2006-07-17 15:32:25 · 6 answers · asked by chosun 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
There is a difference between saying that all languages are ultimately related to one another and being able to prove it scientifically. While the vast majority of linguists believe that all human languages share a common ancestor about 100,000 years ago, there are no scientific methods to prove it.
2006-07-17 16:08:00 · answer #1 · answered by Taivo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not really very. OK, yes, humans invented them but there is a great deal of difference in some languages that we have on this planet. Want examples: Chinese vs. Portuguese.
Chinese may have evolved from a root in the isolated Asian area around China and Vietnam. But Portuguese is a derivative of Latin, from Phoenician from Dravidian Proto-Arian. Not sure anyone knows where Finnish came from and not many sure about Basque, either.
There are the languages of the tribes in the Brazilian rainforests. And the Mayan/Nuahatyl.
People invent ways to communicate their needs. First comes nouns and probably a few action verbs. Then getting a consensus on what a word means. Don't get anyone here going on how the Hebrew word almah (young woman) should be translated. The Christians say it means "virgin."
And then there are artificial languages like Fortran, Pascal, Cobol, and human spoken languages like Interlingua and Esperanto. You have to see William Shatner in the Esperanto classic "The Incubus." Will make you claim that it is no relation to any tongue you speak. Link below
2006-07-17 22:44:04 · answer #2 · answered by NeoArt 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Languages are arranged sort of in a tree structure. Some are closer to each other on the tree than others. This is a function of proximity, natural barriers and history. That is why Spanish, French, and Italian are similar. English is related to French thanks to the Duke of Normandy but is also related to German thanks to the Angles and Saxons. Germanic languages and Romance languages come together closer to the trunk of the tree in what is called Indo-European. Other languages fit in the tree structure the same way.
Occassionally, due to isolation, a language will not be influenced by other languages for a long time making it relatively different. Finn, Hungarian/Magyar, and Basque are examples... but if you go back far enough, I'm sure they join the tree somewhere.
2006-07-17 23:34:24 · answer #3 · answered by Brand X 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
first you have to remember what is "language"the first humans had lived in different places on the globe(Mesopotamia or Africa or Asia or Egypt or Mexico,etc)each group had notice the need to make voices to communicate or to describe some nouns or actions...making their own language.
live went on and people travel ,met others,words exchanged...then the historians made a languages"tree" for that languages couldn't`t be of the same origin,since humans were far from each other before the invention of ships and other transportation .when you find similar words in different languages that doesn`t mean they are of the same origin, but because of neighborhood,invasion,occupation and religious unity,for example ,hundreds of Arabic words in Spanish , Turkish and Persian
2006-07-18 06:21:04 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I was once told that all languages originated from Sanskrit (ancient Indian language). If that is true, then YES, all languages are related.
2006-07-18 01:02:41 · answer #5 · answered by jacquie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's amazing that humans evolved to use the throat and mouth for primary communication and language. since that's the same, they all must be related.
2006-07-17 22:41:45 · answer #6 · answered by more than a hat rack 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