The bigger picture

A. It is likely that there was one first language. Even this language immediately started changing. If there had only ever been one human group, then its language would now be completely different from the original one because of the kinds of changes we have seen.

B. But as soon as human groups started splitting off and migrating to other places—that is, as soon as there was more than group—this meant that the new group or groups’ language changed in different ways than the first group’s. This meant a new language. Today’s 6,000 languages are the product of this process.