Why are there so

many languages
in the world?
Richard McGinn
Linguistics Department
Why are there so many languages in the world?

Two-part answer:
1. ??

2. ??
Why are there so many languages in the world?

Two-part answer:
1. PEOPLE MOVE

2. ??
Why are there so many languages in the world?

Two-part answer:

2. LANGUAGES CHANGE
People Move: Diamond-Bellwood
Hypothesis
Link is here. Jared Diamond and Peter
Bellwood team up to provide an interdisciplinary
hypothesis concerning the history of human
migrations and the major reasons peoples,
cultures and especially technologies can differ
so dramatically. Their data draws on findings in
linguistics, archeology, agriculture and animal
husbandry.
FIVE HUMAN
MIGRATIONS
OUT OF AFRICA
Earliest Migrations 100 K – 40 K bp
Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (2000)
Migrations To 10 K bp
Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (2000)
 Farmers / Fishermen in SEA
and the Pacific: 6000 – 1000 bp
Proto-Sapiens
Merritt Ruhlen 1994
Why are there so many languages in the world?

2. Languages Change
 Theory of Divergence
(Crowley, p. 23 & pp. 226-238)

1. Languages change
systematically.
2. Barriers reduce the density of
intercommunication.
3. The changes are statistically
independent.
In 1786 Sir William Jones announced to the
Asiatick Society of Calcutta that Sanskrit
was related to Greek and Latin, touching off
what would come to be known as the
Neogrammarian movement away from
philology (the comparison of written texts) to
what we now consider linguistics (the study
of spoken languages). If you lived in 1786,
and you were presented with a large number
of cognates like the following, you would
likely also conclude that all these languages
must be related.
Some Indo-European Languages
Sanskrit Avestan Greek Latin Gothic English
pita pater pater fadar father
padam poda pedem fotu foot
bhratar phrater frater brothar brother
bharami barami phero fero baira bear
jivah jivo wiwos qius quick
‘living'
sanah hano henee senex sinista senile
virah viro wir wair were(-wolf)
'man'
tryah tris tres thri three
daśa deka decem taihun ten
śatam satem -katon centum hund(rath) hund(red)
 TWO CLASSIFICATION
PROBLEMS
(Handouts)
Quote of the day:
“Most historical linguists have no
appreciation of the difference
between classification and
reconstruction.”
-- Merrit Ruhlen, The Origin of Language
(1994:127)
Two Fundamental Principles
of Historical Linguistics
 Fundamental Principles

1. Arbitrariness of the sign

2. Regularity of sound change
 Two Fundamental Principles

1. Arbitrariness of the sign underlies

linguistic classification.
2. Regularity of sound change
underlies reconstruction of
protolanguages.
 Any regular correspondences?
(5 minutes small discussion groups)

Sanskrit Avestan Greek Latin Gothic English

pita pater pater fadar father
padam poda pedem fotu foot
bhratar phrater frater brothar brother
bharami barami phero fero baira bear
jivah jivo wiwos qius quick
‘living'
sanah hano henee senex sinista senile
virah viro wir wair were(-wolf)
'man'
tryah tris tres thri three
daśa deka decem taihun ten
śatam satem -katon centum hund(rath) hund(red)
YOU HAVE DISCOVERED
ASPECTS OF GRIMM’S LAW

http://www-
personal.umich.edu/~clunis/wow/grimm/rev
erse-frames.html
Do the principles of sound
change and reconstruction
only apply to European
languages?
A good question once, now fully settled based on
200 years of research on the world’s languages.
King of Amerian Structuralism
One of Bloomfield’s (1925:130) many significant
accomplishments was his successful application of
the Regularity Hypothesis in the reconstruction of
Proto-Algonquin, to “dispose of the notion that the
usual processes of linguistic change were
suspended on the American continent.”
-- Robert W. Murray, The place of historical linguistics in the age of structuralism.
In Sylvain Auroux, ed. (2000). History of the language sciences, Chapter XXXVII,
p. 2437.
 Revised Theory of Divergence
(Crowley, p. 23 & pp. 226-238)

1. Language change is regular.

2. Barriers reduce the density of
intercommunication.
3. The changes are statistically
independent.
OUT OF TAIWAN: THE
AUSTRONESIAN
DIASPORA
 Farmers / Fishermen in SEA
and the Pacific: 6000 – 1000 bp
 Common Words in Six Austronesian Languages

Engl Rukai Tagalog Bidayŭh Rejang Samoan Malagasy

Rawas
Two dosa da-lawa duə duə lua rua
Four səpatə apat umpᴧt pat fi əfatra
Five lima lima rimə ləmaw lima dimi
Six ənəm anim inəm num ono ëninä
Bird (n.c. manok manuk monoʔ manu n.d.
Louse koco kuto gutu gutəw gutu hao
Eye maca mata matə matəy mata maso
Ear caliŋa taliŋa (kapiŋ) (tiʔuʔ) taliŋa tadini
Liver axay atay ati atuy ate ati
Road dalan daʔan jᴧrᴧn dalən ala n.d.
Coconut abarə niyog (buntᴧn) niol niu n.d.
Rain odalə ulan ujᴧn ujən ua uranä
Sky n.c. laŋit raŋit läŋät laŋi laniträ
Stone n.c. bato batuh butəw fatu `fruit pit‘ vato
Eat kane kaʔin maʔan kaʔən ʔai hanä
Why Reconstruction Is Necessary
Number of
differences Rejang Malay PMP English
(Musi dialect)

(1) matəy mata *mata eye

(2) tiləy tali *tali rope
(3) oloa ulur *hulur to lower
(4) bioa air *wahiR water
biləy ari *waRi day
ESTIMATED DATES OF MIGRATIONS
Based on archeological record (Peter Bellwood)

 So. China  Taiwan 6000 bp

  No. Philippines 5000 bp
  So. Philippines 4000 bp
  Borneo, Sulawesi, Moluccas 3500 bp
  Micronesia, Coastal New Guinea 3500 bp
  Timor, Flores (Eastern Indonesia) 3000 bp
  Malaya, Sumatra, Java, Vietnam 2500 bp
  Hawaii, Madagascar 1500 bp
  New Zealand 1000 bp
RECONSTRUCTING
GREATER TIME DEPTH
REQUIRES A
DIFFERENT METHOD
AS EXPLAINED IN THE
FILM “In search of the
first language”
LING 485/585

WINTER 2010