Alexandre V. Boukalov

e-mail: boukalov@gmail.com
The Centre of Physical and Space Researches, International Institute of Socionics
"Physics of Consciousness and Life, Cosmology and Astrophysics" journal, issue 3, 2001 .

The quantum-mechanical approach to the description of language and its evolution

On the base of consideration of the phenomenon of language and speech as the quantum wave process it is proposed the new linguistic laws of evolution of the all languages from the united ancient language. It is shown that the formal-comparative and semantic approaches in the researches of language as paradigms reciprocally eliminate each other, according to the author quantum principle of complimentarity between the formal and semantic aspects of human thinking and the corresponding objects descriptions.
Key words: monogenesis, language, quantum principle of complimentarity, formal and semantic description, linguistics, psyche, thinking.

Using the early proposed by us uncertainty principle of the formal and semantic description of the metamathematics as an especial language, connected with thinking [2], we shall use this principle for the natural language description.

From the evolutional point of view, proposed by the molecular genetics achievements, all the world peoples languages are really the differentiated dialects of the unite language, rised near 150 thousands years ago, but they are distinguished by the degree of differentiation[1] [3]. Thus the existing paradigm in the language science, which needs the "proof" of the unite languages origin, is incorrect in principle. The more correct is the initial principle about the relationship and unity of the world languages. Thus the research paradigm has to be formulated in another way: what is the nature of the languages differentiation from the unite state, what is their likeness and their difference.

If they are the differentiated dialects of the ancient language thus it must exist the monogenetical world contents. More than that, taking into account that the new words are rarely created in a natural language, it is possible to put forward a thesis that the majority of the words of the whole world languages has the monogenetical origination. It can be revealed by the analyses of the separate words, their parts and sound changes. Many of words are the monogenetical words combination whereas the set of words almost is not changed. For example, the systems of pronouns, the body parts names etc.

In this case the modern languages, being the products of the monogenentical development, must include the signs of the numerous combinations and joinings of the ancient language. At the same time it is well known for all linguists about the existence of the considered words in the unrelated languages. Sure, from the point of view of the existed paradigm the mentioned coincidences were perceived and are perceived now as occasional. Meanwhile, from the point of view of the new paradigm such language facts are the direct consequence of the languages monogenesis. It is time to state the regularities of the change and/or conservation of the different words under the evolution of the languages. More than that, from the new paradigm point of view it is necessary to prove not the languages relation but to reveal the degree of their divergence and differentiation in respect to the monogenetical language and among the modern ones. It connection with this it is possible to take the quantum mechanics principle [1] and to introduce the new ones for the language consideration as a quantum wave process. The wave (including the sound one, exactly to say, the language one, which spreads in a social space) has the quantum properties. Namely the birth of the speech sounds in the human throat can be considered sinergetically as the origin of some modulated coherent vibration, analogous to the selforganization processes in laser etc. Thus the language as a sound vibration phenomenon must have the wave, interferential, and also the discrete, corpuscle properties. The changes of the language evolution, studied by linguistics, as well as the words sounding, studied by comparative linguistics, corresponds to the interference phenomenon. The great success is achieved here. But this method provides us to approach to the ancient language problem solution only during the last years because of the languages variety and their analyses complexity. It is enough to remember that even the rather probable nostratic Ilich-Svitich theory about relation of the Indian-Europe, Semit, Ural-Altay and Dravids languages is nor perceived in principle by the significant part of the linguists. At the same time the language has a corpuscular component as well. It means that the “language quantums” are rather stable against transformation and can be unchanged or join into the semantically equal clusters (for example, the name Shvartsenegger means black-black, where the equal radicals of different languages are connected). Such “corpuscles” can be concerved during very long time if they are not acted by the environment, i.e. they do not interact with it. In the opposite case they can be changed. Then a part of the monogenetical originated word-relicts can conserve in a practically unchanged state contrary to the M.Svodesh laws. It is known that the M.Svodesh method does not provide to prove the languages relation within the 10 thousands years interval. But namely our approach explains why the set of words concerves stable during some or even dozens of millenniums. The words, which have the lifeful human importance, have the more “corpuscle” properties as well as the more “semantic energy” and thus they are rather less changeable dislike to less significant ones or to the more connected with the environment ones (till to the sound imitation).

