Study: Linguistic diversity peaked 1,000 years ago, then empires reduced it

A new study in Science suggests that between 1000 B.C.E. and 1000 C.E., humans may have spoken 20,000 to 75,000 languages—far more than today's roughly 7,500. Researchers used computational models, population estimates, and ethnographic data to trace language diversity over the Holocene. They found that before agriculture (12,000 years ago), 4,500–6,200 languages existed. After domestication, population growth boosted linguistic diversity until multinational empires like Rome spread their languages, causing a decline. The study, led by Damián Blasi (Harvard, Catalan Institution) and Claire Bowern (Yale), indicates the peak was surprisingly recent. Today, at least four languages die yearly, and 1,500 may vanish by 2100. The findings challenge the idea that European colonialism alone caused language loss, showing it began earlier. Blasi argues that surviving languages may not be superior but survivors of a historical bottleneck. Some linguists, like Lyle Campbell (University of Hawai'i at Mānoa), call the work speculative.