Why are there different languages in the world?

[alitaptap]

Literally, in Genesis 11, God scattered the people over the whole face of the earth that caused different languages because of the Tower of Babel.

I will be interested to hear some viewpoints on the forum. Other claims outside the Bible account are welcome also.

 

[twinc]

LANGUAGE did not go from groans and grunts to Grammar but was very sophiscated from the start - lkanguage did not develop or evolve - twinc

 

[Redratfish]

Literally, in Genesis 11, God scattered the people over the whole face of the earth that caused different languages because of the Tower of Babel.

I will be interested to hear some viewpoints on the forum. Other claims outside the Bible account are welcome also.

I’m actually reading a book on this. It goes along with the questions "why did one country advance so fast, while others like New Zealand and Africa advance slower?

The simple answer is that no one really knows.There wasn’t written history back then

The most common theory, is that we created it out of need. After we formed our own species, and once we started to form (or were already in, I can’t remember which is correct) tribal communities, grunts and groans were not efficient enough to get things done. We had to organize those sounds into words, and then give the words meaning. In terms of why there are different languages, the answer is simple, different people think differently. Its kind of like someone calling their song Sam, and other son Thomas. Its just what is best for the time. Other animals do not have the ability to talk because they don’t need it. Each kind of creature is different on how we fulfill our needs. In the same way, civilizations each created their own languages. Those who did not speak those languages, often times would be taken over, or forced to learn them. It was basically that they were needed to further our technology.

I do not see the different languages as a curse from God, without them, life would be rather boring. Also I don’t believe that God would force us to have different languages, or that He would force us because the people of earth were making what must have appeared like a small sandcastle up to God. We know now that God does not life right outside the atmosphere.

LANGUAGE did not go from groans and grunts to Grammar but was very sophiscated from the start - lkanguage did not develop or evolve - twinc

When do you classify “The Start”?

Just my opinion, and will probably get flamed for saying it, but there you go.

 

[twinc]

I’m actually reading a book on this. It goes along with the questions "why did one country advance so fast, while others like New Zealand and Africa advance slower?

The simple answer is that no one really knows.There wasn’t written history back then

The most common theory, is that we created it out of need. After we formed our own species, and once we started to form (or were already in, I can’t remember which is correct) tribal communities, grunts and groans were not efficient enough to get things done. We had to organize those sounds into words, and then give the words meaning. In terms of why there are different languages, the answer is simple, different people think differently. Its kind of like someone calling their song Sam, and other son Thomas. Its just what is best for the time. Other animals do not have the ability to talk because they don’t need it. Each kind of creature is different on how we fulfill our needs. In the same way, civilizations each created their own languages. Those who did not speak those languages, often times would be taken over, or forced to learn them. It was basically that they were needed to further our technology.

I do not see the different languages as a curse from God, without them, life would be rather boring. Also I don’t believe that God would force us to have different languages, or that He would force us because the people of earth were making what must have appeared like a small sandcastle up to God. We know now that God does not life right outside the atmosphere.

LANGUAGE did not go from groans and grunts to Grammar but was very sophiscated from the start - lkanguage did not develop or evolve - twinc

When do you classify “The Start”?

Just my opinion, and will probably get flamed for saying it, but there you go.

for Catholics/Christians you should well know the start has to be God and Adam and Eve -btw ancient languages are more complicated and sophiscated than their modern counterparts - twinc

 

[Moro_Rock]

Literally, in Genesis 11, God scattered the people over the whole face of the earth that caused different languages because of the Tower of Babel.

I will be interested to hear some viewpoints on the forum. Other claims outside the Bible account are welcome also.

After the Flood men got together and said " Let us build ourselves a great tower to reach to the heavens " Perhaps they intended to set up their own society and a safe place independent of God. But God confused their language and they were dispersed .

After Christ ascended into Heaven God poured out the Holy Spirit on the disciples in the form of tongues of fire giving believers a new Holy Spirit language to bring the Gospel to the whole world. This gave a kick-start to the spreading of the early Church…

 

[Major_Tom]

I’m actually reading a book on this. It goes along with the questions "why did one country advance so fast, while others like New Zealand and Africa advance slower?

Wouldn’t be Jared Diamond’s Gun, Germs, and Steel, would it? Lovely book. Anyway, that is also his premise…

 

[Major_Tom]

Literally, in Genesis 11, God scattered the people over the whole face of the earth that caused different languages because of the Tower of Babel.

I will be interested to hear some viewpoints on the forum. Other claims outside the Bible account are welcome also.

Short answer for the story? Classic metaphor, and the story should be read as such, not literal.

There’s an nteresting parallel in the Sumerian’s Gilgamesh epic, which also has strong parallels to the Noah story, and predates it. The Sumerian version of the Noah story briefly tells of one of the many gods becoming upset with humans, because they are too industrious and are making too much noise. So this god decides to flood the world to be rid of us noisy critters. Reminds me of the cause of the Tower of Babel: industriousness and not knowing our place.

Curiously, for any of those literal interpreters, I wonder what they would make of our current human condition. Buildings, many many times taller than the Tower of Babel, used for all kinds of uses other than religious… why no commensurate divine act to remind us of our inappropriate behavior?

 

[spectrm]

Well, the Vatican doesn’t even approve of a literal interpretation of Genesis, so I’m going to science on this one.

Language DID develop, essentially, through groans and grunts - though not literally ( )

The most trusted theory is that certain aspects of communication developed first and finer motor skills developed, thereby offering more choice in the noises to be made. The work is being done by examining gene sequences and embryology in other animals with intelligible vocalizations. Dolphins and chimps are highest on this list. With chimps, it’s proven easier to gauge their communicative capacity by teaching them sign language - they have better hand-arm motor skills than vocal ability. Dolphins often have entire ‘alphabets’ or ‘dictionaries’ of sounds and, what we’ve been able to approximate as, meanings.

This is all to say, there was no point in history that people all spoke the same language, for anytime that they WERE all in one place, what they ‘spoke’ could hardly be referred to as a language.

Much work is also being done on understanding the ‘embryology’ of language. Here’s a rough timeline (though the printout I have from my doctor is far better, if not suitable for scanning). childwellbeing.org/publish/pf_lang2_Stages.asp

As to the thread topic, there are different languages because people splintered as groups, carrying their vocalizations with them. They changed with laziness/pedancy/some-combination and, when civilization started to develop, people’s various words met in the marketplace of ideas and began the move towards a proper ‘language’. But languages are dissolving and recombining all the time. Even the entry of new words into our vocabulary (bling, computer, and tweet all come to mind) is occurring with every advance in technology and every new pop-culture fad.