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VOA标准英语2012--Study: English Language Rooted in Turkey

时间:2012-08-27 03:49:36

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Study: English Language Rooted in Turkey

The Indo-European language family - which includes English, French, Russian, Persian and even ancient Greek - is one of the world’s largest language groups and extends from Iceland in the West to Sri Lanka in the East.

The common origin of all those languages, scientists say, must be somewhere on the European continent.

One hypothesis suggests it emerged 6,000 years ago from a semi-nomadic horse-riding people in the Russian Steppes north of the Caspian Sea.

Another says it is much older and came from what is now Turkey, spreading as agriculture did between 8,000 and 9,500 years ago.

Writing in Science, an evolutionary1 psychologist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand expresses support for the second theory. Quentin Atkinson's team worked in much the same way that evolutionary biologists do, using DNA2 to determine the origin of virus outbreaks.

“They use the DNA to reconstruct the family tree of the viruses. But rather than looking at viruses, we were looking at languages," he says. "And rather than looking at DNA, we were looking at the words in the different languages.”

The study analyzes3 200 cognates or words with shared meanings and similar sounds across 103 languages, including 20 that are now extinct.

Atkinson says examining the similarities and differences helped establish family ties.

“For example, in English and other Germanic languages, the word for 'water' sounds something like the English word 'water,' or 'wasser' [in German], 'water' [in Dutch], whereas in the romance languages descended4 from Latin, the word sounds quite different, something like 'agua' [in Spanish] or 'acqua' [in Italian]."

According to Atkinson, although some words are more closely related than others, they are tied together on branches of the Indo-European family tree.

“We know where the languages are," he says. "They are like the leaves of the tree, and we know how they are connected, and we trace back along those branches back through time and space to work out where the origin is.”

The ancient Indo-European family today includes several hundred related languages, including those spoken in Europe, the Iranian plateau and South Asia. Atkinson says agricultural expansion is confirmed in the archeological record.

“So the argument is that agricultural populations were able to increase their population density5 relative to hunter gatherer populations around them, and so they expanded out generation by generation.”

Atkinson says the method used to study Indo-European family origins could be applied6 to other language groups. The analysis, he adds, “allows us to peer back into the past in a way that wasn’t possible before.” 


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1 evolutionary Ctqz7m     
adj.进化的;演化的,演变的;[生]进化论的
参考例句:
  • Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
  • These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。
2 DNA 4u3z1l     
(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸
参考例句:
  • DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
  • Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。
3 analyzes e2e80b8320e1dd8d4c035d41fd7e44e5     
v.分析( analyze的第三人称单数 );分解;解释;对…进行心理分析
参考例句:
  • This approach analyzes management by studying experience usually through cases. 这个学派通常从实例获得经验,用以分析管理。 来自辞典例句
  • The econometrician analyzes statistical data. 经济计量学者要分析统计材料。 来自辞典例句
4 descended guQzoy     
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的
参考例句:
  • A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
  • The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。
5 density rOdzZ     
n.密集,密度,浓度
参考例句:
  • The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
  • The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。
6 applied Tz2zXA     
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

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