Where the hell did different languages come from?

Question

Putting the Tower of Babel story aside, how do different languages evolve? How did it change from early Mesopotamian to Latin, to English, to Spanish, to Chinese, to Whateverish?

Answer 1

There are several scientific theories about the evolution of languages. Most of the modern languages are related to each other; English is related to German, Dutch, Norwegian and other GERMANIC languages which all go back to a Germanic language. Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian etc. are related and can be traced back to LATIN. Latin and Germanic are related with each other and stem from one so called INDO-EUROPEAN language. This is just one of the ancient languages, among others, which can be traced back in Asia, the Americas (native) Africa and Australia.

Linguists are divided on the subject, if all languages come from ONE ancient language, or if there were several ancient languages which evolved parallel to the evolution of mankind itself.
For more information on Indo-European Languages, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages and use the links to see the subdivisions.

@ Adeline: "Most of the languages are Indo-European" This is not true, check your facts, if this is really "your field". It's not true in terms of actual speakers, nor in terms of number of languages existing.


@ PIDOZA: LOL "GOD didn't really appreciate the towel"
Do you really think you can survive in this world, or make a carreer or something, on relying on what the Bible told you? Do you think any employer would work with you if your only logic goes back to a book that what written thousand and some hundred years ago in Hebrew and Greek and subsequently translated to English? Good luck, my friend. That's why the USA are going down...

Answer 2

It was inevitable that some obstinate creationist
would drag in Nimrod and the Tower of Babel.
Unfortunately we KNOW that the languages were
not all created by God at that time. French, Spanish, Portugese and the other Romance languages did not exist until after the Roman conquest of Europe. They are all modifications of
Latin influenced by whatever was the previous
native language of the various regions. English
came along even later. Although Anglo-Saxon
(now more usually called Old English) was the
basis, we couldn't read it now, we would have to
learn it as a foreign language. We have the written
manuscripts that clearly show the changes from
Old English to Middle English (Shakespeare's
language) to modern English. The Tower of Babel
is just another myth like those of other religions.

Answer 3

They didn't come from hell to begin with. You are asking a question of the linguistics, actually historical linguistics.

And I just happen to be going through a CD course from The Teaching Company called "The History of the English Language, by Professor Seth Lerer, Stanford University.

You can listen in bed at night, or driving in the car, or walking around with our walkman CD player. The guy is a good lecturer, and sound. Even though it's the history of the English language he goes back to Indo-European (which is kind of a language that has posited as a "mother" language) and I think you'd enjoy it. I got mine at the library. Might as well get your answer from the best. Hey Ho, Maggie!

Answer 4

Language evolved in Africa about 100,000 years ago at the same time that modern Homo sapiens sapiens evolved there. Indeed, it's most likely that the "Great Cultural Explosion" of about 70,000 years ago was the direct result of the evolution of modern human language. Most linguists believe that language originated once in the small group of humans who were the first genetically modern humans. However, this can't be proven scientifically, it is only a scientific inference from indirect evidence.

From that time on, language began to change and it has been constantly changing since. As groups of humans split and live in different places, their language begins to change in different directions and over time becomes unintelligible to the other groups. It only takes about 200-500 years for two dialects to become two languages, so you can see that there has been plenty of time for the world's thousands of languages to evolve differently from one another.

While linguists tend to believe that language had one origin, they can only prove conclusive that languages are related to one another if they evolved from a common ancestor within the last 8-10 thousand years. So the Indo-European, Afro-Asiatic, Sino-Tibetan, and Uralic families, for example, all developed within that time frame.

Answer 5

Well, there is the Tower of Babel story and that is where the different languages are said to have begun, but there is one other thing mentioned in the Bible that most people overlook and it is in the first chapter of Genesis. I don't know the wording for it, but it clearly explains that Adam was NOT the first person God created. God created people (both men and women) of all races, but then realized He hadn't created anyone to work the soil. So out of the dust of the earth, He created Adam. All of this is clearly explained, but we humans have just overlooked it. So, since God created all the races before He created Adam, it is/was only logical to create different languages for each race. As far as languages changing from one to another, I don't really know. All I know is that it is all part of God's Master Plan.

Answer 6

Even today languages are changing. Not as much as they used to because everything is written down and we have school programs. Notice, however, that even today new words are being created and old ones are being outdated. Why is Shakespeare harder to read? Because half of the words he used in his writing are now outdated. Languages change.

Answer 7

Well, there are many theories and books on this issue. One of the solutions is related to migration. Most of the languages are Indo-European and with migrations, there also came this power related to dominance of one language (it is better if we at this point refer to all languages as 'dialects') over the other sub-dialects. As people want to climb the social ladder, they tended to accept different forms and use the dialect of their superiors, thus replacing their own words (key or content words) while they kept their own grammatical structure intact. There you go with the variation.......:) This is my field, hope it helps.

Answer 8

O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that you may despise (each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things). (Quran 49:13)

Answer 9

Am sorry to say this but the truth is beliving what the BIBLE is telling you so,NIMROD was the the cause of this by building violently what GOD really didn't appreciate the towel and to stop that he(GOD) had to cause comfussion to them to stop what they were doing,
THERE IS NO BETTER EXPLANATION THAN THIS,I'M SORRY BUT BELIEVE WHAT THE BIBLE IS TELLING US,IT IS THE WAY OF LIFE.

Answer 10

That's something that whenever I think about it, it fascinates me. It's the human mind...people say it's God punishing us, but I think that it's just another example of just how fascinating mankind is.