Will a 'world language' evolve over time?

The only reason I can see for languages to concentrate faster than they diverge would be if we regularly wanted to talk to computers. The need for a universal infoglot could possibly outrace the kids' dialects developing at street level, and diverging from their motherlodes. But it wouldn't be spoken between humans much, and there would very soon be regional differences. Swiitzerteuch (Swiss German) is invariably classed as one language, but there can be so much difference between the versions spoken in adjacent valleys that they use High German or English to communicate between each other.
 
The language should really be more logical than English, with sufficient distinction between phonemes that it remains comprehensible despite accents and enunciation difficulties, and avoid homophones, neither of which English (in its multitude of subvarieties) is particularly strong in (as I discovered when I tried to dictate into Dragon dictate. The only reasonable solution is to have a specially created language that everyone learns and only a few total geeks talk by choice. Like church Latin, everyone can communicate, but it lacks emotional overtones, and poetry.
 
A few years ago I read some research which found that regional dialect differences in the US were growing, not lessening. Despite the influence of mass media, regional identities, in the form of accent and dialect at least, are strengthening. And in Britain, try driving from York to Newcastle to Edinburgh to Aberdeen. It's all English, yet I have to translate when my parents visit from the US because they can't understand a word.

Finally, with machine translation growing in power and accuracy, it may not be long before people have little need to learn their neighbour's language. The odd mix of cultural richness and poverty presented by that possibility is interesting to contemplate.
 
The language should really be more logical than English,
Probably, but if you're talking about something evolving into a standard rather than being imposed, the selection criteria is unlikely to be logical. If we had the power to choose and then impose a language - design a new one from scratch.

A few years ago I read some research which found that regional dialect differences in the US were growing, not lessening.
I'm not shocked by this, but I would want to see how that is happening along with population sizes and incomes. Small pockets of poor people becoming more insular isn't shocking, but their influence and reach are probably diminishing in proportion to their dialectic variance.


I think it is possible to argue that English is already the de facto world language, so the real question is whether other languages will diminish or whether more people become bilingual.
 
Esperanto is a language which was developed to be a World Language in the 1880's I believe. My understanding is that there are people who still speak it but it has never really caught on. It is mostly considered an interesting but failed attempt at a world language.

I think it is possible to argue that English is already the de facto world language, so the real question is whether other languages will diminish or whether more people become bilingual.

Indeed one reason given for the inability for Esperanto to catch on is that English is now what Greek was two millennia ago. The language of international commerce and considered a near necessity to know if one is to be considered truly educated in most places in the world.
 
The only reason I can see for languages to concentrate faster than they diverge would be if we regularly wanted to talk to computers. The need for a universal infoglot could possibly outrace the kids' dialects developing at street level, and diverging from their motherlodes. But it wouldn't be spoken between humans much, and there would very soon be regional differences. Swiitzerteuch (Swiss German) is invariably classed as one language, but there can be so much difference between the versions spoken in adjacent valleys that they use High German or English to communicate between each other.

I second this, computer programming is a language, so computers are the only thing resembling a "language" that people of all cultures know and use.
 
Concerning English as world 'lingua franca': a Chinese person working to master the English language is walking past a theatre in an English town and sees a poster which reads 'Pantomime is pronounced success' -- and thinks 'I'll never get this language right' ...
 
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I second this, computer programming is a language, so computers are the only thing resembling a "language" that people of all cultures know and use.
Computer programming "languages" are more just alternative symbols that substitute for large blocks of numbers. You can't really use them to express something that couldn't also be said in binary, and it really isn't possible to say "I'm hungry for chips" in ones and zeros. The use of the term "language" is a bit misleading in this context.
 
I've seen accents merge and become less pronounced in my lifetime. Additionally, lesser spoken languages are quickly dying off. It will take 500 years or more, but I suspect that it will come down to one.
 
I've seen accents merge and become less pronounced in my lifetime. Additionally, lesser spoken languages are quickly dying off. It will take 500 years or more, but I suspect that it will come down to one.
In 500 years, will all humans live within real time communication range?
 
Yes, science and technology did advance rather quickly in the last 150 years (this conversation stands as proof.) Still, I'm not sure how far into space we're going to get in the next 500 years. It's just so vast.

Likely we'll have sent probes to Alpha Centauri and a few other nearby solar systems. The best hope for the next 500 years would be a space travel method that moves outside of of 3D space - like a warp. Personally, I think it's possible.
 
Yes, science and technology did advance rather quickly in the last 150 years (this conversation stands as proof.) Still, I'm not sure how far into space we're going to get in the next 500 years. It's just so vast.

Likely we'll have sent probes to Alpha Centauri and a few other nearby solar systems. The best hope for the next 500 years would be a space travel method that moves outside of of 3D space - like a warp. Personally, I think it's possible.
I'm more optimistic about interstellar flight, but even the orbit of Neptune is 4 light hours across - which prevents real time speaking between people. That might be more than enough for dialects to drift.
 
I'm more optimistic about interstellar flight, but even the orbit of Neptune is 4 light hours across - which prevents real time speaking between people. That might be more than enough for dialects to drift.
We might be outside real time communication but that doesn't mean people won't talk. Also media will have a greater affect, I think, than just people talking and media - news, movies, blogs, forums etc. - will still be shared.

I think a single language is inevitable but accept that we may settle in something comparable to high and low german; one language or dialect for international/interplanetary communication and one for 'local' communication. But I expect the latter to be no more than a dialect of the former rather than a totally different language. Just my view and of course but I think we can see it starting with English becoming the general international communication language. It is already the official international communication language for air and marine traffic and it has become the de facto language for international trade and scientific communications. I can't quote and figures for this, but I suspect that there are probably more English words on the internet that all other languages put together.
 
Vertigo, that sort of exists with things like Chinglish, Denglish*, etc.

*Although it's worth noting many Germans have fantastic English, often better than, er, English people.
 
Vertigo, that sort of exists with things like Chinglish, Denglish*, etc.

*Although it's worth noting many Germans have fantastic English, often better than, er, English people.
Yeah that's exactly what I mean and why I think it's inevitable eventually. The French won't like it though.

And yeah other nationalities tend to be better at English than we are at their languages but, to be fair, they tend to get bombarded with English form an early age on media (films, tv, music) and on the internet, whereas we get almost no exposure to other languages other than at school and on holiday (where everyone tends to immediately switch to English despite my best (appalling) attempts at their language).
 
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