Due to my unique situation of not taking MLC 110 simultaneously with MLC 105, I do not have a specific language whose history I need to learn. As a result, I teamed up with Jack Hodil, a fellow classmate who is also not taking MLC 110, and did some research on the history of language in general.
There has been extensive study and research on the emergence of individual languages, but interestingly enough there has not been as much study on the history of language in and of itself. Nevertheless, it is widely known that most of the currently existing 5,000 languages of the world (about a third of them are in Africa) are in linguistic families descending from one common language ancestor. Experts say many of these “original languages” were spoken as little as a few thousand years ago. The Indo-European language family is currently the most widespread of these language groups as it is spoken by more than half of the world’s population (includes Hindi, Persian, English, Norwegian, etc.). Another important linguistic group is the Semitic language group (and no, it’s not strictly referring to the Jewish religious/ethnic group…).
An extremely important concept to keep in mind when studying the origins of language is the fact that languages have continuously infiltrated each other since the beginning of time, whether it be through conquest, empire, trade, religion, or technology. So, there is essentially no such thing as a “pure” or uninfluenced language. Modern English for example, occupies a middle position within the western European family of language with about half of its vocabulary being Germanic and half Romance in origin.
Thus, linguistic evolution is defined by a “survival of the fittest” process. An ongoing struggle between languages occurs as they all seek to exert their influence. Words travel/survive throughout time and the world according to their usefulness. The word “aspirin” for example was coined in 1899 by a German inventor. Today, it is a commonplace international word used in the medical realm. The fluidity of language often troubles traditionalists who want to build barriers against the natural changes of languages. France has somehow become the archetype of this image in recent years.
In any case, the evolution of language is a long and lengthy ordeal. Still, it deserves careful inspection, because it can teach us a lot about the cultural nuances evident within our target languages.
References:
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab13
http://walkinthewords.blogspot.com/2010/07/illustrated-language-tree.html
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