How do languages change and evolve?

We use language every day, but probably very few people give a second thought to why our mother tongue and the foreign languages we learn look and sound this way and not the other. Why do some languages sound similar? Are they related in any way? The following video aims at answering such questions, revolving around the topic of language change and evolution. Watch it and discover some fascinating facts about languages!

How languages evolve by Alex Gendler

Exercise 1

Work with a partner. Answer the following questions.

        1.      What is language?

        2.      How many languages are there in the world?

Exercise 2

Listen to and watch a video about language change and evolution. Note down the answer to the
question posed in the video: how did we end up with so many languages?

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Exercise 3

Listen to and watch the video again. Decide which of the following statements are true (T)
or false (F).

        1.      It is a fact that an original language spoken by all people once existed.                             T / F

        2.      A proto-language is a common ancestor to all languages.                                                 T / F

        3.      Two languages are always related when they have similar sounding words.                       T / F

        4.      Basic vocabulary, such as pronouns, numbers and kinship terms, are more likely to be
        borrowed.                                                                                                                      T / F

        5.      Linguists look at regular correspondences between languages to determine relationships.  T / F

        6.      The dialects of Chinese are very similar to one another.                                                    T / F

        7.      There are more than 3,000 languages in the world.                                                          T / F

Exercise 4

How can the biblical story of the Tower of Babel be related to the scientific facts presented
in the video? Discuss with your classmates.