If we evolved from apes how do you explain different languages?

Question

and different races for that matter

Answer 1

This is not too hard to explain really is it, if you apply a little thought to it.

I don't know where you live, but I live in England. Not a big place, but people just 100 miles from where I live use a different dialect, which uses different words, and some words that I use have different meanings there.

Stretch the distance, add a few thousand years and it is not too difficult to see a common language gradually change into lots of different languages.

And this is indeed what has happened. English, for instance, is know as one of the Indo-European languages with common roots to German and Nordic languages.

Answer 2

amen. :o

Answer 3

Humans are part of the hominid family. They are both part of and descended from them. The process of this development is called evolution. In brief, this means that new species develop and expand as they are better at dealing with their environment then others. See: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/evo...

for a discussion of the evolution process.

The hominids include humans and the apes. They are part of the family Hominidae, of the order Primate. Humans did not "descend from the apes" We share a common ancestor but it was 8 million years in the past. The first part of your question is based on a false premise.

      As one of my colleague pointed out we have regional accents and dialects in this country. That's happened in just 200 years.

      The history of people in the Americas goes back perhaps 15,000 years. Evidence is that only a few scattered bands actually made it through. By the time of Columbus there were an estimated 1,800 different languages being spoken by 40 million people.

     You can see language differences in the questions posted. Some people use text messaging "btw if u cn"; slang is constantly changing the language; and new words are being added. No doubt you're read Shakespeare. That's how much English has change in 400 years. What would 200 more years do to the language? To answer that try reading the "Canterbury Tales."

Answer 4

Our ancestors were separated from each other for thousands of years.  We evolved without the ability to speak (how many talking apes are there?), and gained it over time.  Slowly, as we evolved further, we were able to form speech.  One group might have called an apple one thing, while the other group called it something else.  Quite simple really.

Answer 5

We evolved from different races of apes who spoke different languages

Answer 6

All humans can speak -  (and you know what I mean so ignore parrots)).  No other creature on earth can.  That's one of the many, many things that separate us so vastly from every other living creature.

Answer 7

Let's say that you are a true believer. Let's say that you fear and therefore claim to...love...god so much that you wish to build a wooden tower all the way up to heaven which, you have been lead to believe is somewhere ...up there!

Let’s say that you have found a great forest in Mesopotamia, (which didn't exist in Mesopotamia), to harvest so that you could acquire the non-existent trees with which to build this tower. Let’s say that you invented some method to cut planks with your rudimentary lathe and other wood working equipment invented for this project. Let’s say that you found a way to attach one plank to another so that the underpinning of the structure would support the massive weight of the structure.

Now follow because this ain’t gonna be easy.

So, you and your buddies who also fear your god and, like you claim this fear is actually…love…are doing fine and, according to the original story, you guys make it past the stratosphere and into space and actually get close to the floor of heaven.

Now what happens?

You make god mad and she reacts angrily and with petulance, complains to her other god buddies about your effrontery and audacity and decided to invent additional languages after spending so much time inventing the original earth language spoken by everybody since that Garden thingy that must have close by.

You get up the next morning, go to Cracker Barrel for country ham and eggs and those almost biscuits they have then off to the stairway to heaven project only to find that your construction buddies are speaking French, German, Finnish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Swahili, Ethiopian,  Afrikaans, Spanish and a bunch of others that hadn’t been invented yet.

Well, you can see the problem right away. Nobody can understand anybody else, you guys have spent all that money on space suits made in Switzerland (also not invented yet) and…

“ Bob’s Your Uncle”!

Answer 8

mgtender95 is laughable.  He quotes a book written by humans as an unimpeachable source for omnipresent being's thoughts.

Got any other evidence?  I didn't think so.  All from the human who evolved from...fish, actually.

Answer 9

Complex language developed after humans were spread over the globe. Without being able to communicate with each other, languages as geographically separate as Latin and Chinese were bound to sound quite different, don't you think?

