I was looking into the etymology of Lake Ontario, when I learned that it derived from the Huron “Ontari’io”, which got me thinking about how different languages even came about. Of course language changes, with expressions, slang, and such. But some languages are completely different in pronunciation of each letter, and some don’t even use the Latin alphabet at all.
How did we begin speaking different languages? Why might humans not have established one language thousands of years ago?
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We probably did. But the geographical separation of different groups of humans would have led to different dialects that have lost contact with each other for long enough that they are no longer mutually intelligible.
This happens because language changes over time, and without regular contact, different places would experience different changes.
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