Language Multitude

In Switzerland, more than 4 out of 10 children grow up speaking more than one language. These children cannot only converse fluently in several languages, but they also learn a wide variety of cultural concepts. What's more, multilingual children are more empathetic, more responsive to the needs of their interaction partners and may even be more intelligent than their monolingual peers. Growing up with multiple languages is unique in many ways.

The main function of language is to allow people to communicate, which requires them to share the same language. This makes it somewhat surprising that human language is incredibly diverse, with a global count of some 6000-7000 distinct languages. What historical processes could have led to such diversity? In this talk I will give a paradoxical answer: diversification has been driven both by people dispersing across the continents, but also by people living side-by-side.