 710 00:44:32,195 --> 00:44:35,005 And Claudia, you're German. 711 00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:41,320 In Germany, is there a... is there a Deutsche Zeichensprache? 712 00:44:41,355 --> 00:44:43,960 Go on, say that! 713 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:47,976 - Deutsche Zeichensprache. - She doesn't interpret German! 714 00:44:47,976 --> 00:44:53,685 I'm only kidding. But is there a Germanic sign language 715 00:44:53,720 --> 00:44:58,480 that's different from French or Italian, let alone American? 716 00:44:59,261 --> 00:45:00,530 Yes, it's very different. 717 00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:04,285 Just as the writing is different in every language. 718 00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:08,760 So an Italian signer would not be able to understand a German signer? 719 00:45:10,360 --> 00:45:12,405 No. No. 720 00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:13,845 It's very interesting. 721 00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:20,600 One afternoon, there was a large wolf that waited in a dark forest... 722 00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:31,280 ... for a little girl to come along. 723 00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:36,160 Finally, a little girl did come along 724 00:45:36,195 --> 00:45:38,680 and she was carrying a basket of food. 725 00:45:41,035 --> 00:45:42,845 Are you... 726 00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:45,320 How do you agree on a sign? 727 00:45:45,355 --> 00:45:47,725 Does it spread very quickly?' 728 00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:51,920 That this is going to be the sign for Barack Obama, for example? 729 00:45:56,760 --> 00:46:00,680 Really, it starts with a big name, like Obama. 730 00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:05,760 Typically, there's an agreement and it just sort of develops 731 00:46:05,795 --> 00:46:07,885 with... 732 00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:12,160 with big deaf... politicians. 733 00:46:12,195 --> 00:46:15,485 No? P... Population. 734 00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:17,680 What is Barack Obama, for example? 735 00:46:23,560 --> 00:46:26,280 Right. And can you give me the derivation of that? 736 00:46:26,315 --> 00:46:29,125 Where would that have come from? Is it BO, 737 00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:32,120 or is it... It's not the letters "B" and "O", is it? 738 00:46:32,155 --> 00:46:33,920 It's "O". "O". 739 00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:38,725 - Something about the flag. - Ah, right. 740 00:46:38,760 --> 00:46:41,092 Emphasise the "O" and then, 741 00:46:41,092 --> 00:46:44,606 - like, the flag, the American flag. - I see. - Obama. 742 00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:46,975 Ask Claudia this, not meaning to be offensive 743 00:46:46,975 --> 00:46:49,479 but it's interesting, because as a German, 744 00:46:49,479 --> 00:46:51,685 there may be a different sign for Adolf Hitler 745 00:46:51,720 --> 00:46:55,080 from one that we might use in the rest of the world, for example. 746 00:46:55,115 --> 00:46:57,165 He is one of the most famous images... 747 00:46:57,200 --> 00:47:00,800 I guess, if you were British, you'd just do the moustache. 748 00:47:00,835 --> 00:47:04,400 - What's the American sign? - Yeah. The moustache, exactly. 749 00:47:04,435 --> 00:47:07,757 That's what I thought. And in German? 750 00:47:07,792 --> 00:47:11,080 Normally, it's the same but I have... 751 00:47:11,115 --> 00:47:12,925 Um... 752 00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:14,965 Some people sign... 753 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:17,285 like a combination of how... 754 00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:20,880 And the salute, hidden into... Yes. Very interesting. 755 00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:23,800 OK, Madonna. 756 00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:28,245 I don't want to sign that one. 757 00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:31,400 That's interesting, is that like pointy breasts? 758 00:47:31,435 --> 00:47:33,485 There. You see. Exactly. 759 00:47:33,520 --> 00:47:35,925 That's what's so wonderful about sign languages, 760 00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:37,831 you can do things that really incorporate 761 00:47:37,831 --> 00:47:40,277 the character and the reputation of the person, 762 00:47:40,277 --> 00:47:43,520 not just the dull spelling of their name. It can be witty. 763 00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:50,400 I agree with that. 764 00:47:52,120 --> 00:47:57,000 - And deaf tend to put more of the spirit in the language. - Yeah. 765 00:47:57,035 --> 00:48:00,320 So that they get a reaction... "OK." 766 00:48:01,320 --> 00:48:03,000 It has a good effect. 