Omenirea ar fi avut cândva de zece ori mai multe limbi decât astăzi. Ce arată un studiu

A recent study suggests that the current linguistic diversity may be a remnant of a much richer past, challenging previous beliefs about language evolution. Researchers reconstructed the history of languages over the last 12,000 years, indicating that there may have been fewer languages at the dawn of agriculture than today. Contrary to earlier theories, linguistic diversity flourished as agriculture spread, with new languages emerging as communities grew and adapted. This peak in diversity likely occurred 1,000 to 3,000 years ago, with tens of thousands of languages existing at that time. The study highlights a 'historical bottleneck' in language survival, suggesting that some languages thrived not due to inherent superiority but because their speakers prospered while others vanished.