The diversity of language

We are different looking,ie,races why not languages too?

Here's the deal Caroline. Assuming," and it is an assumption", that we as a species may have come from a single point of origin, how come we speak in several different languages? I think it is a valid question.

I think it's a valid qustion too. I have often wondered myself. Sometimes Elmud i'll just throw in random thoughts, thoughts that pop into my head when reading a thread. Your question is a good one.

It is a good question, I think I might know but it's hard to put into words.

Words are just sound-packets we assemble to represent something; in other words, what specific sounds are used doesn't have any correlation to reason or utility. They are - I believe - for the most part just arbitrary. The word "Milk" has no intrinsic reference to the white liquid that words represents to me. It could just as well have been Tsi, Irre or Jokal.

It makes sense that as different languages evolved, there'd be no single pattern for such representations. Now, where languages overlap in their word-set due to 'bleed-over', that's another issue.

So yea, I could be way off here. But to me, it just makes perfect sense that there's no direct correlation: They're just representations.

Thanks

I think you would have to look back into history, (colonization), and research the origins of language. I say this because words in different languages can be similar to each other and alot of words stem from latin.

Goshisdead is exactly right. It's statistically almost the same story as genetic evolution. Take a million people who speak the same language; then isolate half of them in the Arctic and the other half in the tropics for 1000 years -- when you get them back together their languages will be mutually unintelligible, but you'll be able to discern some commonalities.

Language evolution happens in front of our eyes. Look at the incorporation of foreign words into English (like kamikaze, or jihad, or schmuck). Look at the formation of pidgin languages like Hatian Creole (or how English was after the Norman Conquest).

I started a post about this recently:

http://www.philosophyforum.com/forum/philosophy-forums/branches-philosophy/philosophy-religion/3716-linguistic-fundamentalism.html