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> Languages were invented as means of communication, so if all languages disappear except one it'll be tremendous boost to humanity. It isn't at all obvious th
by Afton 11y ago
> Languages were invented as means of communication, so if all languages disappear except one it'll be tremendous boost to humanity.
It isn't at all obvious that it would be a straight-up boon. It would help some things, hurt others. And in a few generations, we would have dialects and languages again. It's just how brains and (by extension) communities work.
- walterbell 11y ago> It's just how brains and (by extension) communities work Any recommended references on this process of language forking and dialect creation, especially in the context of neuroscience?
- mc32 11y agoI would think this kind of drift that used to happen when population were separated and didn't intercommunicate would happen much less nowadays. Print, physical and electronic, kind of ossify a language. How much have English, Chinese, German evolved since widespread print and education? I think much less than they did a few hundred years ago. Interconnectedness kind of promotes the preservation of the current state of a language, I think. Yes argots and memes and cants proliferate more quickly but dont seem to make so many permanent changes and when they do instigate a change that change gets diffused more widely so the language, while changing, remains monolithic rather than create a new dialect.
- derekp7 11y agoWould that still be the case in today's highly connected world?