All languages stem from the same source, claim scientists, after tracing origins of speech to sub-Saharan Africa around 150,000 years ago

科学家们对于撒哈拉以南非洲地区的语言追根溯源至15万年后指出，所有的语言都来自于同一个发源地。

Using sophisticated analysis of hundreds of languages, the researchers have managed to trace back their beginnings to the same place and the same time.

在对于近百种语言做了复杂的分析之后，这些语言的开端被研究者们追溯到了同一个地方的同一时期。

They now believe that language may have been one of the "tools" that boosted humanity and led to the colonisation of the whole planet.

现在他们相信，语言也许已经成为人类发展以及整个地球殖民化的工具之一。

"We think that this language was a stepping stone in civilisation¹ which led to better co-ordination and co-operation that might have led us to expand," said Dr Quentin Atkinson, at the University of Auckland and Oxford² University.

Atkinson博士在奥克兰大学、牛津大学说：“我们认为，这种语言是文明中的一个进身之阶，它引导我们更好的去协调、合作以及发展。”

"It could have also led to competition that would have given us a push."

它可能也已经导致了竞争，但正是这竞争，为我们的发展助了一臂之力。

Dr Atkinson analysed 504 languages to see how many phonemes – particular sounds – they contained.

Atkinson博士分析了504种语言以得出它们包含了多少的音素-特殊的声音。

To his surprise he found a direct correlation³ between the age of the civilisation and the number of phonemes in its language.

他惊奇的发现，一个文明它历史的悠久度以及其语言中所包含的音素数量之间有着一个直接的联系。

So while many African languages had more than 100 phonemes, Hawaiian language had as few as 13. English, French and German had about 45 each.

所以，许多非洲语言有100多种音素，夏威夷语言只有13种，而英语、法语以及德语各自有大致45种音素。

The analysis, which used the World Atlas⁴ of Language Structure as the main resource, relies on the theory that older civilisations have picked up more linguistic⁵ diversity as they age – from genes⁶ to language.

以语言结构的世界地图集为主要来源的分析是以这样一个理论为基础的：古老文明随着时间的推移，从基因到语言积累到的更多的语言多样性。

It then used this to extrapolate back the origins of language to Africa.

由此推断出语言的发源地为非洲。

It pinpointed⁷ the time as around 150,000 years ago as this was when cave art – one of the earliest forms of communication – began.

此研究指出，发源时间为15万年以前，因为此时正是洞穴艺术，也就是最早的交流方式开始的时间。

It is thought that early man then left Africa around 80,000 years go – taking with him some of the diversification⁸ but not all of it.

研究认为，非洲的早期人类在大约8万年前离开非洲，并带走了一部分的语言。

In general, the areas of the globe that were most recently colonised incorporate fewer phonemes into the local languages whereas the areas that have hosted human life for millennia⁹ still use the most phonemes, the report concluded.

报道总结指出，一般而言，那些最近被殖民的地区更少的将语素并入到当地语言中，然而，在那些人类存在了几千年的地方，最多的语素仍在被运用着。

"The evidence suggests that there was a single origin of language rather than a number that happened independently," said Dr Atkinson.

Atkinson博士说：这些证据暗示了我们，语言的源头只有一个，而不是各自独立发展的。

"I was pretty surprised."

我感到非常的惊讶。

The research is published in the journal Science.

此研究发表于科学杂志上。