Answer 10

I took GauFeng as making a funny joke and he got all thumbs down.  I agree with Ed.  I would add that Latin used to be a language but has "evolved" into Italian, French, Spanish, etc.  This demonstrates that languages change over time.  If you ever read the Constitution or Declaration of Independence, it becomes very obvious that languages change over time.  When they are relatively separated populations, the languages completely separate into different branches.

Answer 11

Before Hominids could speak, they spread across the globe. They weren't near each other, and different languages evolved.

Answer 12

Languages change over time. Ever read Shakespeare? It sounds rather different from our present speech, no? Better yet, read Beowulf as it was originally written down: you probably couldn't understand a word of it.

Now think about what would happen if you have two groups of people thousands of miles apart, with no contact, who start out speaking the same language. Their languages will change over time, and it is very unlikely they will change in the same way. The languages will get more and more different until eventually they couldn't understand each other if they ever met. In fact this is pretty much how Romance languages like Italian and Spanish came to be. As early humans spread over the planet this would have happened many times over.

Different races can be explained by genetic divergence. Genes, like languages, change with time, and would change divergently in widely seperated populations. Especially populations subjected to different environmental pressures, like people in northern lattitudes who didn't recieve as much UV light from the sun as those in southern lattitudes (it is thought this is how light skin evolved).

Answer 13

WE DID NOT EVOLVE "FROM" APES, it's been stated so many times on here. We evolved along the same line as Chimpanzees, our closest cousins with a chromosome make up of 23 ch, the chimp has 24 I believe. Then the family tree split.

       As far as languages, they just discovered the Neanderthal had a Larynx similar to ours so, they may have had a spoken language. The larynx is made from soft tissue and is not recoverable.

Answer 14

One has nothing to do with the other.

Answer 15

I give mgtenter A+

I couldn't have answered better.

Thanks Brother.

Answer 16

According to ancient biblical scripts, some people were building a tall tower to reach the heavens, and see God.  This had angered and provoked God, who in turn had cast a curse on the people, so that when they had awakened the following morning, no one could understand each other, and because of the language barrier, the tower could not continue to be built.  People later found others who spoke the same language as they did, and these people migrated away to settle someplace else.  Thus, this was how the earth was populated with people of different races and languages.  

If you ever go on a road trip across the USA, you'll find that as you stop on every town along each state, the accent gradually changes from one region to another.  Languages evolved differently when people who are isolated are separated by distance.  The native American Indians had lived in North America, yet each tribe formed its own language.  Much as the English accent changes as you travel across the USA, language will also evolve and change over a period of time when people are separated by distance.

Answer 17

Please read a book.  Your question makes no sense because the answers are right there in front of you if you'll just do a little enlightened research.  The truth is, no matter what anyone writes here you will continue to think evolution is a load of bunk because it doesn't jive with your particular religious leaders and their/your beliefs.  Guess what?  You're not poking any holes in evolutionary evidence and study.  The scientific answers are right there to be read in many a scientific journal and book.

And, by the way, what does evolving from primates have to do with language?  I mean, if we all descended from Adam and Eve, a common ancestor, how do YOU explain different languages?  The point is about he same.  And, since genetic research clearly shows that the concept of 'race' based on skin colour is false, how do you explain your continuing belief in the idea of "different races"?

Answer 18

Different Species of apes have different calls. The ape calls that we used before we became what we are now, evolved into the different languages we use. we speak differently to each other because we evolved in different parts of the world. Africans have dark skin because they live in hot dry conditions and so on. My thoery is the great apes started eating epic amounts of bone marrow which led to our brains evolving the way they have. My theory anyway. Did that answer your question?? 0_0.

Answer 19

Language has nothing to do with evolving from apes. Technically speaking, we didnt evolve from apes, we branched off from them into our own species.

As far as language goes, when our ancestors separated and migrated to different parts of the Earth, we developed our own languages because of all the separation and migration.

Another technicality is that we are all one race, but different ethnicities. Our skin color has to do with the change in environment, such as weather, land and food.

