Curious About Languages

PODCAST 196: CURIOUS ABOUT LANGUAGES

RELEASE DATE: SUNDAY, JULY 3RD, 2022

D:  HELLO, AND WELCOME BACK TO THE CURIOUS KID PODCAST.  WHEN ANIMALS WANT TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER, THEY CAN DO SO BY MAKING SOUNDS TO LET OTHER ANIMALS KNOW WHAT THEY’RE THINKING.  AN ANIMAL MIGHT GROWL, FOR EXAMPLE, IF IT’S ANGRY.  ANIMALS CAN ALSO ACT IN A WAY THAT COMMUNICATES HOW THEY FEEL.  FOR INSTANCE, AN ANIMAL MIGHT HIDE IF IT’S SCARED.  OVER MANY, MANY YEARS, HUMANS HAVE DEVELOPED A WAY TO EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER ON A LEVEL THAT ANIMALS CAN’T POSSIBLE COMMUNICATE, AND WE’RE GOING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THAT THIS WEEK.        

O:  QUINTUPLE-MAILBAG!

D:  QUINTUPLE-MAILBAG!

“HI OLIVIA, MY NAME IS FELIX AND I AM 7 YEARS OLD.  I LIVE IN SEVENOAKS, ENGLAND, AND THINK YOUR PODCAST IS 15,000 STARS.  I LISTEN TO IT IN THE CAR EVERY DAY ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL AND HAVE LEARNED A LOT!  I WANT TO KNOW HOW LANGUAGE WAS INVENTED, WHY DIFFERENT COUNTRIES SPEAK DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, AND WHAT THE FIRST LANGUAGE WAS.  I WOULD LOVE IT IF YOU GET CURIOUS ABOUT LANGUAGE, AS I THINK IT WOULD BE A REALLY INTERESTING SUBJECT FOR YOUR LISTENERS!  THANK YOU FOR KEEPING CURIOUS KIDS AROUND THE WORLD HAPPY.

FROM FELIX”

“HI GUYS!  WE LOVE YOUR PODCAST.  IT IS VERY INTERESTING.  WE WERE WONDERING IF YOU COULD GET CURIOUS ABOUT LANGUAGES.  WHAT WAS THE FIRST LANGUAGE?  WE WOULD LOVE TO KNOW!  

FROM VIVIAN, LYZA, AND JACK OF LOWER MERION, PENNSYLVANIA”

“MY NAME IS GREYBEAR, AND I LIVE IN EUGENE, OREGON.  HOW ARE LANGUAGES MADE?”

“HI THERE, MY NAME IS ELLIE, I’M FROM SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA.  I AM 5 YEARS OLD AND LOVE LISTENING TO YOUR PODCAST.  EVERY NIGHT, I LISTEN TO SOMETIMES 3 OF THEM.  I LOVE LISTENING TO THEM SO MUCH.  I’D LOVE TO HEAR AN EPISODE ABOUT HOW PEOPLE MADE UP LANGUAGES AND WHAT THE FIRST LANGUAGE WAS AND HOW DIFFERENT LANGUAGES COME ABOUT?  CARRY ON WITH THE GOOD WORK!

REGARDS, ELLIE”

“HELLOOOOOOOOO! JACOB AND OLIVIA.  MY NAME IS RILEY.  I AM 7 YEARS OLD AND I LIVE IN DALYELLUP, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.  WE ONLY JUST STARTED LISTENING TO YOUR PODCAST,  BUT MY MUM AND I LOVE IT!  IT’S THE FIRST PODCAST I HAVE LISTENED TO.  I AM CURIOUS ABOUT LANGUAGE!  AND WHY DIFFERENT PEOPLE USE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.  KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK AND I WILL HOPEFULLY BE UP TO DATE SOON!

FROM RILEY”

O:  WOWIE!  WE ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE LISTENERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD THAT ASKED US TO GET CURIOUS ABOUT LANGUAGES. THANK YOU FOR GIVING US A GREAT TOPIC TO GET CURIOUS ABOUT, FELIX, VIVIAN, LYZA, JACK, GREYBEAR, ELLIE, AND RILEY.  IF ALL OF YOU ARE CURIOUS ABOUT LANGUAGES, THAT PROBABLY MEANS WE HAVE MANY MORE LISTENERS THAT MUST BE CURIOUS ABOUT LANGUAGES, BECAUSE LANGUAGES ARE SO INTERESTING.  I CAN’T WAIT TO LEARN MORE. 

