Exploring Ancient Languages: Lost Tongues of Early Agricultural Societies

Historically, humans may have used far more languages than the over 7,500 unique languages we speak today. Between 3,000 and 1,000 years ago, there were tens of thousands of languages across the globe, indicating a rich tapestry of linguistic diversity.

Published on July 23rd in Science¹, the research suggests that the advent of agriculture catalyzed an early linguistic explosion, as communities transitioned from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to settled agriculturalists. Linguist Heidi Hurley from the University of Arizona emphasizes that if these findings hold, it indicates language extinction is not merely a modern issue.

According to Hurley, the historical diversity of languages proposed in this study is “astonishing.” She notes, “The estimated count of languages is mind-blowing—it’s almost unbelievable.”

Lost Languages

Joe Salmons, a historical linguist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, points out the scarcity of archaeological evidence for prehistoric languages beyond written records. This results in researchers knowing only “surprisingly little” about past linguistic diversity.

This evidence gap has led to a variety of theories regarding the evolution of language diversity. Much of the current understanding relies on rough estimates, according to co-author Claire Bowern, a historical linguist at Yale University.

In their research, Bowern and her team sought to map out the trajectory of global linguistic diversity over the past 12,000 years. They began by estimating the number of languages spoken around the end of the last ice age. This involved calculating the world’s population at the time and approximating the language usage among similarly grouped hunter-gatherers. The researchers assumed these groups, typically consist of about 800 individuals, communicated in a single language based on 20th-century studies of Alaska Native communities and historical linguistic data.

The estimates indicate that between 3,300 and 7,800 languages existed 12,000 years ago.

Using statistical models, the researchers analyzed how linguistic diversity evolved over time. As societies transitioned from nomadic lifestyles to settled agricultural communities and eventually formed nation-states, the model presupposed that larger homogeneous groups emerged from these shifts.

The findings suggest that linguistic diversity surged over the subsequent millennia with the global spread of agriculture, peaking roughly 2,000 years ago when tens of thousands of languages were actively used. This counts as approximately tenfold the number of languages in use at the close of the last ice age.

The reasons behind this increase remain speculative; however, Bowern theorizes that the transition from nomadic to settled communities likely played a significant role. This is corroborated by studies in regions like New Guinea and Vanuatu, showing that dialects and languages of small agricultural communities diverge significantly from those of neighboring hunter-gatherers.