Q: What is language?

Speaking, writing and reading are a vital part of living in the world today. We use language to express our thoughts and understand what others are thinking.

Linguistic scholars believe language is a psychological, social and cultural phenomenon. Some argue that the language we speak controls our ability to interpret the world around us. "Discovering what's universal about languages can help us understand the core of our humanity," says Dan Jurafsky of Stanford University. 

Q: Where does language come from?

No one knows for sure when, where or how language began. "Speech is our most ephemeral creation; it is little more than air," summarises author Christine Kenneally. "There are no verbs preserved in amber."

Theories about the origin of language include: i) language began when people started imitating sounds around them, ii) language evolved from instinctive cries such as "ouch" and iii) language started with the groans and snorts associated with physical labour. 

Q: How many languages are there?

Up to 7,000 languages are spoken in the world today, but 90% are used by less than 100,000 people. The most commonly spoken languages are Mandarin, English, Spanish, Hindi and Arabic. For many, English is an unofficial lingua francaFor example, Latin was the common language of the Roman Empire, French was the language of the European aristocracy and English has become the working language of international finance..

The island of Papua New Guinea is the most linguistically diverse place in the world. Its 8.9 million inhabitants, many of whom live in remote communities, speak 832 different languages. 

Q: What are language families? 

Languages that are related to each other are grouped into language families. English is part of the Indo-European language family, alongside Dutch, German and the Romance languagesThe Romance languages, such as French, Italian and Spanish, all originate from Latin. .

The closer a language is to your own, the easier it is to learn. Unsurprisingly, it is easier for a native English speaker to learn Dutch than Mandarin, Russian or Arabic. 

Q: What is Esperanto? 

Esperanto is an artificial language created by Polish doctor Ludwig Zamenhof in 1887. Zamenhof dreamed of a more peaceful world. He decided to invent a neutralNot supporting either side of an issue. second language that anyone could easily learn and use to communicate with people around the world. 

Esperanto is influenced by Latin, English, German and the Romance languages. It largely fell out of use during World War One and World War Two, but today it is undergoing a resurgence online. Some estimate that there are two million speakers; others say the true number of fluent speakers is 10,000. 

Q: Why are some languages going extinct? 

One-quarter of the world's languages are spoken by fewer than 1,000 people. According to UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Part of the UN, it seeks to build peace through international cooperation in education, the sciences and culture. , 2,500 languages are at risk of total extinction.

Languages often decline when they are displaced by a politically or economically dominant language. If most people speak a different language, such as English or Mandarin, people who only speak indigenous languages risk losing access to education, jobs and opportunities.

Before colonialism, Australia's First Nation peoples spoke more than 250 languages. Now, only 12 are being learnt by children.