A study published in the journal Science concludes that modern languages are the legacy of a small number of tongues that survived a major historical bottleneck. The research challenges the assumption that linguistic diversity was highest in the distant Palaeolithic era, finding instead that it peaked much later in human history.
Researchers analysed the linguistic diversity of 171 hunter-gatherer communities living today to estimate how many languages were spoken on Earth roughly 12,000 years ago, after the last Ice Age. At that time, when the global population was below 7 million, between 4,500 and 6,200 different languages were spoken worldwide.
Estimated number of languages spoken globally 12,000 years ago, when the human population was under 7 million.
The data suggests that between roughly 1,000 and 3,000 years ago, tens of thousands of different languages were spoken around the globe. The scientists describe this period as the 'golden age' of linguistic diversity. The study finds that after this peak, linguistic diversity entered a rapid and largely irreversible decline.
The highest level of linguistic diversity may not have occurred in the distant Palaeolithic.
Claire Bowern, one of the authors of the study, stated that the most surprising finding was that the peak of linguistic diversity occurred so recently. She noted that the highest level of diversity came when states grew and the first empires emerged, rather than in the distant past as is often assumed.
The researchers found that the Age of Empires, which began around 4,000 years ago, did not initially reduce linguistic diversity. However, about 2,000 years ago the number of languages worldwide started to drop 'as if falling off a cliff'. According to the study, the main driver of this decline was the expansion of multi-ethnic states and large empires.
Strengthening political structures absorbed smaller communities and imposed their own languages, while local tongues gradually disappeared. Today, around 7,500 languages are spoken across the world. This current number is higher than the estimated figure from 12,000 years ago but far lower than the tens of thousands believed to have existed at the peak of diversity.
Number of currently spoken languages considered under serious threat, according to the Endangered Languages Project.
Data from the Endangered Languages Project suggests that around 3,300 of the languages currently spoken are under serious threat. Of these, 437 are considered critically endangered. The researchers say that more than 400 languages have vanished completely over the past 50 years.
Colonialism stands out as one of the key factors in the process that has led to the disappearance of languages. According to the study, legal prohibitions, violence and forced assimilation have all played an important part in the loss of many languages. Pressure to switch to dominant languages such as English and Spanish has also contributed to the decline.
The division of indigenous communities in Africa's Kalahari Desert by national borders has fractured the communities that speak N|uu. Only one person is thought to be still able to speak the N|uu language fluently. Although the current pace of language loss is very high, the new study indicates that extinctions in the past occurred even more rapidly than they do today.