But why do so many languages exist?<\/h3>\n
There are still no definitive answers, but it is well known that many more languages are spoken in tropical regions than in temperate ones. For example, on the island of New Guinea there are over 900 languages, whereas in Russia – twenty times larger – \u201conly\u201d 105 indigenous languages are spoken. Scientists have observed that at low latitudes languages tend to be spoken in smaller, more restricted areas than at higher latitudes.<\/p>\n
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A very long time ago, everyone spoke the same language. Then migrations began. Humans left Africa and settled in other parts of the world. Geographic separation became linguistic separation. Even a small degree of geographic isolation is enough to create a local vocabulary.<\/p>\n
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![\"languages\"](\"https:\/\/mlaworld.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/carrello-della-spesa-e-cubi-con-lettere.png\")
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Moreover, no people have ever remained completely isolated, and contact with other civilizations has further modified language, creating influences and giving rise to new languages.<\/p>\n
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Michael Gavin, an anthropologist at Colorado State University, built a model to understand how certain geographic, demographic, and climatic factors might influence the linguistic diversity of a given area. Starting from the languages spoken by Australian Aboriginal peoples before the arrival of Europeans, he identified 406 different languages.<\/p>\n
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He then considered that:<\/p>\n
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