Study: Linguistic diversity in danger

The number of languages spoken worldwide was, in the past, several times higher than it is today, reaching an estimated peak of between 30,000 and over 75,000 languages in the period between the first millennium BC and the first millennium AD, according to a study published in the journal Science and cited by Reuters. Researchers claim that the expansion of great empires and colonialism contributed decisively to the reduction of linguistic diversity.

• Linguistic diversity reached a maximum in Antiquity

Currently, approximately 7,500 languages are used globally, the most widespread being English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic and French. According to the study, however, this diversity is much lower than a few millennia ago. The researchers used mathematical models, along with data from anthropology, linguistics and demography, to estimate the evolution of the number of languages spoken during the Holocene period, which began about 12,000 years ago, after the end of the last Ice Age. The authors of the study estimate that the number of languages reached a maximum of between 30,000 and probably over 75,000, before starting a sharp decline.

• Development of agriculture, sedentarization and population growth favored the emergence of new languages

According to the researchers, about 12,000 years ago, human populations were organized into small groups of hunter-gatherers, dispersed in different regions of the world. These communities spoke, according to estimates, between 4,500 and 6,200 distinct languages. Subsequently, the development of agriculture, sedentarization and population growth favored the emergence of an increasing number of communities and, implicitly, new languages.

Claire Bowern, a professor of linguistics and anthropology at Yale University and the study's lead author, explained that languages are an essential element of community identity and hold valuable information about their past.

• Empires and colonialism accelerated the disappearance of languages

According to the study, the decline in linguistic diversity was mainly driven by the expansion of the great empires of antiquity and, later, by European colonialism. Throughout history, numerous languages have disappeared, including Sumerian, Hittite, Akkadian, Etruscan, and several languages used in ancient Egypt and China. In other cases, languages have evolved into new forms, such as Latin, which became the basis for French, Italian, and Spanish after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Researchers show that colonial powers often imposed their own languages in conquered territories, restricting the use of local languages. However, some of these, such as the languages spoken by the Incas, Mayans, and Aztecs, have managed to survive.

• Almost half of today's languages are threatened

The authors of the study point out that about half of the languages spoken today are considered in danger of extinction. "90% of the world's population speaks only 10% of the world's languages, which means that there are a lot of languages with a very small number of speakers," explained Claire Bowern, highlighting the vulnerability of a large part of the world's linguistic heritage.