D:  SO, LET’S GET THINGS STARTED WITH THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.

O:  THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK IS, HOW SHORT IS THE SHORTEST ALPHABET.

D:  THERE ARE 26 LETTERS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.  SOME LANGUAGES HAVE MORE THAN THAT AND OTHERS HAVE LESS.  CAN YOU GUESS HOW MANY LETTERS ARE IN THE SHORTEST ALPHABET OF ANY OF THE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES?   

O:  WHILE YOU’RE GUESSING, I HAVE SOME DISAPPOINTING NEWS TO SHARE WITH YOU.  NOBODY IS EXACTLY SURE HOW LANGUAGE BEGAN.  

D:  SOME EXPERTS BELIEVE IN CONTINUITY THEORIES, WHICH SUGGEST THAT LANGUAGES DEVELOPED GRADUALLY OVER TIME.  PEOPLE THAT BELIEVE IN CONTINUITY THEORIES THINK THAT LANGUAGE IS SO COMPLICATED THAT IT COULDN’T POSSIBLY HAVE DEVELOPED QUICKLY.  

O:  OTHER EXPERTS BELIEVE IN DISCONTINUITY THEORIES, WHICH SUGGEST THAT LANGUAGE CAME ABOUT PRETTY QUICKLY DURING THE COURSE OF EVOLUTION.  

D:  WE TRULY HAVE NO IDEA WHETHER WE’VE BEEN USING LANGUAGE FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS, OR WHETHER IT DEVELOPED MORE RECENTLY, WITH CRO-MAGNON MAN, ABOUT 125,000 YEARS AGO.  NOBODY IS QUITE SURE WHEN LANGUAGE BEGAN.  THERE ARE EVEN DEBATES ABOUT HOW WORDS WERE CREATED.  

O:  THERE IS A THEORY CALLED THE MAMA THEORY.  THAT MEANS THAT SIMPLE WORDS WERE GIVEN TO THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS, LIKE MAMA.  

D:  THERE IS ALSO THE BOW-WOW THEORY, WHICH IS THE IDEA THAT HUMANS CREATED WORDS TO IMITATE ANIMALS AROUND THEM.  THAT’S HOW WORDS LIKE MOO OR OINK MAY HAVE COME TO BE.  THE OBVIOUS PROBLEM WITH THIS THEORY IS THAT DIFFERENT LANGUAGES USE DIFFERENT WORDS TO MIMIC ANIMALS.  TAKE THE PIG FOR EXAMPLE.  IN ENGLISH, THE SOUND A PIG MAKES IS “OINK OINK”.  IN CHINESE, IT’S ACTUALLY “OH-EE-OH-EE”, AND IN RUSSIAN, IT’S “HYRU-HYRU”.  THE 3 SOUNDS IN ENGLISH, CHINESE, AND RUSSIAN SOUND NOTHING ALIKE.   

O:  THERE IS THE POOH-POOH THEORY, WHICH MEANS THAT WORDS CAME FROM VOCAL RESPONSES TO THINGS LIKE LAUGHTER AND PAIN.  WORDS LIKE HA-HA AND OUCH COULD HAVE DEVELOPED THIS WAY.  THE BIG PROBLEM WITH THIS THEORY IS THAT MANY ANIMALS MAKE SOUNDS WHEN THEY EXPERIENCE PAIN OR FEAR, OR OTHER STRONG EMOTIONS, AND THOSE ANIMALS HAVEN’T DEVELOPED A COMPLEX LANGUAGE FROM THOSE SOUNDS.  

D:  THERE ARE MANY OTHER THEORIES THAT HAVE BEEN SUGGESTED FOR HOW LANGUAGE BEGAN, AND THEY ARE ALL VERY HARD TO PROVE.  CHANCES ARE, THE TRUE BEGINNING OF LANGUAGE IN HUMANS IS SOME COMBINATION OF MANY OF THE DIFFERENT THEORIES.  

O:  THERE ARE OVER 7,000 LANGUAGES BEING USED AROUND THE WORLD.  WHY DO WE NEED SO MANY LANGUAGES?  WHY CAN’T WE HAVE JUST ONE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE?  WOULDN’T THAT MAKE THINGS A WHOLE LOT EASIER?

