It is my understanding that language was not as discrete as it is now until the invention of the printing press. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to say there were some such amount of languages, because everyone spoke some regional dialect
There’s also probably generally a lot more granularity and differences between regional dialects in periods where there wasn’t the infrastructure or economic impetus for trade or travel. The printing press helps codify the written language and is vital for literacy outside of a privileged class but in terms of spoken language I think it’s more of an exposure driven thing, where even if there are fundamental differences between languages in proximity the more trade and interaction the more loanwords and other things you’ll see, plus the effects of a hegemonic culture establishing a lingua franca
sorry if this be incoherent, my adhd is medicated but my drunkenness is also at a medicated level
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I’ve heard it said that a language is just a dialect with an army
Damn that’s a great saying
Im taking that
If our little website has developed some turns of phrase in incomprehensible to outsiders it makes sense for two small villages 3 millennia to develop their own language.
weird thing to call a golden age when the people over there can’t communicate with you at all instead of just sounding a little funny.
