Why are there so many differant languages ? Chomsky on languages great mysteries

Ken G.
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Why are there so many differant languages ? Chomsky on languages great mysteries

Can anyone tell me why there are so many languages ? bigthink.com/noamchomsky/noam-chomsky-on-languages-great-mysteries


Wonderist
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Because, like religions and

Because, like religions and species, languages evolve, and evolution produces diversity.


BobSpence
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natural wrote:Because, like

natural wrote:

Because, like religions and species, languages evolve, and evolution produces diversity.

Yep, it really is that simple.

Languages evolved in many different parts of the world, with limited or no communication with each other, so such diversity, rather than being a mystery, was inevitable.

There is apparently a significant common structure in our brains which determines the general structure of the grammar of languages ( see Steven Pinker), but the details of the structure and the mapping of phonemes to the elements of the grammar are largely contingent.

Favorite oxymorons: Gospel Truth, Rational Supernaturalist, Business Ethics, Christian Morality

"Theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance. Indeed, it is ignorance with wings." - Sam Harris

The path to Truth lies via careful study of reality, not the dreams of our fallible minds - me

From the sublime to the ridiculous: Science -> Philosophy -> Theology


Ken G.
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Bob Spence1 wrote : ( see Steven Pinker )

 Yes ! Stephen Pinker is really good,I read a few of his books, " Stuff of Thought " and " Blank Slate and Book TV had him on for a three hour discussion about his work and his influences.   

Signature ? How ?