Thus the interference of sound forms as the waves in the language carriers space, as the interference with the second, third and fourth interactions, cause the dialects, languages, their joining and divergences. In this sense all the world languages can be considered as the dialect continuum, which interferences on the wave level with itself and forms the structures of the manylevels interference in the space-time and social psychics.

Under this situation some semantics corresponds to the sound language form. Thus for the notation of some notion it is necessary to use the composition or the product of the sound form and the word semantics:
    F·S=Z,
where Z is the essence invariant in the language phase space.

Let us note that the so-called Tarski theorem is known in the metamathematics, which deals with the human thinking problem in connection with the mathematics grounds. It is briefly formulated by he following way; if a theory A is uncontradictory than the statement numeration function in the A model and the set of all true propositions in A theory cannot be simultaneously determined within this theory [6]. It follows that the more the certain object description is formalized the less semantics, i.e. the sense, this description includes. An absolutely formal description is completely empty (semantics is absent, it is not determined). And vice versa, the semantically precise description of the object provides the possibilities minimum for this description formalization. It provides the proposed by the author analogy of the uncertainty principle in mathematics and human thinking [2]. According to this principle the product of the errors of the formal and semantics descriptions cannot be less compared to some constant:
    ΔF·ΔS≥const

In the human culture a formal is expressed by signs whereas a semantical is shown by symbols. The language is a unique sound-symbol structure.

As the mathematics is an essential language, so the analogous principle can be put forward in respect to linguistics. For the language as a sound wave set, spreading in the psychoinformation space of the sociums community (tribes, peoples, states), it is possible to write the analogous uncertainty relation and the general principle of the formal and semantical composition:
    F·S=Z

It means that there are some variants of the speech evolution under the environment action:
a) Z (object essence) is variable, F is changed, S=const is not changed. In this case under the action of the environment and socium the words sound form is changed under their semantics variation. This situation is studied in the theoretical linguistics [4].
b) Z is variable, F is not changed, S is changed. In this case the sound form is not changed or changed slightly. Meanwhile, the semantics shift takes place as well as the displacement of some word meaning from one object to another. For example, "dog" → "horse", "foot sole" → "foot" → "hip". These transfers are connected with the associated magic transfers of some objects to another ones. In the comparative linguistics the clear perception of this process is absent. Thus now the approachs in this field are not grounded and developed, whereas the pure intuitive approach [5] dominates sporadically despite it is criticized in the comparative linguistics.
c) Z is variable, F and S are partly changed. It causes the origin of words, which are badly classificated by origination and have manysenses semantics. These words investigation needs the integration of studies according to the cases a) and b).
d) There is the fourth case; the environment action does not refer practically to the noted object essence. The correspondent words are equivalent to the high energetical quantums (in quantum mechanics) with a small wave length, which practically do not interfere and spread without changes along a great distance in the space-time. On the language level these are the words which coincides with the ancient language words but they are present in their unchanged or nearly unchanged form in modern languages. Usually these words belong to the radical fund which provides the life activity and social contacts (the words: "milk", "breast", "mother", "father"; pronouns etc).

Let us note that the two first cases are oppositive but complementary by their essence. The methods of these two processes investigation are two paradigms which refute each other like the corpuscle interpretation refutes the wave one in quantum mechanics. Really it is possible to see the semantic direction refutation by the comparative one and vice versa, which is caused by the absence of the understanding of the more global process essence, which is unite in its basis.

In connection with the above consideration it is interesting to note from the science history point of view that in 1926 the two versions of quantum mechanics arised practically simultaneously: the wave version (E.Schrödinger), which proposed the classical physical description of processes, and the matrix version, which radically differs from the classical one. The both mentioned directions and their supporters furiously refuted each other until namely E.Schrödinger showed the unite nature, complementarity and double-dealing essence of these descriptions. By analogy the statement of the new laws of the language development and evolution can and must cause the equality understanding and the further synthesis of comparative and semantic approaches.

The quantum wave character of the language process assumes as the interference so the corpuscle collisions, the quantum recombinations. In this case we are able to explain the mysterious phenomena of coincidence of the set of words from unrelated languages, whereas the coincidence has place sometimes only in some periods of their historical development. The evolution transformation from one sound till another (for example, consonaut sounds) can be considered as an example of the quantum transitions under the environment action. The man produces sounds under the action of the outer an inter spaces whereas namely the speech sounds origin, from the sinergetical point of view, is an analogy of the quantum transitions in laser systems.

References:

Main page | About journal