767 00:48:11,046 --> 00:48:12,666 When she opened the door, 768 00:48:13,286 --> 00:48:18,421 all the girls saw that there someone in bed with the nightcap and a nightgown on. 769 00:48:20,720 --> 00:48:24,100 But she had approached no nearer than 25 feet 770 00:48:24,135 --> 00:48:27,480 when she realised it was not her grandmother, 771 00:48:27,515 --> 00:48:28,680 but the wolf. 772 00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:34,000 For even in a nightcap, a wolf does not look any more like your grandmother 773 00:48:34,035 --> 00:48:38,680 than the MGM lion looks like Calvin Coolidge. 774 00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:43,600 So, she reached into her basket, 775 00:48:43,635 --> 00:48:45,497 pulled out an automatic 776 00:48:45,532 --> 00:48:47,360 And shot the wolf dead. 777 00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:55,405 Moral: 778 00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:59,000 it's not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be. 779 00:49:16,160 --> 00:49:20,765 The question of how thought and language came about in the human race 780 00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:25,080 is one of central concern, so it's hardly surprising we've spent thousands of years 781 00:49:25,115 --> 00:49:26,885 thinking and speaking about it. 782 00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:31,400 The biblical account suggests Adam and Eve spoke a prelapsarian language, 783 00:49:31,435 --> 00:49:33,477 a single language of paradise. 784 00:49:33,512 --> 00:49:35,485 And then came the Tower of Babel 785 00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:38,820 and thousands of languages were unleashed upon the planet, 786 00:49:38,855 --> 00:49:42,120 and we were all doomed to crawl on its surface for eternity, 787 00:49:42,155 --> 00:49:44,005 misunderstanding each other. 788 00:49:44,040 --> 00:49:46,960 Not surprisingly, people became obsessed with the idea 789 00:49:46,995 --> 00:49:49,845 of what that primary language of Adam and Eve's was, 790 00:49:49,880 --> 00:49:54,600 even if it was only a metaphor. What did mankind first speak? 791 00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:05,485 The Old Testament Babel myth doesn't quite do it for me, 792 00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:11,320 but, 250 years ago, one of the greatest of linguistic forensic discoveries 793 00:50:11,355 --> 00:50:14,480 was unearthed here by two brothers. 794 00:50:16,840 --> 00:50:19,720 This is the famous Leipzig Christmas market, 795 00:50:19,755 --> 00:50:22,245 and it all looks rather a fairy tale, doesn't it? 796 00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:26,120 It's quite appropriate, because aside from being remembered for JS Bach, 797 00:50:26,155 --> 00:50:28,845 Leipzig is also remembered for the Brothers Grimm, 798 00:50:28,880 --> 00:50:32,440 progenitors of some of the best loved fairy tales Europe ever produced. 799 00:50:32,475 --> 00:50:35,657 Also, and perhaps you may not know this, the Brothers Grimm 800 00:50:35,692 --> 00:50:38,805 were responsible for founding the signs of linguistics, 801 00:50:38,840 --> 00:50:42,452 what the Germans call philology, tracing back to the very roots, 802 00:50:42,841 --> 00:50:44,712 the languages of the world. 803 00:50:47,160 --> 00:50:52,440 Professor Wolfgang Klein is a philologist and psycholinguistic, 804 00:50:52,475 --> 00:50:56,525 currently working on Grimm's original documents. 805 00:50:56,560 --> 00:51:02,440 I suppose Jacob's greatest contribution is called Grimm's Law, or Rask's-Grimm's Law? 806 00:51:02,475 --> 00:51:04,805 That's true, both terms exist, actually. 807 00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:08,240 What people noticed, actually began to notice systematically, 808 00:51:08,275 --> 00:51:11,085 let me say the second half of the 18th century, 809 00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:16,205 is there are many many similarities and correspondences between languages. 810 00:51:16,240 --> 00:51:22,341 They discovered there are similar words in languages, as remote as Sanskrit on one hand 811 00:51:22,341 --> 00:51:24,885 and Greek, and then the Germanic languages. 812 00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:28,405 - Sanskrit is an ancient Indian language? - True. Absolutely true. 813 00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:33,245 There is huge distance and still words sometimes sound surprisingly similar. 