What the World Will Speak in 2115
Khalid kouanda
It isn’t an accident that the Bible’s tale of the Tower of Babel presents multilingualism as a divine curse meant to hinder our understanding. ILLUSTRATION: Heritage Images/Getty Images
In 1880 a Bavarian priest created a language that he hoped the whole world could use. He mixed words from French, German and English and gave his creation the name Volapük, which didn’t do it any favors. Worse, Volapük was hard to use, sprinkled with odd sounds and case endings like Latin.
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Posted Oct 30, 2023
A century from now, expect fewer but simpler languages on every continent