D:  THAT’S A GREAT QUESTION.  IT’S ONE I’VE THOUGHT ABOUT BEFORE.  THE TWO BIGGEST REASONS WHY IT IS UNLIKELY THAT EVERYBODY WOULD SHARE A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE IS THAT LANGUAGES CHANGE, AND ALSO THAT LANGUAGE IS IDENTITY.      

LET’S DISCUSS THE FIRST POINT… LANGUAGES CHANGE OVER TIME.    HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE?  HE WAS A POET THAT LIVED ALMOST 500 YEARS AGO.  HE WROTE HIS PLAYS AND HIS POETRY IN ENGLISH, THE SAME LANGUAGE THAT WE ARE SPEAKING THIS VERY MOMENT.  BUT, AS YOU WOULD SEE IF YOU READ A PASSAGE FROM A SHAKESPEARE PLAY, ENGLISH HAS CHANGED A LOT IN THE LAST FEW HUNDRED YEARS.  HERE IS A FAMOUS PASSAGE FROM THE PLAY ROMEO AND JULIET.    

O:  “O ROMEO, ROMEO, WHEREFORE ART THOU ROMEO?

DENY THY FATHER AND REFUSE THY NAME

OR IF THOU WILT NOT, BE BUT SWORN MY LOVE

AND I’LL NO LONGER BE A CAPULET.”

D:  WERE YOU TRYING TO FOLLOW OLIVIA AS SHE READ THOSE WORDS?  DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY MEAN?  

O:  I’M GUESSING THAT “WHEREFORE ART THOU ROMEO” MUST MEAN WHERE ARE YOU, ROMEO?

D:  AND MANY PEOPLE THINK THAT WHEN THEY FIRST READ THOSE WORDS, BUT WHEREFORE ACTUALLY MEANS WHY, NOT WHERE.  JULIET IS ASKING WHY HIS NAME IS ROMEO… SHE’S NOT LOOKING FOR ROMEO.

O:  I SEE HOW DIFFERENT ENGLISH WAS MANY YEARS AGO.  ENGLISH CAN ALSO BE DIFFERENT DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU LIVE.   DIFFERENT PLACES HAVE DIFFERENT DIALECTS, EVEN IF THEY SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE.  

D:  FOR EXAMPLE, WE HAD LISTENERS FROM ENGLAND AND AUSTRALIA SUGGEST THIS TOPIC.  THOSE LISTENERS ALSO SPEAK ENGLISH, BUT THEY MIGHT HAVE DIFFERENT WORDS FOR THINGS THAN WE DO, OR THEY MIGHT HAVE A DIFFERENT ACCENT THAN WE HAVE.  

O:  OUR LISTENER IN OREGON MIGHT EVEN HAVE A DIFFERENT DIALECT THAN WE DO.  

D:  THAT’S VERY TRUE.  DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU LIVE, EVEN WITHIN THE UNITED STATES, YOU MIGHT HAVE DIFFERENT NAMES TO DESCRIBE DIFFERENT THINGS.  THERE ARE 24 ENGLISH DIALECTS IN THE UNITED STATES ALONE.    

O:  DO YOU SAY POP OR SODA?  DO YOU SAY DRINKING FOUNTAIN OR WATER FOUNTAIN?  DO YOU SAY SNEAKERS OR TENNIS SHOES?

D:  TAKE THE LAST ONE FOR EXAMPLE.  WE CALL THEM SNEAKERS HERE IN NEW JERSEY, BUT MOST OF THE UNITED STATES CALLS THE SHOES YOU WERE TO BIKE, RUN, OR WALK TENNIS SHOES, AND NOT SNEAKERS.  

O:  SO, THE FIRST REASON WHY EVERYONE USING THE SAME LANGUAGE PROBABLY WON’T HAPPEN IS THAT, EVEN IF WE TRIED TO DO THAT, LANGUAGES WOULD STILL CHANGE OVER TIME DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU LIVE, JUST LIKE WE JUST TALKED ABOUT WITH ENGLISH.  THE SECOND REASON WHY IT PROBABLY WON’T HAPPEN IS THAT LANGUAGE IS IDENTITY.  OUR LANGUAGE IS SO IMPORTANT IN MAKING US WHO WE ARE.