814 00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:38,245 It's not just accidental. Sometimes the similarities are completely accidental, 815 00:51:38,245 --> 00:51:40,081 but clearly not in that case. 816 00:51:41,480 --> 00:51:43,565 Grimm's Law, as it became known, 817 00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:47,491 showed how the consonants of different Indo-European languages 818 00:51:47,491 --> 00:51:49,512 relate to each other. 819 00:51:49,547 --> 00:51:53,344 For example, there's a relationship between words beginning with "P" 820 00:51:53,344 --> 00:51:55,391 in Sanskrit, Latin or Greek, 821 00:51:55,391 --> 00:51:58,857 and "F" in Germanic languages, including English. 822 00:51:58,892 --> 00:52:02,285 So "pater" in Latin becomes "father" in English. 823 00:52:02,320 --> 00:52:08,680 This single language - proto-Indo-European, or PIE - the root to over 2,000, 824 00:52:08,715 --> 00:52:11,560 is thought to have been spoken more than 5,000 years ago 825 00:52:11,595 --> 00:52:13,725 in the Steppes of Southern Russia. 826 00:52:13,760 --> 00:52:16,645 As tribes migrated through Europe and Asia, 827 00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:19,043 PIE split into a number of dialects, 828 00:52:19,043 --> 00:52:22,297 and these, in time, developed into separate languages. 829 00:52:22,595 --> 00:52:26,920 PIE isn't the first language that humanity spoke, 830 00:52:26,955 --> 00:52:29,360 but is the first of which we have evidence. 831 00:52:30,360 --> 00:52:34,027 This English that we speak that you are very kindly speaking 832 00:52:34,027 --> 00:52:37,506 as fluently as anybody can, frankly, 833 00:52:38,395 --> 00:52:42,137 it seems so natural to us and it seems so separate. 834 00:52:42,172 --> 00:52:45,880 It seems so different from German, from French, 835 00:52:45,915 --> 00:52:47,920 certainly different from Danish. 836 00:52:47,955 --> 00:52:50,405 Yeah. It is. 837 00:52:50,440 --> 00:52:53,525 Any of these languages and Persian languages, 838 00:52:53,560 --> 00:52:57,605 and yet, with this common ancestor. It's quite extraordinary. 839 00:52:57,640 --> 00:52:59,732 Do you think in some sense 840 00:52:59,732 --> 00:53:03,613 it's necessary for mankind to have so many languages? 841 00:53:03,648 --> 00:53:06,417 - Well... - Why Babel? Why did it happen? 842 00:53:06,452 --> 00:53:09,285 First of all, it's beautiful and I wonder 843 00:53:09,320 --> 00:53:12,940 whether this argument, biology, is not also a romantic argument. 844 00:53:12,975 --> 00:53:16,560 I really would like to see the evidence that it is necessary, 845 00:53:16,595 --> 00:53:18,645 but it's beautiful to have many species. 846 00:53:18,680 --> 00:53:23,000 Beautiful not to have just one type of cat, but many types of cats. 847 00:53:23,035 --> 00:53:26,365 In that sense, that argument also applies to languages. 848 00:53:26,400 --> 00:53:31,106 Beautiful to see all of this. The Romans said "varietas delectat". 849 00:53:31,106 --> 00:53:33,657 They have many things that are beautiful here. 850 00:53:33,692 --> 00:53:36,765 What would you regard as the thing about language 851 00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:41,220 that keeps you getting up every morning and being excited about your job? 852 00:53:41,255 --> 00:53:45,640 I mean, everything, what makes human beings human, is based on language. 853 00:53:45,675 --> 00:53:48,617 Our species perhaps could live together without a language, 854 00:53:48,652 --> 00:53:51,361 but then it wouldn't be what we call the human species. 855 00:53:52,181 --> 00:53:55,640 Whatever we know, whatever we have done over the centuries 856 00:53:55,675 --> 00:53:59,240 is based on language, on languages and language. 857 00:54:06,160 --> 00:54:10,000 Some would argue that the 6,000-plus languages we speak on the planet 858 00:54:10,035 --> 00:54:13,137 are structurally just one primal human tongue. 859 00:54:13,172 --> 00:54:16,205 What's amazing is how quickly language evolves 860 00:54:16,240 --> 00:54:19,680 according to how quickly children can develop slang 861 00:54:19,715 --> 00:54:22,577 or how quickly culture and technology demands. 862 00:54:22,612 --> 00:54:25,666 There's a constant practicality about the way 863 00:54:25,701 --> 00:54:28,685 we use language, as well as a deep beauty. 864 00:54:28,720 --> 00:54:32,760 One thing's for certain, language will never stay still. 865 00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:36,645 Mummy! Mummy! 866 00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:39,405 And finally, aged two and three months, 867 00:54:39,440 --> 00:54:44,360 Ruby is chatting away in complete sentences with her siblings. 868 00:54:45,440 --> 00:54:49,364 She understands much more than she says and, over the next year, 869 00:54:49,364 --> 00:54:52,046 her vocabulary will explode.' 870 00:54:55,080 --> 00:54:58,080 Some children, perhaps Ruby will be one of them, 871 00:54:58,115 --> 00:55:01,080 do not stop at learning one language. 