Historically, trade and exploration were the primary catalysts for the growth and development of a language. Today, we can actually experience how technology in all its various forms is stimulating changes in the grammar and usage of our language.
Most languages have been around for hundreds or thousands of years. The newer languages that emerged during the last century have provided linguists and historians with a close-up study of the birth and formation of a language.
1. Lingala
The Lingala language is 120 years old. Although it is not considered the national language of any particular country, it is arguably one of the newest and most well-known world languages.
Lingala has 15 million native speakers and 25 million speakers who are not native, totaling 40 million people speaking the language.
It is most often used by the indigenous people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a minority of people speaking the language in the Central African Republic and Angola.
In 1900, the Lingala language did not exist.
It was around that same time, before the Congo Free State was formed, that the Bantu tribes united around the Congo River to fight the invading Belgians. They combined their languages and formed a new language which they named ‘Bangala’ or ‘river people’ - a tribute to the Congo River that gave them sustenance and was their home.
Foreigners pronounced the word as ‘Lingala’ and so the new language was born.
2. Esperanto, then Reformed Esperanto, then Ido
Esperanto
The Esperanto language is about 130 years old. It is not the official language of any specific country, but it is recognized as one of the world’s newest languages.
Two million people worldwide speak Esperanto, from Europe, to South American, to East Asia. Esperanto is comprised of words and grammar from major European languages: for example, German, Slavic, and various Romance languages.
The language of Esperanto was first created in 1887 by L. L. Zammenhof, a linguist and ophthalmologist from Poland. He intentionally designed Esperanto to be used internationally as the world’s primary language for business and for intercultural communication.
But some had criticism about the language.
Reformed Esperanto
Due to negative feedback, the language of Esperanto was reformed by L. L. Zamenhof in 1894. The new variation of Esperanto was called Reformed Esperanto. As it caught on and began to change, it continued to diverge from the old Esperanto until it became yet another version of Esperanto, a newer version, that was called Ido.
Ido
It is one of the world’s newest languages. It currently is spoken by about 500 people, none of whom are native speakers.
There are websites dedicated to supporting the use and development of the language of Ido, complete with online forums to help people speak and converse in the language.
3. Sona
It is also one of the world’s newest languages. The intention of its creator, Kenneth Searight, was to construct a language that would potentially replace English as the primary international language of the world.
In contrast to the Eurocentric bias of Esperanto and Ido, the language of Sona uses elements of English, Chinese, Turkish, Japanese, and Arabic in its blend of grammar and structure.
It did not become the official language of any specific country. Its 100 speakers are spread around the world and communicate with each other in Sona via Internet.
Modern Hebrew, also called New Hebrew, Israeli Hebrew, or simply Israeli is the official language of the state of Israel.
Although Hebrew is one of the oldest languages on the planet, Modern Hebrew is only about 72 years old.
Over the centuries, the biblical Hebrew language ceased to be a spoken language between 200-400 C.E. and continued only as a language of Jewish liturgy and literature; during the 19th century rise of Zionism, it was revived as a spoken and written language.
Currently, Modern Hebrew is now spoken by 9 million people around the world: 7 million living in Israel. It is one of the true instances of a dead language that has been successfully revived, growing from 8,000 words to 20, 000 words. Much of the new vocabulary has been taken from the English, French, and German languages.
5. Afrikaans
Although the Afrikaans language is about 340 years old, it became one of South Africa’s ten official languages about 110 years ago. It is one of the world’s newest national languages and is considered one of the easiest languages to learn.
To seven million people in South Africa, Afrikaans is their first language. Another 10.5 million people can speak the language fluently as their second language.
As with all those European languages, European Dutch began to evolve. The Dutch adopted words from the Bantu language, from the French, and from the English. They simplified words and grammar from the original European Dutch, made up their own words, and in around the year of 1700, the language of Afrikaans was born.
Today, 200 years later, the language of Afrikaans, together with ten other languages, is the national language of South Africa.
Final Thoughts
In this article, we have looked briefly at five of the newest world languages. There are many more. Do you have unanswered questions?
For example:
What is the difference between a language, a dialect, and an accent?
You can visit our site at Grammar.com to find answers to your questions and to learn even more unexpected and interesting information in the process.
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