D:  WHAT WE MEAN IS HOW IN THE WORLD WOULD WE EVEN DECIDE WHICH LANGUAGE WE SHOULD USE AS OUR UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE?  DO YOU THINK THE WHOLE WORLD WOULD BE ABLE TO AGREE?  OF COURSE I WOULD SAY ENGLISH, AND MANY OF YOU WOULD PROBABLY ALSO SAY ENGLISH, BUT THERE ARE BILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD THAT WOULD DISAGREE.  

O:  AND LANGUAGE, LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE THAT MAKES PEOPLE UNIQUE AND DIFFERENT, IS BEAUTIFUL JUST THE WAY IT IS.  

D:  THAT’S A BEAUTIFUL THOUGHT, AND YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.  WE ACTUALLY USE LESS LANGUAGES TODAY THAN WE USED TO.  JUST A FEW HUNDRED YEARS AGO, ABOUT 10,000 LANGUAGES EXISTED.  TODAY, THE NUMBER IS DOWN TO ABOUT 7,000, WHICH IS A BIG DROP.  THAT MIGHT MEAN WE ARE CLOSER TO ALL SPEAKING THE SAME LANGUAGE, BUT WE ARE STILL VERY FAR AWAY FROM THAT, WITH THOUSANDS OF LANGUAGES STILL IN USE.  LET’S LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGES THAT EXIST TODAY.

O:  EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE 7,000 LANGUAGES BEING USED TODAY, ONLY 23 OF THOSE LANGUAGES ARE USED BY MORE THAN HALF OF THE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.  ALSO, MORE THAN HALF OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION IS BILINGUAL, MEANING THAT THEY SPEAK TWO LANGUAGES.  

D:  THERE ARE A BUNCH OF LANGUAGES THAT HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR MORE THAN 2,000 YEARS, AND THEY INCLUDE ARAMAIC, CHINESE, EGYPTIAN, FARSI, GREEK, HEBREW, KOREAN, ITALIAN, SANSKRIT, AND TAMIL.  

O:  300 LANGUAGES ARE SPOKEN IN THE UNITED STATES.  THAT’S A LOT, BUT THE COUNTRY THAT HAS THE MOST DIFFERENT LANGUAGES IS PAPUA NEW GUINEA.  MORE THAN 800 LANGUAGES ARE SPOKEN THERE.  

D:  ALMOST ALL OF THE LANGUAGES THAT EXIST WERE INFLUENCED BY OTHER LANGUAGES.  TONS OF ENGLISH WORDS WERE DERIVED FROM OTHER LANGUAGES.  EVEN THE WORD ALPHABET CAME FROM ANOTHER LANGUAGE.

O:  THE WORD ALPHABET CAME FROM GREEK.  THE FIRST TWO LETTERS IN THE GREEK ALPHABET ARE ALPHA AND BETA.  SMUSH THOSE TWO WORDS TOGETHER, AND YOU GET ALPHABET.  

D:  THE WORD ANONYMOUS COMES FROM GREEK, GURU COMES FROM SANSKRIT, SAFARI COMES FROM ARABIC, CARTOON COMES FROM ITALIAN, COOKIE COMES FROM DUTCH, AND KETCHUP COMES FROM CHINESE.  

O:  THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE HAS OVER 250,000 WORDS TOTAL, GIVING IT THE LARGEST VOCABULARY OF ANY LANGUAGE.  EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE SO MANY WORDS, THE AVERAGE PERSON ONLY USES A FEW HUNDRED UNIQUE WORDS EVERY DAY.  

D:  THE MOST SPOKEN LANGUAGE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD IS CHINESE MANDARIN.  MORE THAN 1.3 BILLION PEOPLE SPEAK CHINESE MANDARIN.

O:  HERE’S THE CRAZIEST FACT OF THE EPISODE.  DESPITE BEING THE MOST SPOKEN LANGUAGE WORLDWIDE, CHINESE MANDARIN IS ALSO CONSIDERED THE HARDEST LANGUAGE TO LEARN.  THERE IS NO ALPHABET.  INSTEAD, SYMBOLS ARE USED.  THE AVERAGE SPEAKER OF CHINESE MANDARIN KNOWS MORE THAN 8,000 SYMBOLS.    

D:  ENGLISH MIGHT NOT BE THE MOST SPOKEN LANGUAGE WORLDWIDE, BUT IT IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE AIR.  THAT’S BECAUSE PILOTS AND AIRPLANE CREW ARE REQUIRED TO KNOW ENGLISH, ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. 

