How and when are languages made?

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Like the title says, how are different languages formed and why aren’t we all just speaking the same language?

In: Culture

5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s thought that language was developed when the first of our ancestors were kicked out of the trees and forced to roam the grasslands of Africa, and because we were physically weaker than those who stayed in the trees (today’s chimps, gorillas, and other great apes), we had to develop some way of detecting and defending against the dangers that existed on the plains.

source: PBS Eons https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzR-rom72PHN9Zg7RML9EbA/

Anonymous 0 Comments

Languages were first made up of sounds and they slowly evolved into the words that we know right now. Far back in history people used only different noises to communicate with each other but as centuries passed they started to grow and become complex. Now onto your question regarding different languages, our world is pretty big so people in here are also pretty diverse. So as the noises were not enough to explain something they started making it more complex sounds and gave them meaning so everyone will know what that word means and different places started with naming different things differently so different languages were created. So it could have been possible that what we know as an apple could have been named a mango if the people had agreed to it as the first and foremost use of a language is to communicate with each other. Grammar and spelling was further added to make the communication much more easier. We have a saying over here which means don’t focus on the words but focus on what the person is trying to say.
This all that I know about languages and I might be wrong about some stuff so someone who is studying this will be able to give you better explanation regarding this.

Anonymous 0 Comments

This is adjacent to your question, but it may interest you regardless.

As access to education in Nicaragua increases, for the first time a number of deaf Nicaraguans are all in the same place (a school for the deaf) at once, and these children immediately began creating a (sign) language. This is historic, as it is the first time we can watch the creation of a new language from the beginning, and many linguists are excited about it!

We can’t know exactly how, when, or why unique languages are made. We can make guesses, and we can look how similar things are happening today.

You can read more [here](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/in-nicaragua-a-language-i/)

Anonymous 0 Comments

All languages change over time. You can even see this in modern English, with the introduction of new terms and using old words in new ways. Generally, a community of people is going to have their language drift in the same way, but what happens when the community splits?

Barring an outside force that standardises language, the two different communities are going to have their original language drift in different ways. As time goes on, this is going to manifest as different–but related–languages. You can see this with many of the Romance languages, all with common roots in Latin, but have since drifted apart.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Over time, languages diverge. People in different regions start pronouncing words differently, they start using existing words to mean different things, they invent some new words, they change the common grammar. At first this is minor, and people can still understand each other. You might call it “soda” and they call it “pop”, and you might say “park the car” and they might say “pahk the cah”, but you can still understand what each other are saying. But over centuries, these differences accumulate and snowball, they get bigger and bigger, until eventually you’re speaking so differently that you can’t understand each other anymore. You’re speaking two different languages now.

This has happened over and over again throughout history. Every language we speak today has been evolving constantly for thousands of years. And single languages from, say, 2000 years ago, have split into dozens of languages today. You might be aware that Latin over time diverged into Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, etc. That was because of the effect I described. Different people living far enough away from each other will start speaking slightly differently. And these slight differences start to add up, until 1000 years later you’re not speaking the same language at all anymore.

You might be interested to read about Modern English, Middle English, and Old English. You can see how the English language has evolved over the last 1000-1500 years, from something basically unrecognizable into what it is today. [Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gy82lniAUA) (start at 0:55)