Answer 20

We didn't evolve from apes. We share a common ancestor with apes. Just like you and I apparently share a common evolutionary ancestor, although you have all the intelligence and education of a piece of toast.

Over thousands of years, humans evolved in different area of the world leading to different adaptations - i.e. race - which might be evolutionary advantageous, or might just be a question of sexual preference.

As to how languages change and evolve, do you really need to ask? Look at the rapidity with which slang changes - in less than a decade new words have appeared or gained popularity. Look at how differently they spoke English 50, 100, 500 years ago. Nobody walks around these days sounding like a Shakespearean character. Different groups gradually developed their own languages.

Just like the vast sea of genetic and fossil evidence shows us the branches of the evolutionary tree that includes humans, gorillas and chimps, linguists have reconstructed the original paths of many languages. It's not so hard to see how the Romance languages grew out of Latin, or to trace the very similar roots of the Indo-European languages for instance.

Oh wait, I'm sorry - did I bring up too much common sense reasoning and facts? Here's your answer: MAGIC!!!! THAT'S HOW!

Answer 21

There is zero chance that we evolved:  Genesis 1, 2, Ecclesiates 7:29, John 8:44, Jeremiah 17:9, Mark 10:6, etc.  Evilution is anti-scientific because it is obviously impossible.  The Second Law of Thermodynamics, the Law of Entropy, Nothing is the Cause of Itself - all true science, for that matter.

  The different languages is because of the world "getting together" and wanting to be "unified", "unity", "one" in opposition to the Lord.   If you differ from the "one", you will be put to death as a "homophobe" {not a word. Besides, I fear no man - 2Chronicles 32:7} and "threat to progress".  Does that sound like today?   Genesis 11 <--->  Acts 17:27, Isaiah 55:6, Deuteronomy 4:29, Jeremiah 29:13, Psalms 105:4.

The different races come from Shem, Ham and Japheth.  Why and how Noah gave birth to different races is one of the first questions I will ask my Savior, the LORD JESUS CHRIST when I get to Heaven.

Answer 22

Homo erectus, Homo neandertal & Homo sapiens had/have a hyoid bone, making speach possible.  To date it appears that Homo hablis did not have this necessary adaptation for speach.  Homo Sapien is the only lving member of the primate order to have this adaptation.  In addition human Chromosome 13 contains a gene (called foxp2) that appears to be necessary to control complicated grammar skills. Recent DNA tests on the neandertal indicate they also possessed this gene.

I live in Texas & some 50+ yrs ago, when I joined the army, I simply could not understand people from New Jersey. Due to better communications, our language has become much closer to the same, although I still find it hard to believe Scottish cab drivers speak English.  Isolate 2 populations that speak the same language & after a few 1000 yrs they will not understand each other.  English is a form of German, abeit mixed with a bit of Latin & Celt.

As for skin color, dark skin prevents sunlight from reaching below the epidermis where it can be converted to vitamin D. If a person doesn't have enough vitamin D, they develop rickets which would make it very difficult to birth children.  On the other side of the coin, too much sunlight will destroy folic acid & result in complications too.  Therefore women in northern climates developed lighter skin, where as women with darker skin in northern climates were likely to die in child birth.

Some hypothesize that the neandertal (or erectus) had evolved for northern climates long before sapien contact & that  some interbreeding occured to produce Europeans in Europe & Asians in Asia, but without a complete sequencing of the neandertal & erectus genome, that is conjecture. The completion of the neandertal sequencing is due later this year or early next year.

Eric:  I have reviewed your questions & it has become obvious that you are a creationist with a dislike for science or those that use it, not a person seeking knowledge.  I would encourage you to stick to the religious or folklore boards to express your views.  To attempt to interject hateful harrassing questions into scientific discussions is simply not very Christian of you.

Answer 23

language developed like anything else in the human race

Regions became more and more diverse over the centuries. Until recently long distance travel was never under taken on a regular basis so groups diverged