Where did other languages begin?

Question

What I am asking is, how did other languages form, originate from the beginning of the time?
I know part of the story and it was based on people trying to build a building to heaven to reach God. And he made all the people speak another laugage so they woudln't understand eachother. I know it's confusing and I want to know what you think!!

Answer 1

Genesis 11:1 At one time the whole world spoke the same language.and a common speech. Read 11:8 So the Lord scattered them over the face of the earth.This was after the Lord confused their language.

Answer 2

I would rather write without a Biblical quote.

Humans are communicators. It is part of what makes us Human. Languages and patois are always beginning and dying. Many twins have their own language.

The minute any single group of people split into two and go different whys without constant connection, their languages begin to move away from each other. The languages of humans evolves to fit the environment the humans find themselves in.

In the beginning the creation of a language may have begun with a small group that lived in the mountains next to a spring and a cave. There may also have been a small group that lived on the edge of an ocean on a beach of white sand. Most of their environmental object's and subject's words would have no meaning to the other.

It wouldn't take a God to bring man into a Babel. Natural separation via geography would do so.

When you want the Truth.....Ask a Pagan

Answer 3

The Tower of Babel is described in Genesis chapter 11, verses 1-9. After the Flood, God commanded humanity to "increase in number and fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1). Humanity decided to do the exact opposite, "Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 11:4). Humanity decided to build a great city and all congregate there. They decided to build a gigantic tower as a symbol their power, to make a name for themselves (Genesis 11:4). This tower is remembered as the Tower of Babel.

In response, God confused the languages of humanity so that we could no longer communicate with each other (Genesis 11:7). The result was that people congregated with other people who spoke the same language - and then went and settled in other parts of the world (Genesis 11:8-9). God confused the languages at the Tower of Babel to enforce His command for humanity to spread throughout the entire world.

Answer 4

Yes, God got pissed at a group of people, this time for building a tall tower, so he destroyed it and made them all speak different languages so that they could never cooperate on such a scale again. So much for what the Bible has to say on the topic; and if you want to accept it as "literal, historical truth," fine. Needless to say, it flies in the face of everything we know about the formation of languages and is utterly repugnant to common sense - as literal, historical truth, that is.

If you're actually interested in knowing the answer to your question, and don't just want to be pawned off with fables like a over-curious child (which I doubt, or you wouldn't have asked this question in this section), "glossogeny" is a complex and difficult subject - but Steven Pinker has written some very interesting scholarly works. But for the record, every legitimate scholar in the world qualified to make the judgment believes that language in some form has been around for at least 40,000 years - which is about 34,000 years longer than Bible-beaters are willing to admit Earth has even existed.

Answer 5

My ancestors were speaking Euskara (Basque) before Babel was a village.

The idea in the bible that man could build a tower so tall that it would reach the firmament where the sun, moon, and stars are is absurd on so many levels that it hurts to think about it.

Forget species evolution, language evolution is clearly documented right up to the present day. Languages can be traced back to proto languages which arose tens of thousands of years ago. Their spread and divergence has been well studied and well documented.

In the case of my ancestors, the Basques, their language is unlike any of the Indo-European languages that followed it. The thought is that it was a widely spoken language in Western Europe by the hunter-gatherer tribes between 50 and 10 thousand years ago. It lost out to the language of the farmers who migrated into the area between 15 and 5 thousand years ago.

Answer 6

Don't take the Bible too literally. The story of the tower of Babel is most likely just a story that was intended to offer a simple explanation for the existence of different languages, as well as teach a lesson. Different languages originated in the same way--people in different regions needed a way to communicate, and not all of them came up with the same words.

Answer 7

Noah and his 3 sons could have had their language as they got here for the time of the flood, 4417 years in the past now at 2007 after Christ, then 2 hundred yrs after the flood, whilst there replaced into approximately 4000 in a position bodied adult adult males, Nimrod needed them to construct the tower of Babel, God knew they needed to be doing extra useful issues than that, so he stopped it by skill of giving them many diverse languages so as that they could no longer communicate and ought to no longer build the tower.

Answer 8

Let me respond to no name who quoted 1 Corinthians 14:33.

You say,
"The Tower of babel? Which is why when people are talking but not really making sense they are babbling....
Anyhow..
If you like stories about how things started in the bible, then yes, there was a common language and then boom god didn’t want them building that tower so he struck them all confused. Even though in the bible it is said God is not the author of confusion. (1 Corinthians 14:33)
Its one of those contradictions Bible worshipers hate to talk about.

First of all, you must know how to read the Bible, just simply taking a verse and twisting it to fit your agenda is a sin and God has much to say about that.
When looking at the Bible in its Original language--you must take context into the equation. In that chapter God through Paul is talking about Orderly Worship.
Orderly Worship
26What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
you quote God is not the author of Confusion? For the passage reads "33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. " You are right, God is not a God or disorder, he just said it!

1 look up the word confusion in the Bible, in the NIV it comes up 19 times. A majority of them talk about how men are confused.
2 Simply put God created us and he has given everything that we need to know in His Word.If you don't believe that the Bible is God speaking that's the first step. If God didn't write the Bible then this is true, like He says "1 Corinthians 15:17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
but if God did write the Bible and He says what He says is truth--then Christ is raised, Christ is the Redeemer, Christ is your Savior. And to you that don't believe that God is God and that everything he says is truth --then this is your destiny---

Revelation 21:6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Revelation 22:18I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. 19And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

God used men to write his words 2Peter1: 20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved!

By the way to answer your original question....I'll let God tell you!
Genesis 11
The Tower of Babel
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, [a] they found a plain in Shinar [b] and settled there.
3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel [c] —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Answer 9

so so so wrong. language evolved at the same time man did. Tribes of cave people eventually formed their own languages across the globe, and it carried on from there. For the record, one of the earliest civilizations, the Summarians, were wayyyy before the whole god story ever cropped up. And they were pretty advanced for their time. Look them up & learn. Impressive group but not many know about them because they were so long ago.

Answer 10

The Tower of babel? Which is why when people are talking but not really making sense they are babbling....

Anyhow..

If you like stories about how things started in the bible, then yes, there was a common language and then boom god didn’t want them building that tower so he struck them all confused.

Even though in the bible it is said God is not the author of confusion. (1 Corinthians 14:33)

Its one of those contradictions Bible worshipers hate to talk about.