O:  THE MOST COMMON LETTER IN ENGLISH IS THE LETTER E.  THE LETTER E APPEARS IN ABOUT 11% OF EVERY WORD WE SAY OR WRITE.  

D:  ARE YOU WONDERING WHAT THE LONGEST WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS?  IT’S GOT 45 LETTERS, AND I’M ABOUT TO SAY IT, OR AT LEAST TRY TO SAY IT.  HERE WE GO… PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS.  

O:  IT’S A TYPE OF LUNG DISEASE.  

D:  AND IT’S NOT JUST A BUNCH OF RANDOM LETTERS.  PNEUMO COMES FROM GREEK AND MEANS LUNGS.  ULTRA MEANS BEYOND.  MICROSCOPIC MEANS TEENY TINY.  SILICO IS SHORT FOR SILICON, AND IT REFERS TO THE SILICATE DUST THAT CAUSES THE DISEASE.  VOLCANO REFERS TO VOLCANIC DUST.  CONI ALSO COMES FROM GREEK AND MEANS DUST.  FINALLY, THE SUFFIX -OSIS IS A COMMON SUFFIX THAT MEANS MEDICAL CONDITION.  

O:  SPEAKING OF BIG, THE BIGGEST ALPHABET OF ANY LANGUAGE IS CAMBODIAN.  THE CAMBODIAN ALPHABET HAS 74 LETTERS.  THEY MUST HAVE A LONG ALPHABET SONG.  

D:  THERE IS ANOTHER LANGUAGE THAT’S GOT THE SMALLEST ALPHABET.  IT’S THE PAPUAN LANGUAGE OF ROTOKAS.  HOW ABOUT WE ANSWER THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.  HOW MANY LETTERS ARE IN THE ALPHABET OF THE LANGUAGE OF ROTOKAS?

O:  THEIR ALPHABET HAS ONLY 11 LETTERS IN IT.  THAT’S INCREDIBLE. 

D:  AND ROTOKAS IS SPOKEN BY ONLY ABOUT 4,320 PEOPLE IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA.  WELL, THAT’S A WRAP FOR THIS WEEK’S EPISODE.

O:  196 - LANGUAGES.

D:  GREAT JOB OLIVIA, AND GREAT JOB FELIX, VIVIAN, LYZA, JACK, GREYBEAR, ELLIE, AND RILEY FOR THE AWESOME TOPIC SUGGESTION THAT IS SO GOOD, IT LEAVES ME SPEECHLESS.  BEFORE WE GO, WE HAVE SOME NEW PATREON SUPPORTERS TO THANK.

O:  THANK YOU MAX, MILA, AND OLLIE C., AND P’NINA F.

D:  A BIG THANKS TO MAX, MILA, OLIIE, AND P’NINA FOR SUPPORTING THE PODCAST.  IT MEANS SO MUCH TO HAVE YOUR SUPPORT.  WE HAVE A BIG FAVOR TO ASK A LOT OF OUR LISTENERS.  DO YOU LISTEN TO CURIOUS KID PODCAST ON SPOTIFY?  WE KNOW A LOT OF YOU DO, BECAUSE 35% OF OUR PLAYS COME FROM SPOTIFY.  WELL, IF YOU DO LISTEN TO US ON SPOTIFY, SPOTIFY RECENTLY MADE CHANGES THAT ALLOW YOU TO RATE AND REVIEW PODCASTS ON SPOTIFY.  IT WOULD MEAN SO MUCH TO US IF YOU TOOK A MINUTE TO RATE AND REVIEW THE PODCAST.  IT REALLY HELPS NEW LISTENERS DISCOVER THE PODCAST.  OLIVIA AND I SEE EVERY REVIEW WE GET, AND THEY ALL MEAN SO MUCH TO US.  JOIN US NEXT WEEK, WHEN WE WILL GET CURIOUS ABOUT GRASS FOR LISTENERS IN MARYLAND, MASSACHUSETTS, AND WISCONSIN.  AS ALWAYS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LISTENING AND GETTING CURIOUS WITH US.

O:  UNTIL NEXT TIME, AU REVOIR, ALOHA, L’HITRAOT, NAMASTE, ARRIVEDERCI, SAYONARA, BYE BYE.