International Study Finds Tens of Thousands of Languages Once Spoken

An international research team from Spain, the United States and Germany published a study in *Science* that reconstructs global language diversity over the past 12,000 years. Using computer models based on ethnographic data from 171 hunter‑gatherer societies and prehistoric population estimates, the researchers estimate that at the start of the Holocene roughly 4,500‑6,200 languages were spoken. As human populations grew, linguistic diversity increased, reaching a peak between 1,000 and 3,000 years ago when tens of thousands – roughly 50,000 – of distinct languages may have existed. The decline began with the rise of large states and empires, long before European colonial expansion, and accelerated in later centuries. Today about 7,500 languages are spoken, many of them endangered.

The authors note that the decline “began with the expansion of large states and empires” and that the modern linguistic landscape represents only a small, historically biased sample of past diversity.