LB033-034T

LB33-34
I. INTRODUCTION
Although anatomy is a fascinating subject and its inclusion in a book such as the present one does not require any apologies, there is at the same time the danger of misunderstanding its role here. The anatomical description of man’s speech organs does not lead to insight into the origin of language (see Chapter Six) nor does it provide an explanation of man’s capacity for language. As biologists we cannot discern meaning or purpose of specific anatomical developments. Survival of the species, increase of efficiency in various respects, or group cohesiveness may very well be among the biasing principles of natural selection. However, any one of these “ends” might conceivably be achieved by an infinity of means. Why a given phylogeny went one particular way instead of any one of the multitude of theoretically possible other ways is in most instances unknown and speculation on this topic is frequently futile.
雖然解剖學是一個引人入勝的課題，而且將其納入像是眼前這樣的一本書中無須任何辯解，然而，誤解其在此角色的風險也同時存在。對人類說話器官的解剖學描述並不通往語言起源的洞見(見第六章)，也不提供對人類語言能力的解釋。作為生物學家，我們無法察覺出特定的解剖學上發展所具有的意義或用途。物種的存續，許多方面上效率的提升，或是群體的團結都很可能在天擇的偏好原則之中。然而，可以理解的是，這些”目的”中的任一項都可以經由無數的途徑達成。為何一個特定的種屬發生是朝某個特別的道路上發展而非走向其它理論上可能的眾多道路之一，這在多數的個案上是未知的，而且對此議題的思索往往是徒勞的。
Anatomy is a descriptive science. The sounds of language are certainly intimately related to the morphology of the vocal tract. Thus, a description of man’s vocal tract may account for certain peculiarities of universal features of speech. A discussion of these relationships does not imply knowledge of causality in the course of evolution.
解剖學是一門描述性的科學。語言中的聲音的確和聲道的形態學密切相關。因此，對人類聲道的描述或許可以說明言語的普遍特徵所具有的一些特性。討論這些關係並不暗示演化的過程中有因果性。
Our approach will be based on comparative studies. We should like to demonstrate morphological peculiarities of man by comparing all speech-relevant structures to homologous ones in Pongidae (that is, the great apes: chimpanzee and gorilla, which are our closest of kin, and orangutan). Whenever available, we shall also make reference to the gibbons, rounding out the picture of the Hominoidea.
我們的方法將基於比較性的研究。我們應當藉著比較所有攸關言語的結構和其在猿科(Pongidae)動物上的同構體來呈現人類在形態學上的特點。如有資料，我們也將提及長臂猿，以完成人猿總科(Hominoidea)的全貌。

A review of the pertinent literature brings to light rather unexpected gaps in our knowledge of primate anatomy. In many instances, a complete comparison is not possible because of lack of data; in other instances, the facts reported are based on dissections of a single specimen so that artifacts of fixation, age, sex, and individual variations are uncontrolled variables. The presentation, however, has been confined to the most outstanding and generally agreed upon facts.
回顧相關的文獻，對靈長類解剖學知識預料外的空白浮現出來。在很多個案上，因為資料缺乏而不可能作出完整的比較；在其它個案中，提出的結果是基於對單一標本的解剖，因此對標本的固定方式、年齡、以及個體變異是非控制變項。然而，以下的介紹限於最顯著且廣為認可的結果。

The anatomical discussions lay no claim to completeness and cannot substitute as a text for instruction on the anatomy of speech organs.(Kaplan, 1960 may be used for the purpose.)
此處解剖學的討論不具完整性，而且不能作為介紹語言器官解剖學的教材(Kaplan, 1960或可作此用途)。