Three Millennia Ago, Humans May Have Spoken Thousands More Languages Than We Have Today, During a Linguistic 'Golden Age'
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Three Millennia Ago, Humans May Have Spoken Thousands More Languages Than We Have Today, During a Linguistic ‘Golden Age’ A new study suggests linguistic diversity reached its peak between 1000 B.C.E. and 1000 C.E. before declining Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent July 24, 2026 5:42 p.m. ShareCopy linkEmailSMSFacebookXRedditLinkedInBlueskyPrintAdd as preferred source This map shows modern languages and their risk of dying out. Claire Bowern From Mandarin and English to the many Indigenous languages spoken around the world, humans today communicate via roughly 7,500 tongues.
- ▪Three Millennia Ago, Humans May Have Spoken Thousands More Languages Than We Have Today, During a Linguistic ‘Golden Age’ A new study suggests linguistic diversity reached its peak between 1000 B.C.E. and 1000 C.E. before declining Sarah Ku
- ▪ShareCopy linkEmailSMSFacebookXRedditLinkedInBlueskyPrintAdd as preferred source This map shows modern languages and their risk of dying out.
- ▪Claire Bowern From Mandarin and English to the many Indigenous languages spoken around the world, humans today communicate via roughly 7,500 tongues.
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| Canonical URL | https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/three-millennia-ago-humans-may-have-spoken-thousands-more-languages-than-we-have-today-during-a-linguistic-golden-age-180989197/ |
| Publication time | Fri, 24 Jul 2026 21:42:54 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-07-24T22:01:40.931Z |
| Last seen | 2026-07-24T22:01:40.931Z |
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Three Millennia Ago, Humans May Have Spoken Thousands More Languages Than We Have Today, During a Linguistic ‘Golden Age’ A new study suggests linguistic diversity reached its peak between 1000 B.C.E. and 1000 C.E. before declining Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent July 24, 2026 5:42 p.m. ShareCopy linkEmailSMSFacebookXRedditLinkedInBlueskyPrintAdd as preferred source This map shows modern languages and their risk of dying out. Claire Bowern From Mandarin and English to the many Indigenous languages spoken around the world, humans today communicate via roughly 7,500 tongues. But humanity’s linguistic diversity may once have been far greater, according to a new study published in the journal Science.
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