872 00:55:02,160 --> 00:55:05,720 And there are plenty of others to choose from. 873 00:55:07,320 --> 00:55:10,880 There are currently 194 member states 874 00:55:10,915 --> 00:55:12,845 belonging to the United Nations, 875 00:55:12,880 --> 00:55:16,640 with over 6,000 languages spoken in them. 876 00:55:18,800 --> 00:55:22,160 They are saying these demonstrators are followers of Bin Laden 877 00:55:22,195 --> 00:55:25,360 and I ask him is the six-month-old baby who was killed 878 00:55:25,395 --> 00:55:27,205 a follower of Bin Laden, also? 879 00:55:27,240 --> 00:55:30,680 Maybe many of our species' troubles could be avoided 880 00:55:30,715 --> 00:55:33,325 if we understood each other better. 881 00:55:33,360 --> 00:55:37,380 Would having one world language, be it Esperanto, English 882 00:55:37,415 --> 00:55:41,400 or, to be utterly neutral and possibly perverse, Klingon, 883 00:55:41,435 --> 00:55:43,885 even be an advantage? 884 00:55:43,920 --> 00:55:48,040 Perhaps in world forums like here in the UN Security Council, 885 00:55:48,075 --> 00:55:52,677 which is currently in session discussing the Libyan crisis, 886 00:55:52,712 --> 00:55:57,245 it would. But then it would also put Zahar out of the job. 887 00:55:57,280 --> 00:55:59,546 - How many working languages are there? - Two. 888 00:55:59,546 --> 00:56:01,591 - English and French. - So that's it? 889 00:56:01,626 --> 00:56:04,937 - Just English and French. - For the working languages. - I see. 890 00:56:04,972 --> 00:56:07,148 - Then there are official languages. - Six of them. 891 00:56:07,148 --> 00:56:08,517 - Only six? - Yes. 892 00:56:08,552 --> 00:56:13,680 The official languages are English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese 893 00:56:13,715 --> 00:56:18,920 and Arabic, which is the most recent addition to the official languages. 894 00:56:33,080 --> 00:56:37,405 That is rather wonderful, watching you translate simultaneously, 895 00:56:37,440 --> 00:56:40,661 it seems to us like an extraordinary thing, like a conductor 896 00:56:40,661 --> 00:56:42,993 being able to read a music score. 897 00:56:43,028 --> 00:56:44,805 It's incredible the human brain can do this. 898 00:56:44,840 --> 00:56:48,560 I look down here and it's almost like a living symbol of the Tower of Babel, 899 00:56:48,595 --> 00:56:52,485 of the fact that mankind split into so many languages. 900 00:56:52,520 --> 00:56:54,036 Do you sometimes think: Gosh, 901 00:56:54,036 --> 00:56:56,989 the world would be better if everybody spoke Esperanto? 902 00:56:57,024 --> 00:56:58,885 No, there is a beauty to languages, 903 00:56:58,920 --> 00:57:02,480 each and every language has its own beauty, its own music, 904 00:57:02,515 --> 00:57:08,330 its own imagery, its way of expressing the sentiments 905 00:57:08,330 --> 00:57:11,448 and the nature of the people who speak that language. 906 00:57:11,448 --> 00:57:14,395 It would be a loss if that language did not exist. 907 00:57:14,430 --> 00:57:17,800 I am very much in favour of the Tower of Babel. 908 00:57:30,120 --> 00:57:33,485 This building where the General Assembly of the United Nations meet 909 00:57:33,520 --> 00:57:38,540 perhaps symbolises more than any other what happened to humankind after Babel. 910 00:57:38,575 --> 00:57:43,560 Thousands of voices upraised in different mutually incomprehensible tongues, 911 00:57:43,595 --> 00:57:46,605 trying to comprehend each other, trying to understand, 912 00:57:46,640 --> 00:57:51,080 trying to build some sort of peace out of the wreckage of the 20th century. 913 00:57:51,634 --> 00:57:54,645 Well, they sort of solved the problem by reducing 914 00:57:54,680 --> 00:57:58,440 all those languages to the six working languages of the UN. 915 00:57:58,475 --> 00:58:01,245 And, that way, people do understand each other. 916 00:58:01,280 --> 00:58:03,611 They understand how they think, perhaps, 917 00:58:03,611 --> 00:58:06,108 they understand how they communicate 918 00:58:06,108 --> 00:58:08,040 and a little of the history of each language. 919 00:58:08,075 --> 00:58:10,405 But languages do so much more than that. 920 00:58:10,440 --> 00:58:16,000 Languages, in many respects, defined our identities, who we are. 921 00:58:16,035 --> 00:58:18,760 And that's what I'll be looking at next time. 922 00:58:20,280 --> 00:58:22,320 Four times 14. 923 00:58:24,520 --> 00:58:26,445 From Kenya to Israel, 924 00:58:26,480 --> 00:58:29,360 Ireland to Oxytown, Newcastle to Barnsley... 925 00:58:31,640 --> 00:58:36,920 ..I'll be looking at how our 6,000-plus languages and myriad accents 926 00:58:36,955 --> 00:58:42,200 are threatened with extinction as the global village becomes a reality. 927 00:58:42,741 --> 00:58:46,562 Sinc and corrected by www.addic7ed.com 928 00:58:49,605 --> 00:58:52,309 Subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing by Red Bee Media