Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 220, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1917 — GREAT DIVERSITY OF TONGUE [ARTICLE]

GREAT DIVERSITY OF TONGUE

Over Four Thousand Languages Are Spoken and Written by Various Peoples. How many persona know how many lengnagea there are In the world? The average man’s knowledge or ability to speak languages rarely exceeds two besides his native tongue. The Emperor Francis Joseph, when visit' ing a Bed Cross hospital, spoke with the patients in their own languages. It may appear strange, but it is nevertheless true, that there are over 4,000 languages spoken by mankind, while the number of dialects exceeds this. There are more than sixty vocabularies in Brazil, and in Mexico the Nahua is broken up into some 700 dialects. There are hundreds in Borneo, while in Australia there is no classifying the complexities. Let us assume that 50 dialects, on an average, belong to each language, and we have the colossal total of a quarter of a million linguistic abilities^ — A century hence the probability is that there will be only four languages of importance in the world. Central Europe may produce a newer and more straight forward German language, English may Yeign alone over the North American continent, and a more business-like Spanish will be used In South American states, while Russia may take on some more rich Slavonic dialect, which will blend the races of eastern Europe and central Asia into a harmonious federation.